La Charm Hoi An Hotel & Spa - Deluxe Double Room with Old Town View @ Hoi An in Vietnam

I am seldom impressed with hotels but I am going to put down on record that I was utterly blown away by La Charm Hoi An Hotel & Spa; for the price I was paying a night, we were literally getting five-star service!  

It all started, as always, with our arrival to the hotel at almost 6pm on our first day to central Vietnam. The sun was setting and we were tired, after enduring an almost hour drive from Danang International Airport.

First thing; cold towel and a glass of iced welcome drink that consisted of honey, lemon, lemongrass, mint and ginger. Thirst quenching for sure! 

One of the receptionists sat us down on the sofa to kick start the registration process which was pretty straightforward and didn't involve a ton of questions. Actually, even before my trip, the hotel sent an email, which I thought was a scam, detailing their services. 

Friendly the receptionist sure was and at the same time, she shared information pertaining on the things we can do at Hoi An, important stuff to note, and a map showing key attractions, highlighting location of restaurants we could try in the ancient city. 

Got our key card; I requested for a room on the high floor in the booking portal and the 67-room hotel remembered, giving me a room on the highest seventh floor! 

Bright and breezy lift lobby on the seventh floor. I am so against dark and gloomy lift lobbies and hotel corridors as contrary to popular beliefs; I am quite the scaredy cat.

Panoramas from the three exits on the 7th floor! 

p.s. taken on the last day of my stay.

Room

Room 8701 -  stepping into our Deluxe Double room with Old Town View that shall be our accommodation for the next three nights.

View of the room for your reference; all the basic stuff like mini fridge, bottled water, sachets of tea, packs of G7 premix coffee (which I like), electric kettle etc.

So loving this antiquated bedside lamp! 

Wardrobe with bathrobes, slippers and an in-room safe. The slippers helped a lot as they were the kind you could wear out! Alex loved them so much; he almost wanted to buy a pair back to Singapore! 

Aside from a room on the high floor, I also asked for extra pillows! Most hotels would just give me four pillows but La Charm Hoi An Hotel upped the game by providing six plushy pillows! 

More things to read in the room.

That floating tray was enticing! 

Our 32 square meters Deluxe Double room came with a balcony too! Low parapet with our neighbours though and I think it might be awkward should I bump into them. 

An ashtray means smoking is allowed? Not that it matters much to me so long there's no lingering smell of cigarette in the room. 

Views from our balcony! As our room was at the corner, we had an unblocked view of Hoi An; the City of Lanterns. I had the intention to stay even closer to the old section but the almost perfect review  google score of La Charm Hoi An Hotel was just irresistible! 

The washroom with its gold brass rainfall shower, tabletop sink, typical toiletries and bath gel in a large bottle, instead of in those mini, eco-unfriendly tubes. 

Feeling so assured. The hotel was actually closed for an extended period of time during the pandemic and according to the staff I spoke to; operations only restarted around late last year! For me, the hotel still looked pretty new though.  

Looking at Alex through the glass window separating washroom from the room! There's a blind you can pull should privacy is an issue; and it is if you are travelling with friends and family members! 

Gymnasium

Decent facility although I didn't use any equipment throughout the trip since I was always out to explore the old town! My daily exercise, in addition to walking, was jogging along the little lanes and alleys in the mornings when the crowd was thin. 

Swimming Pool

Located on the ground level; do note to keep an eye on children as the depth towards the far end was deep! There was construction for a high rise building next door and i bet there would be more eyes looking at the pool once it is completed.

Hotel Breakfast

Customary of hotels in Vietnam, breakfast was provided and in La Charm Hoi An Hotel, it's buffet style at the resident restaurant; Charm restaurant which was on the ground floor and next to the swimming pool. 

Breakfast time was from 7.00 am till 9.30 am and from the above photographs, I guess you would have a relatively good feel on the variety that was served. 

In addition to an egg station (serving omelette, fried, scrambled, boiled and poached eggs), you could also get grilled eggs, pho, local desserts like sticky rice with beans, and a large number of sauces.  

Boring me usually would just target the fruits, and maybe yogurt. To be fair, I don't eat breakfast on normal days and when I am overseas, I am happier to explore local food outside the hotel. I did eat a bit at Charm restaurant and my verdict on the breakfast offerings was "they fill the stomach". 

Surroundings

There's also an inhouse spa at La Charm Hoi An Hotel. Located next to the gym, you may click here for further details on the 30-minute Back-Neck-Shoulder massage I had. 

An ancient looking well in the hotel premises too. 

Thankfully it was blocked with a locked cover. 

Pathway towards the back of the hotel; out of curiosity, I took the path and it led me to another road. From the motorbikes that were there, I am guessing it's the parking area for staff, and maybe for guests too. 

Can't help noticing the beautiful trees and blossoming flowers at the backyard. Only things lacking are tables, chairs and maybe a swing. 

Additional Information

Do you know that you can rent a bicycle from the hotel and explore the old town?! Operating hours were from 6.00am till midnight but if you need to use them before / after said hours, do check with the reception. 

We rented them on day two of our trip and the concept was pretty similar to bike sharing in Singapore, although in Hoi An case, you need a key to release the lock. One problem we faced while riding in the old town was the lack of bicycle parking space; don't anyhow park and it's best to check with the establishment you are visiting.

Another service we utilized was the laundry service. It only cost 50,000 dong a kilogram and guess how much we paid for this bundle of clean, dry clothing!? 125,000 dong (about S$7.00) for 22 pieces of clothing! 

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As mentioned earlier, I was super impressed with the service from the La Charm Hoi An Hotel and it was from every staff I met; be it housekeeping, security, receptionist etc! Each morning, during breakfast, the staff would also make it a point to check if everything is okay! 

I had a problem with laptop network (LAN / WiFi) connection for the past few overseas trips and the hotel IT staff finally managed to resolve it for me! They even helped to pull a network cable so that I can get a faster connection. Extremely grateful as I needed to clear some work! 

Last piece of surprise when we were about to leave the hotel for Danang; a bag filled with two packs of local specialty; the coconut biscuits! They don't cost much but it was a nice gesture; it also helped that they were really good. Would I be back? Definitely!   

Address

64 Đào Duy Từ, Phường Cẩm Phổ, 

Hội An, Quảng Nam 51000, Vietnam

Map

As above.

Website

https://lacharmhoianhotel.com/

Pricing

Deluxe Double Old Town View - S$72.77 a night

(Via Trip.com)

Click here for my 8 Days' Itinerary to Danang (The City of Bridges) & Hoi An (The City of Lanterns) in Vietnam

Dan Ji Dumpling, & Noodles @ Kuala Lumpur [Malaysia]

With the hot sun shining on our heads and we were at the end of a 10-person line, we decided to give Restoran Wong Mei Kee a miss and explored the surrounding for potential eateries to have brunch on our first official day in Kuala Lumpur!

Dan Ji Dumpling stood out for being almost full house and it's hard not to notice that a high proportion of customers were locals. Praying hard we would make the correct choice.

Do note to order and make payment first! 

The cashier would assign a table only after you pay.

Iced Milk Tea - first sip and I noticed a taste similar to Hong Kong milk tea but this wasn't as thin. Nevertheless, the inclusion of ice on a hot day just made this extremely soothing for the throat, and head. 

Was the above to much for two persons?! Wait was about 20 minutes but the good thing was that the food came together, making it easier for me to take a photograph of all the dishes while they were still "fresh". 

Juicy Pork Rib - this tasted like braised pork, albeit with bones. I would say this was pretty good although without bones was very much preferred for ease of eating! I hate picking the bones to get to the meat.   

Noodles - this came with our orders of dumpling and fried dumpling noodles. Typical of Malaysia's black sauce noodle, there was a palatable sweetness, Noodles were more the thin ramen type which I enjoyed but when it comes to local noodles, I am a bigger fan of mee kia. 

Dumpling - before we talk about the dumplings, let me highlight the soup! It had that rich, intense vegetable flavor that seemed to be a result of being cooked for a long period of time; simple yet giving strong homely vibes.

Four dumplings in the soup but there were two types; the above was the one with chives and to be frank, it was a large piece! Doubt the two of us would be able to stomach so many dumplings! 

The other one had no chives. In Singapore, such dumplings usually had prawns but the ones here were purely meat based. Taste wise, it was average and nothing to scream about. I am okay with them but not for Alex, who is pickier than me! 

 

Fried Dumpling - now on the fried version! It's literally the same dumpling with chives, that I shared earlier, and was deep fried. Would they fare much better than the boiled ones?

Featuring the same generosity when it comes to the filling, this was again nothing to scream about. I am happier with the deep fried version, given the crunch, and the only thing missing was maybe saucer dish of Thai chilli sauce to enhance the flavor! 

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Do note that I ate most of the food! Alex wasn't impressed although both of us did wonder why this eatery appeared to be so popular with the locals. Maybe it had to do nostalgia amongst the locals. 

Address

295, Jln Pudu, Pudu, 55200 Kuala Lumpur, 

Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Map

As above.

Operating Hours

9.00 am to 2.00 pm

5.00 pm to 9.00 pm

Menu 

As above. 

Pricing

Iced Milk Tea - RM 3.50

Juicy Pork Rib (S) - RM 8.00

Dumpling Noodle - RM 11.50

Fried Dumpling Noodle - RM 12.50

Veoveoana Sika Deer Park of Tsou Veoveoana Cultural and Creative Park in Taiwan

The bowing deer of Nara in Japan is a huge attraction but I understand you can experience the same thing in Taiwan, at the Veoveoana Sika Deer Park of Tsou Veoveoana Cultural and Creative Park! 

With an assigned park guide, we were given information that this particular plant that bears leaves well liked by the deer in the sanctuary. There was an impulsion to pluck some leaves for the deer experience later but we were assured we would be given some later on.

Stepping into the building connected to the deer park. 

It's also a souvenir shop but we were not given sufficient time to check out the items since there was a cultural performance we were scheduled for later in the same attraction.

Each of us was given a box of leaves; this differs from the situation in Nara where visitors would have to purchase crackers to fill the over 1,000 free roaming deer.

Rules and regulations, in Chinese. In essence, no horsing around, don't use too much force while patting the deer, don't feed the deer food that wasn't from the park, don't hit the butt (apparently that's the signal to shit) etc. 

Area beyond the gates didn't appear big and definitely not on the scale as Nara park. According to our tour guide, there were a total of 27 deer. Again, incomparable to the 1,000 over deer at Nara.

Some information; the area used to have a lot of wild deer but due to overhunting, they went extinct around 1894 and what we see now were imported to help to revive the species in the area. 

Scary thing is that the deer were conditioned to humans stepping past the gate as it infers food! Some will come rushing towards you and that can be quite scary, especially for young kids.

Known as Sika Deer, this adorable species is considered as a medium sized deer, and weighed from 70 to 100 kilograms. Its coat changes with seasons and has white spots that were more pronounced during summer. I presume the coat thickens to conserve energy and prevent heat loss as the weather cools. 

 A cute and shy fawn!

Strategy to feeding them the leaves; hold them high above their head and see them bow before you give to them. In the short time I was there, I didn't see them jumping up to snatch the leaves.

Dad appeared to enjoy the interaction!

Video for your viewing pleasure.

Once we were done with the leaves, the deer will just leave us alone although they would still mill around, with the hopes we are able to make more leaves appear in our pockets! p.s. just in case you are wondering, the area doesn't smell of poop. 

Another star for the deer park. 

Minced Garlic; click here for more info! 

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Address

車埕51號, Fanlu Township, 

Chiayi County, 602037, Taiwan,  

Map of Deer Park.

As above.

Click HERE for the Summarized Itinerary for Our 8 Days 7 Nights See Iconic Taiwan Anew Tour Package via Chan Brothers

Old Airport Road Fried Hokkien Mee @ Old Airport Road Hawker Centre [Singapore] #oldairportroadhawkercentre

In case you haven't heard, Old Airport Road Hawker Centre would be closed for renovation from 01 June 2024 for four long months! That sparked an immediate craving for food like chicken chop, char kway teow, hokkien mee, cheng tng etc!

   

Unfortunately, two of the stalls were closed and I couldn't help noticing that quite a lot of customers were waiting for their orders in front of this boringly named Old Airport Road Fried Hokkien Mee. It shall be you then!

With just hokkien mee on their menu and options for S$5 or S$8, I ordered a small and received a queue number that was kept, safely, in a ziplock. This is the time when I realized how much I missed the food pager system. 

What cheered me most was the huge container of deep fried pork lards. As expected, I requested for more and was ecstatic when the young lady boss gave me two generous spoonfuls. 

At S$5, I would say the portion was way bigger than I expected and judging from how wet the noodles were; I honestly can't wait to slurp them up! p.s. this wetness was in stark contrast to the dry hokkien mee from Nam Sing. 

The thing about pork greaves is that there's always a risk they might not turn out well and personally, I dislike them if they are not crispy. Strangely, these were delicious even though they had gone a bit soft. 

Slurping in the noodles, which were more bee hoon than yellow noodles! And boy were they swimming in a grave so chockablock full of seafoodness! It's rare to find me quietly enjoying my food as I was simply savoring each and every bite! 

Don't discount the red, hot chilli which was sour and spicy; resulting in beads of sweat rolling down my face! Aside from fresh prawns, you can also find strips of pork belly, mock abalone and squid. So luxurious! 

It's been a while since I last had such an amazing plate of hokkien mee, and this counted as as one of my favorite at the moment. I am seriously hoping the stall would be back after the 4-month renovation! Maybe I should just pop by to eat again before the hawker centre closes in June. 

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Address

51 Old Airport Rd, #01-99,

Old Airport Road Food Centre, 

Singapore 390051

Map

As above. 

Pricing

Hokkien Mee - S$5.00