For reasons far too entangled to go into, Nurse Myra and I were bounced from our booked flight from Danang to Hanoi, and the enchantingly polite and apologetic staff* from Vietnam Airlines bundled us off for a few hours to Danang’s Bamboo Green hotel.

Some people might see this as an inconvenience. Here at The Cow, we look upon such things as an opportunity.

Aha! More guest rules:

Bamboo Rules

Well, of course I already knew by now to check my dry squids at the kitchen, but Conspicuously bulky materials? And Animals including pets? Damn that souvenir water buffalo! Busted on two counts. Well, three I guess – it didn’t smell too good either.

Bamboo Green is the only hotel I’ve ever stayed at which had its own theme song (handily provided as a laminated sheet on the bedside table†):

Bamboo Song

I think Hyatt and Hilton could learn something from this.

I’m available. And not too expensive.
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*Seriously, how can these people possibly be so nice? It doesn’t matter what goes wrong they handle it with such manners and aplomb that you can’t help but smilingly go along with whatever alternative they offer. (“We are so sorry that your plane has been engulfed by toxic fumes, please accept this plate full of crushed jagged glass and a trip on a rusted bus as a substitute…” Sure!)

In fact, in this case because they had to put us on a later flight, they paid for our temporary stay in a Danang hotel along with a meal, and, I discovered later, crammed a wad of cash (nearly half the fare) in our ticket folder by way of compensation. I guess I’m not used to this kind of concern. Well, not without a lot of whining anyway. In my experience it’s usually: “Your plane’s grounded bud, deal with it.”

†Well, I suppose you never know when you’ll be at a loss for material for a singalong…