A trip to Vietnam & Singapore

We've just returned from a family holiday to Vietnam and Singapore, as those of you who follow along on Instagram will be aware. Vietnam seemed like the perfect family holiday destination for us as it's a relatively short 2 hour flight from Singapore, and it would expose our children to a totally different culture to that of home. We also wanted it to be a holiday centring on relaxation - it's been a busy year for all of us. So Hoi An in Vietnam ticked all the boxes. It's located on the coast in the mid part of Vietnam and while it is technically currently Winter there, it enjoys a tropical climate, so it was a mild 25-28C most days. Warm enough to swim, but not so hot that walking around the old town of Hoi An was unpleasant.




We stayed in two hotels whilst there - the first, Anantara, is located on the river very close to the old town which made it easy to walk into the centre with the children. It's designed in a French Colonial style, and was a lovely base. The second hotel, Nam Hai, was one of the resorts located a 10-15 minute drive out of town on the beach and comprised the 'relaxation' element of the trip. It's been designed by a French Architect in the style of minimalist, modern Chinese pavilion style, and is very elegant.


While all the resorts on the beach offer free shuttle bus services into Hoi An town, we felt that when our children became tired it would be far easier if we could just walk 5 minutes back to the hotel (or rickshaw them there while the rest of us walked), rather than wait for the next shuttle to a resort, hence why we broke the trip into two separate places to stay.


You can get direct international flights into Da Nang (the nearest large city approximately 30 minutes drive away from Hoi An), so it made for an easy travel destination all round. The car ride did not seem long to the children as they were completely fascinated watching the traffic and the lack of apparent road rules, the strange things being carried on the back of scooters (animals, stock for shops), and the families of three on one scooter zooming past. While I would have loved to go back to Hanoi and also shown them Hue (the former imperial city), we decided staying put in Hoi An would be the go this time around. It was also easier to navigate due to the lack of traffic - the old town is blocked to scooters and cars, so is perfectly safe for pedestrians.

Hoi An is charming - it's famous for its many tailors, although having overindulged in bad tailoring 11 years ago I avoided them like the plague this time (no one with a 12 hour turnaround time is going to do a stellar job in my opinion).



They are also well known for their hanging lanterns, made in all different shapes and covered in silk, which are strung up all through the town and lit up at night to give quite a magical effect .


Other Vietnamese specialties are well represented in the town shops such as lacquer, objects made of Water Buffalo horn (they shed them naturally and they are then crafted into small bowls, salad servers, necklaces and hair pins), beautifully hand embroidered linens and bags and items made from silk. Sadly there are now a reasonable number of shops selling polyester Polo Ralph Lauren polo shirts and vinyl Louis Vuitton and Mulberry bags - I suppose it is inevitable that when Western tourists arrive in any quantity in Asia these items start to become popular, and from conversations I overheard most visitors left with entire new suitcases full of extra stuff they'd bought.


The children found the bartering aspect fascinating (and the performance that goes along with it), and the fresh food market with the stallholders produce set out on the sides of the roads - mounds of fresh coriander, ginger, salad ingredients, dragon fruit, women walking past with the traditional shoulder poles carrying baskets with fresh fish in totally them eye opening. There was a stall that sold live chickens in small bamboo cages (not sure whether to eat or for eggs, but you do see a lot of chickens wandering about roadside just out of town). It was no sanitised Western style market, and nor are the buildings a scrubbed clean Disney- style old town. There is a lot of patina in Hoi An still. It's all surrounded by rice paddies tended by workers wearing traditional conical hats and Water Buffalo and was a good eye opener to our children as to how people in other countries live.



One restaurant I'd recommend (and we ate there 11 years ago and enjoyed it then too) is the Brother's Cafe. It's just out of the old town, near the Anantara Hotel on the river. It's got an absolutely charming courtyard to dine in on the river, and at night is lit up with lanterns.


All up it was an excellent family holiday - the highlight for me was walking out of the hotel one morning with an enormous bag full of laundry and having the 4 women, who have enterprisingly set up laundry services at the gates, begin fighting for the job. If only that happened at home. Returning home with a suitcase full of clean clothes after a family holiday was a miracle in itself.


There was also a lot of design inspiration all around me. While we didn't buy a lot, the beautiful details in the Hotels in both Singapore and Vietnam, the French Colonial and Chinese influences of the old town of Hoi An, their use of colour, traditional screens, pots and mood lighting were all inspirational in themselves. I could really get a sense of where the Australian/ British Interior Designer Anoushka Hemple found inspiration.


And as for what my souvenirs of the holiday were (aside from the happy memories and many photos), I purchased a tiny tea pot for one with tiny tea canisters of tea leaves from TWG tea in Singapore. You can buy the tea in David Jones' stores in Australia, but the range in Singapore was far larger, and the teapot was so charming I couldn't resist. The teapot has an insulating sleeve around it and literally brews only a single cup, so is perfect for me.


My Hoi An purchase was a set of napkin rings carved from a single shell for each. They're apparently made up in North Vietnam in Halong Bay (If you've ever seen the movie starring Catherine Deneuve, Indochine, then you'll remember the stunning beauty of Halong Bay which was the second star of the movie, and if you haven't watched the movie then seek it out as it is beautiful). Another great movie, shot around Hoi An, is The Quiet American starring Michael Caine. And with that I think I'm off to do a binge watch of both those movies and relive a fantastic holiday. Hopefully we will return to Vietnam far sooner than in another 11 years.