INDULGE YOUR SENSES IN FABULOUS VIETNAM
IF your idea of Vietnam is the sensory overload of Apocalypse Now, then in some ways you would be right.
From the moment you walk out of the airport into the tropical heat you are blitzed by unfamiliar sensations.
But instead of the smell of napalm in the morning, you get the scent of frangipani tree blossom in the evening and instead of rockets going off in the sky you see beautiful silk lanterns lighting up ancient streets.
This is a country that long ago moved on from the war that defined the 1960s to become a vibrant and welcoming place.
We flew into Da Nang, in central Vietnam. While the north of the country is considered the political centre and the south the economic hub, the central part is thought of as the cultural and religious heart.
Just an hour’s out of Da Nang Laguna resort.
Set on a 3km stretch of pristine white sand and beneath the lush forests of the Truong Son mountain range, this a large, yet tastefully designed complex of two major hotels — the Angsana and the Banyan Tree — and an 18-hole golf course designed by Sir Nick Faldo.
We stayed at the Angsana Hotel, a familyfriendly complex with a huge range of suites, from one-bedroom garden rooms through to two-bedroom loft-style apartments on three levels with their own pool, terrace and separate living area.
There’s a spa and loads of free activities, including paddle boarding, kayaking and bungee trampolining. The hotel offers a free shuttle bus to the historic city of Hoi An.
There are four restaurants offering a range drive is the of cuisines. They include Vietnamese dishes such as pho.
One restaurant specialises in Japanese style bento boxes while another focuses more on Indo Chinese food.
The hotel is keen to give guests a taste of Vietnamese life and organises trips around the area just for this. We tried out traditional fishing at the nearby village of Canh Duong. A local fisherwoman took us out on the river in a circular boat made of bamboo. Apparently modelled on Welsh coracles, they are the perfect craft for manoeuvring around the mangroves that line the riverbank. She must have some upper body strength, I thought to myself as she then ordered me to pull up a net she had already laid out earlier. We caught about 10 tiny crabs, hardly enough to keep the wolves at bay.
We also had a fun cookery class where chef Nho taught us how to make Vietnamese spring rolls together with a chilli dipping sauce.
The Laguna resort is committed to giving something back to the local community and it donates 15 tons of rice grown on the golf course rice paddies to local people each year.
They also have an education programme to support local kids. Teaching under the gaze of Ho Chi Minh’s statue, we discovered that the English of the 11-year-olds we were teaching was just as good as kids back home.
No visit to central Vietnam would be complete without seeing the ancient city of Hoi An. This UNESCO World Heritage site is one traditional