Pousada de Mong-Há — Hotel in Nossa Senhora de Fátima

I was back at the Pousada de Mong Ha (the "Pousada") once again, and yes, with my wife, once again. After a busy December 2017 month of travel to Phnom Penh, and Bangkok, I really needed a break - where else, but the Pousada.||||Going back to the Pousada evoked pleasant memories of my first stay there in 2001 and subsequent stays. As always, the main draw for me is the Pousada "family" - the students, the maintenance staff, and the restaurant staff. They still remember me. And as always, the service was superb - cheery greetings every time they see me, the neat, clean and tidy room, and above all, the eagerness to offer help, for example, bus routes and taxi bookings. Always a treat to get back to after a long day out.||||Some good improvements - strong WiFi signal (free), free shuttle in the morning to the ferry terminal and the Hotel Lisboa, refurbished rooms (new carpet).||||I always (and I mean always) get this sense of peace and tranquility whenever I'm at the Pousada, especially, breakfast under the arches (see my earlier review). There is this timeless charm of days gone by that cocoons me as I sip my freshly brewed coffee and nibble at the superb home-made baguette. I feel like I'm in a rich and kind grandfather's mansion. Always a great way to start the day. Just chill.||||Another key reason to go to the Pousada is the excellent dinner at the IFT Educational Restaurant. Go for the Tasting Menu, and pair it with a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. A perfect way to end the day with a loved one. Best of all, you'll just walk back to your hotel after dinner, without going through the hassle of calling for a taxi.||||Another great improvement - there's a IFT Cafe near the New Yaohan, facing Nam Van lake, and it's below road level. Took me a while to find the place and I've to thank my sharp-eyed wife for spotting it. They serve good coffee and great sandwiches. A great place to chill with your kids and pets. See the photo.||||2018 will see a new Pousada. According to the hotel's website, it will be closed for about a year for a major refurbishment. I'll back in in 2019 for sure. Just can't wait for it. It's only 363 days away.||||Happy New...

I was back at the Pousada de Mong Ha (the "Pousada") once again, and yes, with my wife, once again. After a busy December 2017 month of travel to Phnom Penh, and Bangkok, I really needed a break - where else, but the Pousada.||||Going back to the Pousada evoked pleasant memories of my first stay there in 2001 and subsequent stays. As always, the main draw for me is the Pousada "family" - the students, the maintenance staff, and the restaurant staff. They still remember me. And as always, the service was superb - cheery greetings every time they see me, the neat, clean and tidy room, and above all, the eagerness to offer help, for example, bus routes and taxi bookings. Always a treat to get back to after a long day out.||||Some good improvements - strong WiFi signal (free), free shuttle in the morning to the ferry terminal and the Hotel Lisboa, refurbished rooms (new carpet).||||I always (and I mean always) get this sense of peace and tranquility whenever I'm at the Pousada, especially, breakfast under the arches (see my earlier review). There is this timeless charm of days gone by that cocoons me as I sip my freshly brewed coffee and nibble at the superb home-made baguette. I feel like I'm in a rich and kind grandfather's mansion. Always a great way to start the day. Just chill.||||Another key reason to go to the Pousada is the excellent dinner at the IFT Educational Restaurant. Go for the Tasting Menu, and pair it with a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. A perfect way to end the day with a loved one. Best of all, you'll just walk back to your hotel after dinner, without going through the hassle of calling for a taxi.||||Another great improvement - there's a IFT Cafe near the New Yaohan, facing Nam Van lake, and it's below road level. Took me a while to find the place and I've to thank my sharp-eyed wife for spotting it. They serve good coffee and great sandwiches. A great place to chill with your kids and pets. See the photo.||||2018 will see a new Pousada. According to the hotel's website, it will be closed for about a year for a major refurbishment. I'll back in in 2019 for sure. Just can't wait for it. It's only 363 days away.||||Happy New...

In Macau for just a night and wanting a taste of the real Macau, as opposed to the artifice of the Cotai Strip, this place seemed the ideal choice for my wife and I. We were not disappointed. Situated in "old" peninsula Macau, the hotel is barely 100 metres from the former Mong-Ha Fortress and barracks that is now a park and recreation area. The hotel itself is the converted barracks for NCOs, not that there's any sense of the military feel of the former use left. Instead it feels like you've walked straight into a slice of the Mediterranean transported to the top of a hill in Macau. The architecture, the tile work, the iron-work, whitewashed walls, open squares and decorative fountains. The front desk staff are some of the most attentive we've ever met - multi-lingual, efficient, anticipatory and extremely courteous. They treat every question as simply that - not a problem you've given them that they'd prefer you had kept to yourself and similarly solved yourself - and endeavour to find the answer. They've got good knowledge of the area and can point you quickly and easily in the direction of some of the most unassuming, yet interesting historical points in Macau. The only food we ate at the hotel was breakfast, which was an excellent spread of pretty much everything you could want, including fresh-baked breads and pastries, homemade jams, etc. Our schedule deprived us the opportunity to sample more - so we'll have to make a return trip to make up for it. And we fully intend to, as this hotel is really a study (no pun intended) in how things should be done from a customer's point of view. We were there for just one night and it was our first time, yet we were treated as though we were long-standing guests, returning for another long-term residency. We were made to feel as if we were coming...