After the craziest week exploring Ho Chi Minh City we headed off to the little fishing Island of Con Dao, just a 45 minute flight away (yet utterly remote) for some rest and relaxation. I first heard about Con Dao when we were planning our previous trip to Vietnam. We couldn't quite fit the journey to the Island into that trip, and I couldn't get the place out of my mind! 

We stayed at one of my favourite resort brands- Six Senses (they have lots of Hotels and spa's around the world). We've stayed a few locations in various country's now, and when planning travel we also check to see if our destination has a Six Senses. 
Its really quite the unique company, with a very strong focus on the environment and sustainability.    

Six Senses Con Dao ​is set in a protected national and marine park. One of Vietnam’s archipelago islands, it like staying in a traditional Vietnamese fishing village... but with all of the luxuries of a modern resort. 

After the warmest of welcomes and the most refreshingly fresh juice ever, we began to explore the Island 

There are SO many reasons why we love six senses resorts! The service, the story behind both the company and the individual resorts, the fact that they are build around the natural habitat, the fact that they all have their own vegetable gardens (Con Dao even has its own mushroom hut!).   I could go on and on, as I have done in previous posts! But the biggest thing for me is just how much character and personality they have. I find that resorts can be a bit boring to me! They can be a little too fake and touristy. That is not what you get with a Six Senses resort. 

They are one of the only companies Iv found that has the perfect balance between being completely luxurious and have an environmental conscious too. Its Like magic! Plus you really do feel less guilty about your vacation! 

Set against the backdrop of the awe inspiring ​ Lo Voi Mountain, its really quite beautiful. 

There are always things to explore and discover at a six senses resort and Con Dao is no exception. Because the resorts are built around nature you really do feel like your experiencing a genuine peek into Vietnamese life 

We quite often felt like we had the Island to ourselves, as there are only 50 Villa's on the resort. We managed to take so many walks with the whole beach to ourselves. 

In the next post I'll show you around our Villa :-)

You can see more of the Six Senses resorts we have visited like the Seychelles and Thailand. 

The sun might be retreating and the nights might be drawing in, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t have fun. But if your idea of a fun night is witty banter, and catching up with old friends and family you might feel that the traditional house party isn’t for you. If you don’t drink or want to support a partner or friend who is teetotal, a more sedate occasion like a dinner party might seem like a better option than a traditional house party… but that would involve chaining you to the oven when you could be mixing with friends and loved ones. 
​

The truth is that you can have an incredibly fun and lively party with nary a drop of alcohol served. You don’t need to worry about how your friends will react. They’ll come to see you, not to get squiffy! Besides, you can pull out all the stops to show them that you don’t have to drink to have a fun and memorable party…

Prepare guests

Just so everyone knows what to expect, it’s a good idea to remind guests beforehand that they will be attending a dry party. They might want to go for a drink or two beforehand and that’ll be their prerogative. Just so long as they know that while you won’t be serving booze you’ll be serving up a whole lot of fun.

Get some help in the form of dry bar hire

There’s an infinite number of taste combinations that can be unlocked in the form of delicious and refreshing drinks without the need to add alcohol to the equation. But rather than experiment with different combinations of libations yourself and risk things going horribly, horribly wrong, why not consider a Dry Bar Hire? You can choose a variety of different styles to suit the theme and tone of your party and with a flexible choice of staffing, you’ll have a skilled professional on hand to keep your guests refreshed and entertained. 

Play games

Alcohol can fill the void when there’s nothing to do. The more tiddly people are, the less inclined they are to restlessness or boredom. But if you have an itinerary of fun games to play, this will ease conversation and social interaction in a much more meaningful way than alcohol consumption. 

No matter what kind of crowd you’ll be entertaining there are always a fun range of games to play together whether you want to yuk it up with a game of Cards Against Humanity or break out the Twister mat.

Don’t be stingy with the snacks

When your palate isn’t numbed by alcohol, everything tastes better! Make sure that you capitalise on this by serving up a great selection of snacks and finger foods to delight your guests. You can go as high or low end as you like, but try and make sure everyone has something tasty to snack on, even if it’s just a mini pizza bagel.
​
Take lots of pictures

Finally, be sure to take lots of snaps of the fun. Showcase the tasty food and delectable drinks and all those happy, smiling faces. Hopefully when you post them online you’ll show people that they can have a great time without drinking. 

Located in the heart of old colonial French Saigon, Le Maison de RuNam D’Or is a lovely cafe over looking one of Saigon's main attractions, cathedral Notre Dame. If beautiful French colonial style architecture are your thing, you'll love this place. 

Give me French colonial architecture and a few palm prints and i'm there! The cafe is really beautifully styled and the fact that you can sip a cocktail whilst looking over the historic square is really something special.  

My dress is from Zara and is no longer available, so I found some similar styles below. 

The terrace is the perfect spot for cocktail with its view of the main square and Notre dame. 

After are coffee stop, we picked up a coffee to go (even the Starbucks in Vietnam is cuter, they have a vanilla fig latte would you believe) and headed off to the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens. 

I was absolutely obsessed with the Orchid house. It was run down in the most delightful way. It felt really aged (its actu ally one of the oldest zoo's in the world)and vintage and I love how they had orchids hanging everywhere. It made me want to go home and hang mine form the ceiling. 

The zoo, against the back drop of such a large city was quite the thing to see. Elephants among skyscrapers make quite the unusual site.  The zoo in my opinion was a little rusty around the edges, but so are many things in Vietnam. The animals all seemed happy and healthy which is the most important thing, but the main reason we had visited in the first place was to see the botanical gardens. 

Belle 
​Xx