Traveling with kids (toddlers): Hoi An

I've just come back from a trip to Hoi An (and a small side trip to My Son and Da Nang) with the little one in tow. Hoi An is a rather small place and Wikitravel pretty much covers everything that you need to see there, so I shall focus this post on what to do to keep your toddler happy in a place which is, to me, more adult-centric. We went in June (with scorching 37 degrees celcius temperatures), so it was all the more important to keep the little one cool and happy.

1. Yummy ice cream in exotic flavours
Hoi An has some really delicious fruit in the hot season - think succulent pomelo, dragonfruit, passion fruit, coconut, bananas and more. The local ice cream shops have really made full use of these in-season fruit to concoct some excellent flavours of ice cream. For some reason, the ice cream tastes a little more like sorbet than ice cream, but this to me, is even better to have in the hot climate.

Our group was impressed by Cocobox (I liked the passion fruit flavour, 30,000 dong while a friend vouched for the kumquat flavour), which is in the Hoi An ancient town and not far from Tam Tam (a nice drinks place) and Morning Glory (lovely restaurant - see below).

Passion fruit ice cream @ Cocobox

Ohh La La Socola in Da Nang was also pretty good, with the lime, dragonfruit and strawberry flavours all nicely done (25,000 dong).

2. Cyclo tour
A cyclo is a bit like a trishaw, except that the rider is behind the passenger seat. Each cyclo takes one adult and child, and there are plenty of cyclos for hire that go around the old town and along the river. The cyclos are all lit up (like the rest of Hoi An), making it a pretty sight. Plus, in the hot weather, it might be a more comfortable way to see Hoi An than walking. Be sure to haggle like crazy if flagging one down ad hoc. Some tours come with a cyclo and boat ride, so that might be another option of seeing Hoi An without having to walk around.

3. Snap away
Hoi An is very atmospheric and makes for great photos - for the adults. Your little one (3 years and older) might also enjoy snapping away if he/she is equipped with a little kiddy camera. I bought a VTech Kidizoom digital camera for my little one and he was quite happy taking photos with it. Of course, many were out of focus, blurred - some human photos had no heads in them etc. But several did turn out decent! Be careful though, as Hoi An can get very crowded in the evening and you need to keep a hawk's eye on the little one.

4. Check out the silkworms
There are silkworm farms outside of Hoi An, but there are silk shops in the Hoi An old town itself that has a small collection of silkworms. The shop assistants will show you around and explain the silk-making process, including how the silkworms grow from tiny creatures to obese ones, and how they end up in the boiling water (sigh) for the people to harvest the silk threads.

5. Fun in the pool
Toddlers will have fun in most pools anywhere, but in Hoi An and its 37 degree-weather, the pool is all the more important, especially between 12pm to 4pm when the sun is at the hottest and it is simply too dehydrating to walk around outside.

What about the adults? Hoi An is not big and all the key sights are located within the historic old town. But what I found more interesting was just walking along the river and trying to capture a slice of the locals' daily lives.

Here are photos of My Son (pronounced as "mee-sun"... rhyming with "recent" without the "t").

The best part of Hoi An was probably the food. Fresh, tasty and affordable, Here are some of my favourites.

Banh Mi Phuong is also known as Anthony Bourdain's favourite Vietnamese baguette. Do be aware of double pricing standards - tourists pay 20,000 dong while our local guide bought it for us at 15,000 dong. The number 9 (pork and pate) is very tasty indeed, sandwiched between a crusty-on-the-outside, soft-and-chewy-on-the-inside baguette.

Morning Glory restaurant has excellent food and a great ambience, all at a good price. The roast pork banh mi is nice (below), as with many other dishes such as the rice paper rolls, vermicelli with chicken served in a coconut, grilled eggplant and many more.

Nu is a small eatery but has some pretty delish food too. This is the pork belly in a bun, followed by fresh spring rolls and stuffed avocado.

I also enjoyed the fresh rice paper rolls at Seedlings, but unfortunately have no decent photos to share as the lighting there was horribly dim. 

Here are some items that made our super hot stay much more comfortable.

Clockwise from left: Gatsby body wipes, Cooler mist fan, Avene thermal spring water spray (suitable for kids as well) and Neutrogene sunblock body mist (don't need to get hands dirty!)

Try and choose a cooler time to go but if you can't, hopefully the above will make your trip more comfortable and fun!

Teppei Shokudo (Syokudo) @ Pickering Street

A good kaisendon or chirashidon always makes me happy, and the opening of Teppei Syokudo (or Shokudo) in the Raffles Place / Chinatown area made me even happier.

This is a branch of the famed Teppei Japanese restaurant at Orchid Hotel (minus the crazy wait), and is located in "Five", an upmarket, semi-automated "food court" on Pickering Street (Great Eastern Building), where Hans used to reside. There are five stalls including Teppei Shokudo, a Korean stall, one selling noodles, another selling Western food, and one selling pizza and Tapas. There is also a fruit juice / cut-fruit stall. The ordering and paying is done on machines, and an SMS will be sent to your mobile once the food is ready, for pick-up. All very high-tech for someone who is used to doing direct interaction with the stall-holder.

So on to Teppei Shokudo.

It sells a number of different dishes, but I do believe that the Kaisendon is the most popular among all, judging by the way the chef is preparing bowl after bowl after bowl of it without stopping.

Here's how the finished product looks ($16). You can add extra toppings like uni (sea urchin), scallops, chopped tuna etc for another $8, but personally, I think the base product is more than enough... to the point of me not being able to finish the fish.

Honestly, the bowl of kaisendon looks a little small and "shallow" in the dish when you first get hold of it, but that turns out to be really deceptive.

Look at how lusciously thick the salmon slices are. It's not even a slice... it's a chunk! The amount of fish practically covers the entire bowl of rice - definitely very generous and worth the $16.

It also comes with a bowl of miso soup to help wash it down and add some savoury kick to the meal. You might also want to get extra wasabi (50 cents) to balance the oiliness of the fish.

The seared and sashimi salmon don ($16.80) also seems to be popular, with a generous serving of six very large salmon slices, though by taking a quick look at the plates of diners at Five, the kaisendon seems to be on almost every other table.

Teppei Shokudo is also at Millenia Walk and Takashimaya. I'm not too sure what the average waiting time is elsewhere, but the one at Pickering Street takes about 10 mins during the peak lunch hour.

If you are feeling super full after the meal and need some help to take away the oiliness, I recommend some good, strong green tea after the meal, like this one here from Nakamura Tokichi, which I managed to get from my trip to Uji.

I also read that Nakamura Tokichi has just opened its first overseas branch in Hong Kong, which is great news as it's nearer than Japan!