In my recent trip to Vietnam (for the first time), coming out of the airport and being driven for almost 4 hours to my first stay, I was struck by the speed the driver was travelling – which was about 50kms all the way. Noticing my frustration and impatience growing, it made me think about how we drive in Australia – not just the speed, but our focus on needing to get to a destination for a particular purpose, and get there fast. Awareness (dare I say enjoyment) of the journey is completely non-existent.
Fast forward a few days to when I was in Hanoi, I found myself reflecting on how often you see people (I felt mostly men, but you do see more women in the mornings) sitting around in groups on their short stools, just conversing and enjoying each other’s company. I feel this is such an important part of Vietnamese culture, this ‘slowness’ of the people, as they go about their daily lives. It infiltrates everything they do, and you feel this as a visitor. The whole atmosphere feels a lot more calm when the pace is slower. I feel we have lost this sense in the Western world – particularly since the advent of computers.
Whenever I talk to people who have visited Vietnam, they all invariably say the same thing – the people are so lovely. And they are. They are just so open, warm and inviting. I found they are actually interested in finding out about you – who you are, what you are doing in their country – and usually they will do everything they can to help you.
On this trip, I was there to review 3 spas/retreats for our Feature in this magazine on Wellness Travel in Vietnam, but also to have a few days for myself to explore in Hanoi. Massage has been a part of my life for a long time now, and is part of my personal health regime (not for pampering as many people still refer to it). And I think the training and skill of massage therapists in Asian countries, is some of the best in the world.
So usually, the treatments I receive at the various places I stay is enough. But on this occasion, I was having trouble with my shoulder, so I decided to get an additional massage which was a referral from the hotel I was staying in. And unfortunately, it is definitely the worst massage experience I have ever had – which was actually a bit of a shock. I don’t think the lady who gave me the massage had been trained at all – I could tell by her technique. Plus they had an ‘electrical treatment’ which I had seen on the menu advertised as Land Bioelectric Treatment and they said would give me 10 minutes additional using this device, which turned out to be quite scary – I had to ask them to stop.
So the upshot of this is, just be careful when you are walking off the street for a massage. Knowing the difference between a massage you receive at a more upmarket hotel compared to from the street, I would really recommend the former for comfort, safety and peace-of-mind, and actually feeling structurally a lot better when you walk out than when you walked in.
And although there are many, many people visiting Vietnam these days, and there are lots of tourists, I would still recommend it. It is a very colourful country, as a single woman I felt really safe moving around, a lot of people speak English, and there is so much to explore, see and do. Plus, it is good for your health.
CATE MERCER
Editor/Publisher
The Art of Healing
This Editor’s Note appeared in Vol 4 Issue 93 of The Art of Healing.
