Tuesday 1 September - part 2

Just got back from dinner and couldn't wait until tomorrow to post this entry.

For starters the massage has to be the best that I have ever had - no wonder Dennis came home on Friday raving about it. The Movenpick Hotel is just around the corner, it is a Swiss Group and they have hotels all over the world. The decor is immaculately put together to create an air of elegance with a modern twist. All the lines are crisp and clean in neutral colours with vibrant burnt oranges and reds thrown in against the backgrounds for colour. As you arrive at the hotel there is an old vintage car, cream - nothing less really. Doormen have the doors open before you even step onto the premises. The Wellness Centre is on the third floor, even the lifts are stylish - if that is possible. We were shown into a room with two massage beds draped with burnt orange towels with a cream daisy at the foot of each.

The massage was incredible, she found lumps and bumps that I didn't even know I had. It was like being completely ironed out and all for €20 each for one hour! We both walked home like we were on air.

We decided that we would go to the restaurant that we had planned to go to last evening. We are so glad we did. We got off to a sticky start, the taxi from our hotel dropped us at a restaurant, we walked in, were shown to a table and sat down. It didn't quite feel right, it was a lovely restaurant but the name was different to what we expected. We were very lucky with our waiter because when we asked him if this was the Wild Lotus he explained that the restaurant was further down the street. Fortunately we hadn't ordered anything so we up sticks and left, thanking him very much. We walked down the street in the direction he had pointed us. I was just about to say to Dennis that we should forget it when there it was in front of us. We walked in, to be greeted by a lovely waitress and calm and serene decor. As we entered you walked over wooden steps set in water surrounded by pink lotus flowers. Then up some steps, the wall on the left had water trickling down it again being collected by a pool with the lotus blossoms in. The top of the stairs opened out into the waiting area - beautiful leather comfy chairs with velvet cushions, many shades of rusts, browns and creams. After ordering drinks we were shown to our table. The menu was very extensive but entirely lived up to its promise. I had Chili prawn fish cakes with a sweet chili sauce to start, Dennis had beef & spicy vegetable spring rolls, the rolls were made from rice and sprinkled with sesame seeds with a dipping sauce. Both were really yummy. I had grilled sea bass with lemon grass for main, Dennis had grilled beef in black pepper sauce. His sauce was fantastic - fine cuts of beef cooked with finely chopped chillies, whole black pepper corns, garlic and herbs in a very light sauce. We had mixed vegetables and steamed rice. This was definitely the best meal we have eaten since we left. The clientele were a mixture of Vietnamese, business people and tourists. Dessert was banana fritters served on banana leaves with a pandarnus sauce, I had Vietnamese black sticky rice topped with a custard, served with a scoop of coconut ice cream. Just perfect. A taxi home rounded things off beautifully.

The cost of the above meal, including a glass of red wine, a bottle of water, 2 Sprites and the tip - a cool 1 million Vietnamese Dong! (forty Euros to you and me).