Vietnam Central - Hue

Hue is the ancient capital of Vietnam -- so for the ignorant me -- it was a good place to learn about the history of Vietnam.  I honestly didn't know that Chinese influence is so great in Vietnam that it has its own version of the forbidden city ;p See how ignorant i am.

On hindsight, we could have stayed 1 night in Hue-- that would give us more time to explore this city rich in history. But for a 1 day trip i think we covered quite a lot of it, starting from the forbidden city to the pagoda to the "french quarters" (so to speak, as there are many french-inspired colonial buildings there) to the local Dong Ba market -- we caught a glimpse of this ancient capital.

Lunch was good, in one of the garden homes -- it was on my "to visit" list, so i was glad it was included as part of our private tour. 

All in an enjoyable city and outing.  My usual complaint applies -- very hot!! ;)

Central Vietnam - My Son

I was initially undecided whether I want to visit My Son as i have read that it is not as 'magnificent' as Angkor Wat as most of it were destroyed. But it is actually older than Angkor Wat and I figured it will not be so soon that I can visit Angkor Wat (after this trip, maybe that's no longer true as I am very encouraged by this trip and am keen to explore visiting it next year :p) -- so might as well visit it and see if kaira likes it.

As we didn't want to wake up too early (taking into consideration Kaira's need to have enough sleep) we set off at 8 am - personally if u can make it earlier, that will be better cos it's really very very hot with very little shade.

It was nevertheless an enjoyable outing and with the guide, provided us with greater understanding of Vietnam's history.

No regrets taking the day trip :)) despite having to bear with the glaring sun and heat. Remember to bring insect mosquito, hat, sunglasses and sunblock!!

Central Vietnam - Hoi An

We visited Hoi An a total of 3 times this trip - so you can imagine that it must be quite a nice place :) plus as its convenient and near to get here from our resort, we visit here for our meals too (in addition to da nang city).

While I don't deny that it's quaint and well preserved and very easy for tourists, somehow by the third visit I felt that it's a little too touristy - maybe I didn't go beyond the main town area which is full of shops selling souvenirs or fabric and tailors.

In fact We did most of our shopping here, buying paintings, pouches, fans, tableware and what nots :p whilst I read somewhere that there isn't much room to 'haggle' on the prices - I felt that shops near the 'Viet Town Garden and Restaurant' (where most of the resort bus shuttles stop) have more room for negotiation - so do some homework before parting with your hard earned $$! :)

Enjoy Hoi An!

Excited!!!

This central Vietnam trip has been so enjoyable that it has gotten me and hubby quite excited about travelling in the region!

For some reason there was initially reservations and I wasn't very motivated to even plan for our holidays.

But now!! Haha we were discussing about the possibility of visiting siem reap with kaira. And juz last night the possibility of Chiang Mai came up as his colleague is moving back home. And when I did some research online Chiang mai seems like such a lovely destination I can't wait to visit it! Haha!

But it will have to wait as our next family hotel is scheduled for August when we will join our friends in club med Bali. I m looking forward to that!! Almost 20yrs ago was my last visit to club med Bali and with the same fren. :)) this time our daughters can have a blast together! Can't wait for August to come! In the meantime I will be being kaira to Bkk for a short trip to visit my brother while hubby is away on biz trip.

This year is turning out to be an exciting year for travelling! :))

Central Vietnam - our 6D5N itinerary

While there are direct flights between Da Nang and Singapore, they are not daily and some flights have a stopover in siem reap.

I wasn't keen on a stopover and wanted direct flights. Initially I wanted to be in Danang for 4 days, max 5 but because of the flight schedule, I ended up having to spend to stay for 5 nights. I was initially concern that it will be abit too long a trip but It turned really great!!

Day 1 - We arrived in the resort 4+ in the afternoon and after checking in etc, we were at the beach by 5pm. We decided to stay in and explored the resort and having dinner in one of the hotel restaurants by the beach

Day 2 - we took the hotel shuttle bus to Hoi An at 10am and returned to the resort ard 330pm, leaving Kaira enough time to go to the beach and pool before we headed into

Day 3 - we booked a private day tour with the hotel to My Son which included Hoi An too. Leaving at 8 am we got back ard 4pm. Again a visit to the pool is a must for Kaira.

Day 4 - we left hotel at 8am for Hue and didn't return till bt 7pm. Long long day.

Day 5 - we were glad to just relax by the pool. Kaira went to camp Hyatt for half a day and after time in the pool we got ready to go to Hoi An at 5pm for our dinner. Took the hotel shuttle there and cabbed back.

Day 6 - as our flight was in the evening we had or rather I had ambitious plans to visit the Cham museum marble mountain in the am or early afternoon. However we decided not to be so hurried and instead spent the day flyin life, enjoying the beach and pool before we leaving at 4pm. Felt totally rested after 2 relaxing days and I am glad we had these 2 days to recover after 2 rather long days of moving about.

Actually there is more to do and see but we decided we will 'keep' them for the next trip ;) heehee. Yes it is likely that we will be back to Central Vietnam, hopefully not too long from now!

Vietnam Central - Scenic drive from Da Nang to Hue

The drive to Hue from our resort was about 3hr 15mins. Considering that we have done longer drives in Europe before we thought this should be a pretty smooth ride and indeed it was! Kaira enjoyed the very scenic drive via Hai Van pass which was essentially a mountain drive. The pit stop provided lovely views :))

After that we drove past idyllic villages and had a glimpse of local life after which Kaira fell asleep and it was a very peaceful and quiet drive all the way into Hue. Definitely worth the time!

Vietnamese Cuisine

Honestly, I am not a great fan of vietnamese cuisine :p

Prior to my trip, my knowledge of vietnamese food = Beef Pho, deep fried spring rolls and rice paper wraps They were pleasant enough and i don't mind having them ocassionally :)

This trip, i had the chance to try more of the local cuisine and i can tell you that vietnamese food do not rank very high on my "must eat" list except maybe for their salads -- those that i tried during this trip were awesome -- light and refreshing!! 


The reason i don't quite like vietnamese food i think is because of the herbs/raw vegetables that are added into their dishes -- some of them taste too strong for my liking ;p

Whatever it is, here are some food pictures to share! Look at the salads -- don't they look awesome ?

Seafood Pomelo Salad

My Quang (Noodles)

Hue specialty - forgot its name!

Beef salad with Young Banana & Starfruit

Hoi An specialty - White Rose Dumpling

Why choose Central Vietnam as a holiday destination with a child?

To be honest Vietnam wasn't on my list of 'preferred' destination for a holiday. As Kaira loves the beach, I was looking for a beach resort and had wanted a 'tried n tested' destination as I wanted it to be a stress free holiday for everyone!! I didn't want to worry about whether there is suitable food for her; whether she will be bored ( and therefore whiny) etc etc

So initially I was considering either Kota Kinabalu (Sabah, Malaysia) or Hua Hin (Thailand). But along the way I heard a couple of good reviews about Da Nang in Vietnam and out of curiosity googled for more information.

The information found on the web was quite promising and the surrounding areas sounded interesting too! I could use Da Nang as a base and have day trips to Hoi An and Hue. This would be interesting for us adults as we have never toured Vietnam before (although hubby has been to hcmc for biz previously) :) it meant too that we need not change hotels, making it more hassle free for us. Remember I wanted a stress free holiday!??! Heehee! So all in it was a very tempting option!

But!! I was still worried whether it will be child friendly and whether Kaira will take well to the place/food. So I did quite a bit of reading on trip advisor and other online resource. And was very encouraged that accomodation prices seemed fairly reasonable (certainly not cheap but not too pricey either) even for so called 'luxury resorts' - now I was ready to be tempted by Da Nang! Haha!

And I am very happy with my decision to visit Da Nang and the choice of Hyatt Regency as our accomodation. This was one of the more relaxing holidays we have ever had (although the day trips can be tiring) but the resort was such a restful place that we were recharged and energised each time we get back!

Here's why
1) the resort had a private beach ( actually all the resorts on this stretch has that) and the expansive fine sandy beach was very inviting and hardly crowded. It was connected to the kids pool area by a few steps making it very convenient and seamless!

2) the resort is quite big and there are at least 3 pools so it was fun exploring the place although Kaira's clear favourite was the children's pool which was also a sand pool making it doubly fun for the kids,

3) Hyatt is a family resort so expect lots of kids and that makes it fun for Kaira as she has company!

4) I chose the club room and on hindsight it was worth every additional $ tat I paid! As there isn't any amenities nearby/outside the resort - this meant that we had to take a cab to the city for our meals. So for water/snacks, best to stock up on some especially for kids. with the club lounge access it took away some of the 'stress' cos on top of the complimentary breakfast there was complimentary drinks (with chips/cake) throughout the day and evening cocktails too. So on days when we had a full lunch we just had the evenings snacks dinner :)) in fact Kaira was very happy with the evening cocktail time as she could nibble away and there was a wide selection which changes daily. That way too, I don't feel like I m hostage to te high restaurant prices! Having said that, I must say the food in the hotel restaurants were excellent! I think we tried all the 3 main restaurants!

In conclusion , I would recommend Da Nang for a family holiday! Really nice and relaxing although it can get very hot sometimes but o well, we can't have it all can we? ;)