We were worried when we got in the taxi at the airport and the driver said, "Why do you want to go there? There are lots of better hotels in the city center. That place is all messed up." Well it turns out he was referring to the traffic in the area, which is bad for the time being because they are building a subway.

The hotel itself is really lovely, quiet and secluded, and the garden is large, well kept and beautiful. It was a great place for an evening walk, with azaleas, bougainvillea and bamboo artfully interspersed with ponds and Chinese pavilions. Our room was large and well-lit with two full beds with feather pillows. Overall it was very clean, though there were some stains on the carpet. The hotel is generally very quiet, though we did hear some muffled voices from the next room.

The service was very good, and the staff was very helpful in getting us a cab at 5 AM for an early flight out (this despite the warning from our first driver that there would be no cabs available at that hour). They also made us some delicious boxed breakfasts to take with us since we would miss the regular breakfast.

A couple of small things were less-than-ideal: (1) the smoke detector on the ceiling had a mini strobe light that flashed every few minutes - not noticeable when the lights were on, but in the middle of the night when you're still suffering from jet lag, it was annoying. (2) We had the dinner buffet since we did not feel like venturing out of the secluded comfort of the compound, and it was disappointing. While there was a nice variety, the serving dishes were not well heated and most of the food was lukewarm. We were very worried about possible food contamination - buffets are always a risk - but we were fine and did not have any gastrointestinal issues.

This hotel has an interesting aspect. It's not so much a tourist hotel as a conference facility and seems to be used frequently by the local Communist Party for various functions. So if you want to rub elbows with some real CCP apparatchiks this is the place!