Experiencing the Beach and Pool at the Hyatt Regency in Da Nang

Here are some pictures from our vacation in Da Nang.  We stayed in a three bedroom villa at the Hyatt, which was located directly on the beach.  The resort was incredibly well maintained, with manicured lawns and beautiful palm trees and plants everywhere.  I thought the villa itself was a bit run down, and the kitchen a bit worn and small, but I think my dissatisfaction mostly stemmed from our having just returned from vacationing in a brand new, meticulously organized and impeccably cleaned apartment in Japan.

Here we are, on the plane en route.  It's a short flight from Hong Kong, and Lola handled it very well.  She didn't cry at all on the flight, including through take off and landing.

 We had a nice big Mercedes car transfer, which still barely fit all of us and our luggage!

 We had some beautiful views from our villa.  Every day (except the day of our departure - how lucky we were!) was bright and sunny with beautiful blue skies.  Our villa opened directly onto this walk, which then immediately led to a sandy path to the beach and water beyond.  By opening our balcony doors, we could feel the cool breeze and hear the rustling of the palm trees along with the waves directly from our bedroom.

The Hyatt has a really nice, long, uninterrupted stretch of white sand beach.  I think it's pretty hard to find this kind of beach in Southeast Asia.  The best part is that there are no hawkers, no vendors and barely any people.  I suspect this is because there are jellyfish (or at least, there were signs warning of jellyfish) in the water.

We took Lola to the beach and to the villa swimming pool on multiple occasions during the vacation. 

 She did not like the ocean - the noise, the surf, the sand, the sun, the cold water... she let her unhappiness be known quite vocally.

 We gave it another try on another day - here she is, hot and barely tolerating her dad's ministrations.

What is this grainy cold wet feeling?  Sand on her toes and feet for the first time!

But she looked super duper cute in her dolphin rash guard (with a fin on her arm!) and pink flamingo swim diapers...

... until it really was too much.

Fed. up.

 Lola was a little more tolerant of the swimming pool, although she kept a death grip on Michael the entire time and didn't want to have more than her feet and legs submerged.  She was really brave though, willing to give it a try even though she was very nervous, and even allowed water to be splashed on her gently.  I think it was only once or twice that her mouth wobbled into a precarious pout and she came close to crying - though she ultimately managed to keep it together.  Once the pool in our building opens for the summer, we will hopefully be able to acclimate her to these sensations.