A promotional image of a street view of the Sofitel Metropole Legend in a composite with Jennifer Shire
A five star stay in Hanoi
Hanoi, Viet Nam - Thursday,May 24, 2012
by: Jennifer Shire
So the Sofitel Metropole Legend had fulfilled everything I needed.
After a very long flight last week, I landed in Hanoi at 10:00 pm to be greeted by their limo service... which was awesome!! When I arrived at the hotel they whisked me away upstairs straight to my room with the bed turned down and the lights dimmed. I spent most of the day sleeping and trying to straighten my body out of plane paralysis.
This hotel is ridiculous... it opened in 1901 and is one of the most famous in the world. The first movie ever shown in Indo-China was here in 1916. And, in the 20’s, the rooms went for $7/day or $125 for the month. I wish.
The hotel has been extremely important in Vietnamese history, Ho Chi Minh spent his time in Hanoi here. Some other interesting guests... Charlie Chaplin spend his honeymoon here in the 30's and in the 40's the hotel was an important meeting point for international diplomats. In '55 Graham Greene penned the first words of the 'Quiet American' here.
The current day pool was the air shelter in the 40's as well when Vietnam was invaded by Japan.
In 1972 Jane Fonda stayed here when she became 'Hanoi Jane'. The hotel was also home to several embassies in the 70's - Australian, German and Israeli are a few.
The guest book is something else - and I totally fit right in....President and Barbara Bush, Prince Albert of Monoco, King Juan Carlos of Spain, Prince Andrew, Queen of Denmark, Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, President of France Jacque Chirac, President Clinton, Chancellor Angela Merkel from Germany, Senator John McCain, Brendan Fraser... Canada's most famous actor, Michael Caine, Roger Moore, Francis Ford Coppola, Danny DeVito, and Angelina and Brad..... and of course me.
There is a huge staff and I think they make them memorize the guests names because they all knew who I was. And, one of the greatest things.... they have a no tipping policy. Wow... does that relieve stress... a 10% gratuity is on everything and they won't even accept if you try to give something.
The spa has been amazing. My first treatment was an Indochina massage, which was basically the same except when the little vietnamese lady climbs on top of you. The towels and air smell like flowers. My second treatment I had a combination facial/foot massage for an hour. Wow. That's all that can be said. Third treatment was a steam and sauna followed by a full body scrub and then deep tension massage... and when they say full body, it was no joke... they were very thorough. No more details on that. This morning I had a foot massage again, but this time asked for more pressure, so they brought in a cute Vietnamese guy who did a fantastic job.
I went out midday yesterday, the heat wasn't too bad, very humid, but all in all, fairly bearable. I'm a little stressed about pickpockets though, because I've been warned several times. When I bought my hat, I went to take money out of my backpack and the vendor told me to shove all my money in my top or else it will get stolen. I don't have a great spot in my pack to keep money...Its down like three compartments though and someone would have to steal my whole bag... It's not convenient at all to get to when I need it... work in progress.
A few things that struck me so far... compared to travelling in the Mideast, people are much more polite here. The workforce is very evenly split, male-female. At the watch place yesterday, the entire staff was female, not a male in sight, and I just thought how different that was from India/Mideast. The amount of young people here is insane. There are so many teens and twenty-thirty people.
No smell so far, (Walking in India, or Old Jerusalem brought some interesting smells and many not pleasant) even in the market, if it's anything at all, just cooking. However, this morning at the spa, the manager came up and asked how I was and poured me chamomile tea. I said it was good, but it was different than at home. She said that's because they work with a perfumer in France and the tea and water in the spa is infused with lavender and jasmine. They wash the towels in it, seriously.
I'm having trouble leaving, knowing now I'll be slumming it a bit with no lavender infused water and towels. I have a vietnamese SIM card now so I'll no problem texting I think... I haven't quite got the county code right yet though. Oh that’s the other thing... this girl working in the conference centre gave me her SIM card for nothing. She took it and put it in my phone and then the concierge went and got me recharge cards, which they charged to my room. This place is awesome. I would highly recommend to come on off peak season, get a seat sale, and the hotel will do the rest.
It is to be hoped I can tell you more soon!!
Editor’s note: Jennifer first contributed to Ensign in November of 1998 when she was studying in Mexico. Since then she has tour Europe, Egypt, Jordan and worked for a summer on an archeological dig in Israel near Gaza Strip. She and her sister tour India and now she is on a twenty day visit to Vietnam. Today she was on a tour out of Hanoi but shortly she will set off on a backpacking hike that will take her to Ho Che Minh City (Saigon). In the Google image above the large bridge in the picture was shown many times during the war in Vietnam as it was an important target for United States air and navy pilots who had been assigned to bomb the most heavily defended spot on the planet “downtown” Hanoi.