Vietnam, Part II

After our visit to Ho Chi Minh City, we hired a driver through the Somerset hotel to take us to Ke Ga Bay where we planned to stay for the rest of the October Holiday week.  We were supposed to leave early in the morning on October 4 to drive 4-4.5 hours to The Princess D'Annam Resort in Ke Ga Bay, but our plans changed a bit after Elijah got very sick during the night with severe diarrhea.  We were concerned about leaving the big city of Saigon and heading to a more isolated area on the coast and making the long trip with Elijah not feeling well.  We made an appointment for him at the International SOS Clinic (which happened to be right around the corner from our hotel) early in the morning, so our driver ended up taking us there instead of leaving for Ke Ga as planned.  The doctor there saw Elijah and confirmed that he was well hydrated and seemed ok to leave. She prescribed some rehydration solution, diarrhea medicine and good bacteria viles for us to take with us.  Before leaving the city we made a quick lunch stop at KFC (popular US chain here in Asia)and bought some plain white rice for Elijah.  Elijah was not happy with just white rice and insisted on some chicken--so I peeled away the fried skin and gave him a few little bites of plain chicken.
I'm not sure if it was the chicken or our Vietnamese driver's crazy, fast, jerky driving,but a short time later Elijah threw up in the back of the car.  Luckily I caught most of it with a plastic bag. Poor kid.  He fell asleep in my lap after that and I held him the whole drive to Ke Ga Bay. 
So, now that I have "whetted your appetite" for the rest of our Vietnamese journey, here goes. . . 


PRINCESS D'ANNAM  KE GA BAY

The very tranquil lobby of Princess D'Annam. 

When we arrived there were no other guests in sight and it was oddly quiet.  We were greeted by staff dressed in orange silk.
They asked us to sit down and rest, gave us warm towels for our hands and served us a fresh juice drink made with peppermint and hibiscus flowers.  Wow, nice welcome.  I have to admit I felt a little like we were in a Scooby Doo episode, when the gang arrives to an out-of-town resort and there are no other guests around because they've all been scared off by some ghost or monster.  I asked one of the bellhops why it was so quiet and he explained that it was the end of the rainy season, so not many people around until the following month.  The less populated resort ended up working out well for us since we had kids in tow and we were a bit worried about cramping the style of honeymooners or other couples there for a quiet, romantic getaway.  At times we felt like we had the place all to ourselves.

Fresh fruit platter waiting in our villa with
dragon fruit, mango, dragon eyes, apples, bananas,
passion fruit.

Beautiful ginger gardens on the grounds of the resort. 

Addie loved playing with these coconut ladles and the water basin for
 cleaning sand off of your feet after being on the beach.

Addie and Elijah heading towards the beach for the first time,
after breakfast.  One of the kind waitresses went looking after them
so I could finish my breakfast.  Shay was on a work call back in the room.

Addie making friends with one of the sweet hotel girls.

Pale little Elijah digging around and trying
to get used to the bright sun.

Ke Ga Bay Lighthouse.  We booked a sunset "cruise" out to the lighthouse.  

Here we are on our choppy evening ride out to the lighthouse.
 Wait until you see the boat we rode in.

We were ferried over to the lighthouse in one of these little round
Vietnamese fishing vessels captained by a local fisherman.  The water
was pretty choppy in places, and I was nervous that we might flip.
Our life vests were pretty flimsy.