Hotel Royal Hoi An

The next part of our Vietnam adventure took us to the wonderful town of Hoi An. Our hotel of choice was Hotel Royal Hoi An.

On arrival we were given cold towels and a welcome drink and were seated comfortably for the smooth and quick check in process. From here we were shown to our upgraded room with a balcony overlooking the swimming pool.

The rooms were gorgeous. We had a large free standing bath tub and a separate rain forest shower. The bathrooms were quite typical of many of the Vietnamese hotels we experienced where the bathroom was cordoned off by wooden shutters as opposed to be being a brick built room. Always an interesting one when needing the toilet!!!

The beds were huge, with loads of pillows and incredibly comfy. We had a seating and a desk area as well. The balcony had no furniture, which was slightly disappointing but aside from this the room could not be faulted. The laundry service was quick and reasonably priced too and wifi was free throughout the hotel.

The poolside service was amazing, the Vietnamese pulled chicken salad and also the Banh Mi were excellent as were some of the Western options. There was something very luxurious about a table being made up with cloth, silverware and bread basket for a poolside lunch! The drinks were very reasonable and there was a two hour happy hour each evening on BOGOF for alcoholic drinks. The hotel has free bikes for use, which we took down to the beach one day, which was a great perk and was only a short stroll into the main town so no taxi's needed.

We ate breakfast here daily and what a treat it was. There were plenty of fresh fruit and pastry options as well as some English breakfast items. The best part though was the egg station, which included pancakes and french toast. We also tried the sushi restaurant Wa Ka Ku, which had excellent quality sushi. This was a more expensive option but it was worth the little treat.

All in all this was a lovely hotel and I would thoroughly recommend travelers to stay here for a little taste of luxury in Hoi An.

Hanoi

Following on from our short but incredible stay in Siem Reap we flew with Vietnam Airlines direct to Hanoi for £128. The flight was a total of 1 hr and 40 mins. We were collected by our hotel of choice The InterContinental Hanoi Westlake for 40 USD for the 35-40 mins trip.

We used Vietnam Visa Corp to arrange a visa on arrival for us, which cost 19 USD per person. They also gave us the forms to fill in so once we got to the airport we handed over our visa on arrival letter, the forms, our passports and 45 USD each. Within around ten minutes we had our visas and were on our way!

Our hotel was stunning. It's set around the lake and has gorgeous views over the city of Hanoi. OK it's a little taxi ride into town but the journey was never more than 100,000 VND, which is around £3. The rooms were huge with massive king size beds and some English movie channels. The bathrooms were equally large with a rain forest shower and separate soaking tub complete with robes, slippers and double sinks. Each room has a little balcony with fantastic views. The room service menu had all of the classics you would expect.

The pool area here is delightful. There aren't many beds so be warned for busy season. The water is warm, the area is clean and there is a full pool side service of food and drinks. The staff here are amazing and helped us change travel plans as well as give amazing restaurant recommendations. The only restaurant we used was the hotels sunset bar, which had lovely comfy lounging chairs overlooking the lake and onto the bright lights of the city. We had a couple of signature cocktails each and some tasty treats of mini wagyu beef burgers, fish cakes, fries and lamb kofta's for a total of £40. All the food and drinks were delicious and this is a great price compared with the UK.

Whilst in Hanoi we ate lunch at Madame Hien. They had incredible BBQ pork Bun Cha and also Cha Ca Thang Long (catfish in turmeric). They have an inside air conditioned area or a lovely outside garden to choose from. For dinner we tried Cau Go. Ask for an outside table and you will be blown away by the gorgeous lake views. The restaurant is so reasonably priced for what you get! The Vietnamese spring rolls are amazing, also try the beef shank, the caramelized pork spare rib, the chicken with lemon grass and the sea bass with green mango salsa. Mix this with some seasonal stir fried vegetables and your tummy will be in for a treat!

Cha Ca Thang Long @ Madame Hien

View from Cau Go

During your time in Hanoi there are plenty of tourist activities, however, we chose to spend our two days simply wandering the old quarter and getting a feel for the city. We absolutely loved our time here and would definitely recommend a visit.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

The hubby and I had a very brief one night stop in Siem Reap in Cambodia so did everything we could to make the most of it. On landing you will need to fill out a visa on arrival form as well as bring with you the landing card from the plane. You will then queue up and hand over 30 USD, your passport, forms and a passport size photo. If you do not have a photo they will charge you 2 USD extra. The airport wasn't busy when we landed so the whole process took around 15 mins. You will then go through passport control with your visa and have your finger prints taken.

We chose to use the following company as our tour guides: Happy Angkor Tour. Everything was arranged in advance with a very friendly man named Mony. We were collected from the airport by our private driver and private tour guide Sopheap. We were taken to our hotel to check in, drop bags and freshen up before starting our adventure. We were taken to purchase temple passes (40 USD per person for three days), which you must show at the entrance to every temple.

On day one we visited Angkor Wat, Ta Promh and Banteay Srei. The sky was cloudy so we chose to skip sunset and instead head to the hotel for a pre dinner drink and some spring rolls! In the evening we took the hotels free tuk tuk service into town. We had a long wander around the fascinating night market before choosing a spot for dinner on Pub Street. I chose a traditional Khmer curry dish, which was delicious and for the total price of 6 USD. I can imagine there are loads of places to try away from the tourist areas but we only had one night so really wanted to soak up the atmosphere.

The following morning we were up early for sunrise. We were collected at 4:45am and driven to Angkor Wat with hundreds of other tourists. It felt like being on a pilgrimage and was an amazing experience. Unfortunately for us it was quite cloudy so the rise wasn't as spectacular as it could have been but we still loved every minute. Next it was onto Angkor Thom to visit Bayon, Baphoun, Elephant Terrace and the Liper King Terrace.

Our private driver and private tour guide for the entire trip cost 151 USD. We felt this was excellent value for money as we learnt a lot and always had a refreshing cold towel and iced water waiting for us. It also meant we could be more flexible on timings throughout the day.

The temples of Siem Reap are incredible and I gained such a euphoric feeling from standing in the middle of up to 1,000 years of history. Cambodia is a wicked country full of amazing people and I hope one day to come back and explore further. I think two nights in Siem Reap is plenty of time to see the temples, enjoy the night life and relax in the glorious hotels but longer would always be appreciated and you can definitely do it in a one night stay like we chose to.

Anantara Angkor

The boy and I flew from Kuala Lumpur to Siem Reap in Cambodia for a total cost of £100 between us on Air Asia! Our hotel of choice for our one night stay was the Anantara Angkor.

This hotel is absolutely beautiful. You will be welcomed with a cold towel and a refreshing drink and invited to relax in comfy seats whilst the check in process is completed. We had an upper level room with a little balcony including a table and chairs over looking the stunning pool area.

The room itself was gorgeous. We had a lounge area with large flat screen TV and a huge super king size bed. The bathroom had a beautiful roll top bath and separate soaking shower. The sink area was free standing and luxurious. We had a separate toilet and the best surprise was an outdoor rain forest shower, which I took full advantage of.

There were robes and slippers and beach bags and everything else you could think of had been provided even a variety of factor sun creams by the pool! The poolside and room service menu had all of the classics at very reasonable prices. 

The hotel provides a complementary tuk tuk service into the main center, which is available on request and takes around 10-15 mins. They will also provide a Cambodian mobile phone to arrange pick up with the driver on return. 

However, with out a doubt the best part of this hotel has to be the breakfast. The room is large and airy with tables very well spaced out. The breakfast is served a la carte and has everything you could wish for. A variety of juices, smoothies and hot drinks. A bread and pastry basket. Fresh fruit as well as cooked options such as waffles, pancakes or french toast. We also tried a breakfast bruschetta, which had tomatoes and scrambled egg with truffle oil on sourdough. This breakfast delight was also after we had devoured a breakfast box provided for our sun rise tour. This had orange juice, water, some fruit, pastries and boiled eggs included.

The hotel gave us free late check out until 7:30pm and is also located only a 15 mins drive to the airport. I cannot fault the lovely, friendly staff, the hotel rooms, the food or the ambiance. Yes, you are a little out of town but the fun tuk tuk ride makes up for this anyway and means everything is still convenient.

I would not hesitate to stay here and would recommend everyone to try this hotel when in Siem Reap.

Sama-Sama Hotel KL International

The hubby and I took our big holiday this year to Vietnam and Cambodia! However, our airline of choice British Airways does not fly direct to either of these countries so we flew into Kuala Lumpur. Bearing in mind we were due to land at 4:05pm and were flying out at 6:50am the following morning and have already spent time in this city we chose to stay at an airport hotel instead.

Our hotel of choice was the 5* Sama-Sama International hotel, which is located in Kuala Lumpur International Airport. An excellent perk of this hotel is you can check in at the desk in the baggage reclaim hall whilst waiting for the suitcases to arrive. You are then whisked off in a complementary buggy and are straight in the lifts up to the bedrooms.

The bedrooms have huge super king size beds and large flat screen TV's with complementary movies. We chose Couples Retreat as our film of choice! The rooms are seriously sound proofed as we did not hear one airplane for our entire stay. There are large windows with some quite good views bearing in mind the airport location. The bathrooms have robes and slippers with huge walk in rainforest showers and amenities. 

The pool area is large with a bar and poolside service and was a nice relaxing place to grab some fresh air after our flight. The room service menu is excellent and very reasonably priced. We opted for a dozen mixed satay (beef and chicken), a large California roll, some french fries and a curry with a delicious butter naan and raita for less than £30! Granted the food was a bit of a mix but was all very tasty and served promptly.

Our wake up call was on time and we were even able to purchase a shuttle fair to KLIA2 for our Air Asia flight for 9MYR each if I remember correctly. The shuttle was a private car and took about 5 minutes to reach the other terminal, which meant a little lay in before the flight!

Our stay cost £85 for the night room only with free cancellation and bearing in mind the hassle it saved with taxi's to and from the city center I believe it was well worth it. We had an excellent comfy night sleep and could not fault this layover service.