Some parts of Vietnam are blessed with hot springs and one such place was not far from Hue. Some negotiations with various hotel staff on the best rate for a driver were concluded satisfactorily and the driver headed off towards Thahn Tan Hot Springs, a 90 minute drive. Thahn Tan Hot Springs advertises itself as a place to cure all manner of ailments and sounded like a grand European Spa to compare with the great spas of Germany and France. Hmmm...one thing you learn while travelling in Vietnam is that anticipation is quite often better than the actual event. The weather looked increasingly bad and the rapidly deteriorating condition of the road (or should I say track?) started to cause a little bit of concern. Then, some 500 metres from the Spa, the road improved dramatically and the sense of anticipation increased accordingly!
The ticket buying process was a bit complicated - it seems, despite the rather ghoulish advertising pictures showing European types enjoying the spa, that not many foreigners frequented the place. Taking the top price ticket (about $6) we were led to the 'VIP' area of the Spa Resort. There was no one around other than staff, we had the place to ourselves it seemed. The pools and equipment looked a little, shall we say, quaint and a bit antiquated but it looked clean and tidy. A gate heralded the 'VIP' section and someone to escort us to the lockers. We decided to look around first before partaking of the health giving waters. In the event, the surrounding countryside was rather beautiful other than severely threatening dark gray clouds looming on the mountain tops. The walk had some surprises and another encounter with the 'as big as your hand spiders' just feet from the footpath. The more pleasant surprises included some deer and wild pigs (secure behind a big fence!)
The hot water that supplies the spa comes from deep underground and emerges at a constant 68 deg C - slightly hotter than domestic hot water in most of our homes. The spa owners had built a series of streams with little dams every 15 metres or so. As the water travels slowly down the man made stream, it cools. The coolest part of the stream was a pleasant 34 deg C and then as you gradually work your past 5 dams you end up in water at about 45 deg C which was plenty hot enough for me. There were other pools where you could swim in 40 deg C water and also have a hot jacuzzi type bath. After several hours of getting in and out of the 'healing waters' my skin did feel softer but I did not feel much else. Just after lunch, the heavens opened and the rain came pouring down and the sky flashed lightning - it was actually quite a refreshing way to cool off after having been poached in the 45 deg C water!
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