Hue to Hanoi

Day 13 - 15/10
Hue is a fairly uninteresting city, although it was the home of the Vietnamese royal dynasty and the ancient palaces (although bombed during the American War) have been largely restored. However, we didn't arrive until the early afternoon and by the time we checked into the Thanh Lich Hotel, and found a late lunch at a nearby hotel, it was getting late and we were not a little knackered. Went back to the same hotel for dinner because we didn't particularly like the look of the street side restaurants and there was always the MSG issue. However, it was truly awful and we realised that we should have tried a restaurant that was recommended by our hotel because they only served breakfast.
Day 14 - 16/10
We decided to have a lazy morning after all the recent travelling so stayed in the hotel packing and then had lunch at the Saigon Restaurant which was much better than last night's effort and much cheaper as well. Then our taxi arrived to take us to Hue Airport. About 200,000 Dong and as usual the driver spoke almost no English. Just a note of caution here; if you express an interest in something that looks interesting, it's best not too ask about it because he won't understand and very well may think you want to stop which involves a U-turn which can be hair raising!
However, the flight to Hanoi on Vietnam Airlines was very pleasantly and we'd have to say unexpectedly, a great experience. The airline operates a very young fleet and they fly world wide. Our aircraft was an Airbus 321-200 and the legroom was at least 75 mm more than you get with Air Asia. They are definitely not only catering for smaller bodied Asians! However, this is fast becoming a myth as under the increasing influence of the Western diet, average sizes are increasing with all the dubious benefits that that entails. We were most impressed and compared with American Airlines, Air Asia, Singapore Airlines and even Air NZ it was head and shoulders above any of them. They currently fly to Australia so hopefully it may not be too long before NZ is included.
We are not particularly looking forward to our return flights to Bangkok and Krabi although we do have bulkhead seats on the Hanoi-Bangkok leg.
Due to our late change of travel plans with cancelling the Sapa trip, we tried to change the date of our flights. We were technically able to do this but we discovered that it would cost more than USD90 so we decided to leave it. This is how Air Asia and other budget airlines make their money. What a fortuitous decision. We were met at Hanoi Airport by the hotel car. However, as we had tried to change hotel bookings at the last minute, it meant that we had to spend our first night at another hotel which was quite good.
Then the fun started. During the night Jim developed a raging temperature which we initially thought was flu. The next morning Jean bought a thermometer and the temperature was ranging between 37 and 39.5C. There were no other symptoms so we still didn't know what we were dealing with.
Day 15 - 17/10
The move to the Eclipse Legend Hotel was fairly excruciating for Jim as he was feeling absolutely awful. Went straight to bed and Jean was a wonderful nurse exercising her skills from long ago. Insisting on lots of water and cold towels with ice wrapped inside. It worked to a degree in getting the temperature down but always kept bouncing up. Just a burning body with no perspiration. Frightening because around 41-42c you're normally dead. This went on all night and then we had to finally move to our permanent room. We had the air conditioning turned right down as low as possible which also helped but which induced from time to time a severe shaking fit. Still none of the real symptoms at that stage. We had considered a hospital visit, but the temperature appeared to be stabilising around 38C. But then later in the day the bottom of Jim's leg started reddening severely almost up to the knee and became extremely painful. Jean didn't say much - probably to ease the feelings of the patient - but she insisted that we go immediately to the hospital - the Handi Family Medical Practice in Kim Ma Rd., Ba Dinh District. A 300,000 Dong taxi ride. The clinic was first class - very modern and spotlessly clean. We were seen fairly soon by a lady doctor who seemed very worried as she suspected either a thrombosis or cellulitis. There was an ultrasound which thankfully ruled out thrombosis. That left the cellulitis which of course we now realised had been the cause of all the recent high fever - not flu at all. We had arrived prepared for an overnight stay as it may have been considered necessary to have antibiotics by IV, but the doctor we subsequently saw gave us two lots of very strong antibiotics (Avelox and Dalacin) and he said that he was very confident that within 2-3 days there would be a big improvement. However, we have enough for 10 days so hopefully that will be more than enough. Jean has been and is absolutely wonderful. She's been up just about every two hours with the cold compresses (no sympathy for the excruciating cold on a hot body) and she's also been tireless in making sure Jim is nourished. We had bought a tin of Ensure (which is sold everywhere here, probably to combat the effects of MSG!!) and for a time that was all Jim could take. Once the real symptoms began it was really urgent to get appropriate treatment as otherwise the consequences can be very serious indeed. Once again Jim owes Jean a debt of gratitude for immediately suspecting cellulitis and organising the hospital visit accordingly.
Day 16 - 18/10
Not much to record here except that it seems that a slow improvement has started. Jean has been busy organising the hotel with supplies of soap and towels and ice and going out periodically to get food from a restaurant very close to the hotel.
At this stage we haven't seen much of Hanoi, except from taxis, but we have to say we are very impressed. Hanoi is a lively energetic city and very modern in parts with many high end shops and lots of others as well. Beautiful old French era buildings from the days of Indochine and from what we've seen so far impressively restored and maintained. Photos still to come - sorry, not up to it at present.
More to come and as always lostsaluv from us.........
Jim and Jean
Eclipse Legend Hotel
Hanoi
Vietnam

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