The red carpet treatment

Just as we were checking out we were told that we would have to pay for the carpet which, after several failed attempts to clean it, would have to be replaced in the end. They told us that it was an expensive imported carpet so I started to get nervous that they would charge us thousands of euros. Last year I got stung by the exorbitant (and unlimited) fees for using data while roaming (I should have known better) and this year, it was looking like I was going to have to pay another fortune for making a silly mistake.

As you can see from the bill, we were charged not thousands, but millions - two million, to be precise. Luckily the exchange rate is around 25,000 Vietnamese Dong to the euro, so this works out to only 80 euros - about the same as the shoes that caused the damage cost in the first place. (OK, the shoes weren't responsible, I was.) Still, if only I had been carrying a little more money while running so that I could have bought some flip flops to traipse back into the hotel in (amazingly, the only flip flops I could find were some ridiculous branded ones that cost the best part of twenty euros!).

I have to say that the hotel - the Sommerset Grand Hanoi - treated us extremely well, never once making me feel any worse for the accident than I already did and the charge was absolutely minimal. I dread to think how it would have been in another hotel in another country.

(If you look closely at the photo you can still see traces of red dye under my fingernail...)