Changing rooms (I used to love that show...)

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Bonjour from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's capital. Your beloved blogger, Elana, here 😊

We arrived by air in a particularly painless fashion; the plane took off EARLY and we had landed again within half an hour. We got off the plane, waited all of a minute for passport control and another for cases.

When we got to the hotel, we were impressed by the lobby. There's a Cartier right by the front door in the Rex arcade, and a Burberry, and, my personal favourite of course, Marc Jacobs XD

When we were taken to our room, however, we were in for a shock. The lobby of the Rex Hotel having been clad out in marble and suffused with excellent, and very expensive shops, definitely belongs to a 5 star hotel, but the room would look more at home in a guesthouse or hostel. I took some pictures, so I'll upload them if I can. We went back down to reception and negotiated a move, but the room we then were shown was not much better. But we did prevail, as we managed to get a free upgrade to a junior suite room, which was much bigger with a much more satisfactory bathroom, although it is still basic. Our guidebook describes the rooms as plush, and I don't know what they mean by that. But we are much happier in our new room and Mother will be proud that we swapped twice.

And now, having had a nap (and Mikes having a dip in the rooftop pool), we are going out to dinner to a Vietnamese restaurant called Nguyen, which is supposed to be lovely.

POB
Xxx

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