Hot Spring Resort

A monsoon hit on Tuesday, resulting in freezing, non-stop rain through Friday night. Yes, it's miserable driving in a cold morning mist, but driving in rain EVERY SINGLE DAY makes the cold mist seem almost enjoyable. Anyway, I won't even begin to complain about it, since I spent every day looking forward to the weekend getaway Son and I had planned for our one year anniversary. We decided to take a motorbike trip out to Hoa Binh province to V Resort, which boasts a mineral water spa from a nearby hot spring. We were set to head out on Saturday morning, and I was getting a bit worried about the monsoon that didn't seem to be calming down. Lucky for us, Saturday hit with perfect weather and a lot of sun. The trip out into the countryside was, per usual, gorgeous and enjoyable. I feel that I am always writing about some trip into the countryside by motorbike... I think Son and I are becoming quite the little travel bugs. :)

We arrived (naturally, I was the only white person) to a resort that had previously insisted that all the rooms were taken and that the grounds would be bursting with tour groups. I guess everyone chickened out due to the excessive rain, because when we arrived, the place was deserted... and much to our joy, it stayed that way. The view from our balcony was incredible (see below), and the cloudless skies offered an unhindered view of the surrounding limestone mountains. Around 4pm Son and I headed over to the spa to see this famous mineral water for

ourselves. By this point, we were still convinced that there were hundreds of guests hiding out somewhere, possibly in the spa, so we went ahead and booked a "VIP Room" for a mere 15 dollars. Within minutes, we were ushered into a giant (empty) spa room. This large room had around 10 gigantic jacuzzi tubs filled with mineral water from the springs; the room was lined with gigantic windows that offered views of the carefully tended tropical gardens outside. Son and I were ushered past all the empty jacuzzi tubs and placed in our own little room. We had our own mineral jacuzzi, a large picture window, and various antique jugs and rocks decorating the space. It was absolutely lovely, and if it wasn't so hot and misty, I would've attempted to snap a picture. Our 15 dollars allowed us 2 hours of access to all the spa facilities, which basically meant our private room, a steam room and sauna located at the end of the giant spa room. We found it pretty hilarious that they opened the whole spa only for us and we had a good time running back and forth between the sauna/steam rooms and our jacuzzi tub.

After our "VIP experience", we headed over to dinner at the resort's restaurant. This, as well, was abandoned, and I was beginning to question if the resort was actually in business. But sure enough, many eager waitresses headed our way and seemed absolutely delighted to have something to do. After dinner, Son and I wandered around the grounds, looking for signs of any other people. The closest thing we saw to resort guests was a cage filled with a family of monkeys. We also happened upon a mini-golf course that seemed to have been completely ignored for the past 10 years. Opting to stay away from the karaoke club (the only sound that hinted at the presence of other resort guests), we hung out on our balcony and took in the view. The next morning, we rose early enough to make use out of the large indoor mineral spring water pool before we had to hit the road. At this point, we finally encountered other humans who were enjoying the"healing benefits of the water" as well. We hit the sauna to get warm before jumping back on the bike and making our way back to Hanoi.

The fact that the place seemed dead made it all the more enjoyable, and it's the one time that I have actually felt thankful for a monsoon. I'll have to be sure to return after another big rain so we can have a giant spa to ourselves again. Below are some pictures of the trip over, some shots of things around the resort, and so forth. Enjoy: