Flights to Taichung were cheap during the kids’ April school holidays, so I did a bit of research on this Taiwanese city I’d never previously heard of.

I did more research on Taiwan in general, a place — the only place — Darling Man had said he was interested in visiting.

Hmmm. It’s quite an interesting part of the world. And, it turns out, it’s a very popular destination for Vietnamese tourists.

I asked the family what they’d like to do on a holiday.

“Food,” said Darling Man.

“Nature,” said Miss M.

“Trains,” said Sunny.

So far, pretty predictable.

I put together an itinerary catering for everyone’s preferences. I also made a list of Taiwanese dishes I wanted to try. 

And so … we worked our way through the list. With excellent results! 

Airport Set

When you book a budget airline, you either eat the overpriced and bland food they offer… or you wait to see what’s available at the airport when you land.

Option 2 was an absolute winner for us. Taichung Airport was quite small, with one chain-looking restaurant that was full at 3pm. We ordered two set meals to share with the kids. (I wasn’t quick enough to take pics of both).

This wonton noodle set was the bomb! The first slurp prompted Miss M to comment “if airport food is this good, how good is the stuff cooked by professionals going to be?”

Try it at: Homee Kitchen, Taichung International Airport.

Green Onion Pancake (Cong You Bing / 蔥油餅)

Our hotel in Taichung’s Central District had our most favourite amenity: street food stalls right out the front.

On our very first night we planned to visit a nearby night market. But we ate so much in the first block from our hotel that we were full, so we turned around and went to back to the hotel to go to bed.

Our first snack was this delicious crispy-yet-chewy savoury pancake, filled with – surprise! – green onion, a fried egg and some form of powdered deliciousness. It was so good we ordered another one the following night on our way to dinner.

Bubble Tea

The teahouse that invented bubble tea was only a 16-minute walk from our hotel in Taichung, and we did discuss visiting the original place. But we ended up just trying some at a random place we walked by.

The kids were huge fans, and sucked down gallons of it during our trip.

Mystery Breakfast

We chose the most crowded stall at Second Market for our first street food breakfast in Taiwan. We used the time-honoured point-and-order technique and ended up with a soup and two plates of glutinous stuff covered in sauce.

The dish on the left was probably turnip cake, or luo buo gao/萝卜糕. The soup in the middle was so bland it’s not worth identifying. And the dish on the right is a sticky rice sausage, possibly the big sausage part of the famous da chang bao xiao chang (small sausage in big sausage/ 大腸包小腸).

We ordered a second round of the sausage and the turnip cake, but didn’t bother finishing the soup.

Try it at: Second Market, Sanmin Road, Central District, Taichung 

Mystery Noodles #1

This deliciousness was listed as “noodle soup with braised pork” on the menu. We couldn’t work out the Chinese name for it, but it was one of our favourite dishes.

Mystery Noodles #2

Totally rejected by the kids, this dish became all mine! (Sharing food is ok, but I do get tired of not getting a full serve of the good stuff.)

It was labeled “noodles with sour sauce” in English on the menu. The name, and the un-photogenic nature of the dish, bely some extreme deliciousness. Hiding underneath the wontons and noodles was a tasty black vinegar sauce, which elevated this dish into unexpected heights.

Snow, my lovely Taiwanese friend, examined the photo and said it looked like Fuzhou dry noodles.

Try it at: 108 Zhongshan Road, Yuchi Township, Nantou County.

Mystery Noodles #3

This dish was simply outstanding, despite our fear that we were actually homeless for two nights.

Our driver didn’t speak English, and no one in the market spoke English. He asked us through a translation app on his phone if we wanted noodles, and we said yes, and this is what we ended up with. (The almost homeless in Taiwan story is a story for a future post.)

Snow, in her Taiwanese foodie wisdom, identified the dish as 榨菜肉絲麵, or noodles with pork and pickled mustard greens.

Try it at: Nanzhuang Market, Nanzhuang City, Miaoli County

Taiwanese Hamburger (Gua Bao)

There are many types of gua bao, the Taiwanese hamburger, and I really didn’t like the first one I tried from the night time street food stall near our hotel in Taichung.

This one, my second attempt at the beautiful Sun Moon Lake, was awesome. The light fluffy pao-cake bun was filled with braised pork, pickled mustard greens, cucumber and lettuce. I told the vendor to hold the ground peanut on this one. The crunch of the cucumber and lettuce and the tartness of the pickled greens contrasted well with the soft bun and the melt-in-your-mouth braised pork.

The first gua bao I tried was just meat, sauce and ground peanut. It was soft and goopy and the peanut flavour was just odd.

Try it at: Ita Thao shopping street, Sun Moon Lake

Braised Pork Rice (Lu Rou Fan)

Taiwan really knows how to braise pork. Lu rou fan would have to be one of the ultimate comfort foods. Rich soft umami pork served over rice, with some chopped pickles. Delicious!

The kids gobbled this down so fast I’m going to try to make it at home.

Try it at: Old Papa Black Tea, 50 Zhongxing Road, Shuishe Village, Sun Moon Lake.

Pig Intestine Noodle Soup

I ordered this for Darling Man because I’d read it was a Taiwanese specialty. He said he didn’t like it — “I ate intestines too much when I was a kid” – but ate it anyway so it didn’t go to waste.

I had a sip of the soup. It was very offal-flavoured, and I would only recommend it if you’re a big fan of offal.

Try it at: Old Papa Black Tea, 50 Zhongxing Road, Shuishe Village, Sun Moon Lake.

Tsou Cuisine at Yupasu Cafe

There are 16 officially-recognised indigenous people in Taiwan, including the Tsou, who now live in Nantou County and Chiayi County.

While we were in Alishan (for the train and nature portion of the holiday) in Chiayi County, we went to Yupasu Cafe for a set dinner.

It was one of those times when the kids got hungry an hour before we left, so helped themselves to the cup noodles in the room. Darling Man and I didn’t eat the noodles, but were so hungry when we got to the restaurant we started eating before taking photos. (Such a faux pas in this day and age!)

Our “barbecue set” included tasty chicken, pork, Chinese-style sausages, stir-fried eggplant and rice, which we washed down with a big bottle of Taiwan Beer.

The kids didn’t even try any of it, just boosted their sugar levels with several glasses of juice.

We just loved the place, not only because of the friendly white dog who lovingly leaned on my leg just in time to help clear the table, but also because of the wonderful view over tea plantations from the deck.

If we lived nearby, we’d be regulars at Yupasu Cafe!

Visit Yupasu Cafe on Facebook for the address.

Fenqihu Bento Box

The train section of our Taiwan trip came with a convenient train-food dish I could not leave off our itinerary.

It’s a bento box! You might know bento as a Japanese concept, and so it is. For Japan occupied Taiwan from 1895 to 1945, and began logging Taiwan’s beautiful cypress and cedar forests in the early 1900s. In 1912, the Japanese built a the Alishan Forest Railway to access the cedar forest on the Alishan mountain range.

The railway still runs, ferrying tourists up the mountain range. Part of the rail line was damaged in a typhoon in 2009, so now the vintage trains only run from Chiayi station to Fenqihu. This now-final stop has been a popular destination since the rail line began operating, back when most travellers to the area were Japanese. Since Japanese people associate train travel with bento boxes, the market met demand. And so today, Fenqihu is famous for its train station bento boxes.

We followed the crowd to Fenqihu Lunchbox (奮起湖站鐵路便當), which seemed to be “the” place for a bento lunch. Once inside the red-brick building, we were confronted with a very crowded restaurant fitted out with chairs and tables made from tree stumps.

No one else seemed bamboozled by the whole setup, probably because we were the only non-Chinese speakers in the throng.

We eventually worked it out, with the help of an out-of-the-way sign in English, some basic English phrases from the cashier, and watching what everyone else was doing.

Along with our metal box of chicken, vegetables and rice, we were given some paper bowls. Following others’ lead, we filled our bowls with a miso-ish soup from a giant cauldron in the corner of the room. There didn’t seem to be any limit on the soup, so we had a few bowls each (in lieu of buying water to rehydrate).

It was a great meal, generous enough to share with small people and not feel completely ripped off food-wise.

I also liked the self-serve nature of the cleanup. There were two bins and a trolley. One bin for food scraps, the other for other rubbish, and the trolley for stacking the dirty bowls and trays.

To find the place, search for 奮起湖站鐵路便當 in Google Maps. It’s not listed in English!

Fried Leek Pancake

Obviously a close relative to the green onion pancake we sampled in Taichung, this tasty number had some extra vegetables and a dash of pepper inside.

It was the perfect warm snack after a chilly springtime hike through the mist and drizzle of Alishan Scenic Area. The kids didn’t like the pepper, so I didn’t even have to share. Also, I just loved the fact that such a street food-y dish was available in the middle of a forest!

Try it at: Xianglin Service Area, Alishan National Scenic Area, Chiayi County.

Super-Fancy Shaved Ice

Apparently this is a must-eat dish when visiting Nanzhuang’s Sweet Osmanthus Alley. It’s shaved ice topped with fruit, rice balls and sweet osmanthus honey.

It was the perfect pick-me-up after a hike up the steep hill behind the foodie alley, Nanzhuang’s main tourist attraction.

Once again, you’re expected to clear your own table before you leave, depositing food waste into one bin and the paper bowls into another.

Try it at: Jiangji Sweet Osmanthus Tang Yuan (江記桂花湯圓), 15 Wenhua Road, Nanzhuang Township, Miaoli County.

Xiao Long Bao Dumplings

I wasn’t expecting to see these on our trip, but when our overly-attentive hotel owner took us out for breakfast (which was advertised as included in the room rate), we ended up devouring several plates of xiao long bao each.

Funnily enough, when we asked our taxi driver to take us to a dumpling place on our last morning in Taiwan, he took us to the same place. Which must mean it’s the best in town!

To find this morning-only dumpling stand, search for 尖山-小籠湯包, or just go to 45 Minsheng Street (on the corner of Zhongshan Road), Nanzhuang Township. Miaoli County.

Stinky Tofu

This famous Taiwanese dish was number one on Darling Man’s must-eat list of Taiwanese street food. However, we didn’t actually see it anywhere. (Well, maybe we did, but we didn’t recognise it.)

So just before we left our second-last stop, we asked our wonderful guesthouse host to write “stinky tofu” for us in Chinese, so we could track it down during our last days in Taiwan.

Little did we know how over-the-top our next host was. She plied us with two different types of stinky tofu … and wouldn’t even let us pay for it.

Darling Man found the stinky tofu disappointing. It’s far less pungent than Vietnamese stinky tofu, which has to be kept in sealed containers.

Because the fermented flavour was well below the Vietnamese standard, I actually found it to be quite inoffensive, equivalent to a boiled turnip. This type of stinky tofu was stuffed with pickled cabbage and carrot, and topped with chopped green onion.

I’d eat it again … but as you can see by this post, there are a LOT of delicious Taiwanese dishes, and I’d eat any of the dishes listed here before eating stinky tofu again!

And that concludes our culinary tour of Taiwan. I know we missed many great dishes, and so we’ll have to go back.

Let me know your recommendations in the comments!

The post Tasty Taiwan appeared first on The Dropout Diaries.

It’s been a while, I know.

Two years, in fact.

In my defence, I had a lot on my plate!

Through a quirk of fate and connections, in September 2017 I snagged the best job in Ho Chi Minh City – managing editor of AsiaLIFE Magazine, a glossy expat lifestyle magazine.

Not only was it a dream job, it was a part-time work-from-home set-up, so I had time to continue working on our food tour business, spend time with the kids and manage an unfortunate bout of dengue.

I got to review the city’s best bars and restaurants, meet movers and shakers (including Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler), artists, chefs and dog-rescuers, and investigate wonderfully quirky topics, like Saigon’s Harley Davison sub-culture, the home-grown acupressure treatment known as Dien Chan, how expats can adopt in Vietnam, and the city’s (animal) wildlife.

I also stayed at some of Vietnam’s most luxurious resorts, including Azerai in the Mekong Delta and Banyan Tree Lang Co in Central Vietnam.

It was a wild ride, but it came to an abrupt halt late last year, when the print edition of the magazine ceased production.

While dealing with the loss of my fabulous magazine job, I was dealt another, completely devastating, blow. My dear friend, calligraphy master Minh Hoang, died from antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis, aged just 33.

It’s taken some time to pick myself up again.

But now I’m back. From outer space, if you like. And I’ll be blogging regularly again, because we have some new adventures lined up.

The post Proof of Life appeared first on The Dropout Diaries.

It was my misfortune to hire this couple to teach a homeschooling class in my home in Ho Chi Minh City in September 2017.

The teachers walked out after only seven weeks, after refusing to discuss safety and security issues with concerned parents.

Abiella and Corbin Stoddard are the most unprofessional, disrespectful and dysfunctional people I have ever met. I would highly recommend no one else ever enters into any kind of professional relationship with Corbin and Abiella — as employer, parent or co-worker. That would be the best way to avoid the drama and mental anguish that comes with dealing with them.

The Stoddards are attempting to build a home schooling cult around themselves. Do not be fooled by their self-promotion and the devotion of the parents that assisted the teachers’ petulant departure from my homeschooling class. Corbin and Abiella are not nice people, and I am very glad my children’s exposure to them was cut short by their walkout.

I will certainly do a better job of vetting employees and teachers after my experience with “Corbiella”, who were, unfortunately, recommended by a friend.

The post Abiella Stoddard and Corbin Stoddard appeared first on The Dropout Diaries.

We have three kids in the class, and may accept more children during the teaching period. Our previous class had eight children, which worked well. Eight would be the maximum number of children.

The kids are aged 8, 6 and 3. The three-year-old doesn’t really need to go to school, but it would be mean to leave him out of all the fun.

We have converted one of the bedrooms in our house into a classroom. There is an attached bathroom.

We don’t have a set curriculum. We are looking for someone who can teach reading, writing, maths and a little bit of science to the kids so they can learn at their own pace. We’d like the class to include lots of games, singing, dancing, stories and shared projects so the kids don’t really notice they’re learning.

We’d like the academic stuff to be covered in the mornings, and the more fun stuff in the afternoons.

The teaching hours for the classroom teacher will be Monday 9am to 2pm (with art activities after lunch), Tuesday 9am to 1pm, Wednesday 9am to 1pm and Thursday 9am to 3pm (with an outside excursion after lunch).

The class will have a French teacher come in on Fridays for French Fridays.

The salary for the four days a week of teaching is US$1,600/month, which we’ll pay even when the class has holidays.

This is an unregistered, under-the-radar home school class. We can’t help with work visas or bank accounts. We can help you find accommodation and have lots of fun in the city we’ve chosen to call home. You’ll easily be able to come to Vietnam on a tourist visa and remain for six months.

We think the position would suit someone who is or is planning to travel, and likes the idea of a temporary home base in Vietnam for six months. Any children of the teacher are more than welcome to join the homeschool class.

We’re looking for someone who has some experience with home schooling, and can handle a multi-age class. The candidate will have to be a confident traveller who won’t be intimidated by the craziness of everyday life in Ho Chi Minh City. They will have to be resourceful, patient and fun-loving. And above all, they must love teaching inquisitive little kids.

Ho Chi Minh City is a great base from which to explore the Mekong Delta and seaside towns such as Mui Ne and Vung Tau. Nha Trang is an easy overnight train trip, and Phnom Penh is six hours away by bus. So there’ll be heaps to do on your three-day weekends.

If you’re interested, contact me on barbara_adam (at) hotmail dot com, with the subject line “home school class”.

The post Ho Chi Minh City Homeschool Class Project appeared first on The Dropout Diaries.

We’ve been home in Ho Chi Minh City for two months but I still haven’t unpacked Big Blue, the rolly suitcase we lived out of during our 10-month world schooling adventure, because I don’t want it to be over.

Our awesome World School travel team: Big Blue, Miss M and Sunny. At Osaka train station getting reading for our WorkAway gig in Kamikawa.

It’s pretty obvious that I didn’t keep the blog updated while we were traveling. My last post was from Australia, so you guys don’t know what we got up to in Indonesia, India and Japan. We really did have an amazing time!

I will share some of our adventures here soon. Promise.

In the meantime, I’m keeping busy with some new projects at home.

Last week we launched a new tour, the Calligraphy and Coffee Trail. I’ve taken two groups out so far and it’s been so much fun.

The other project is huge huge HUGE. I’m putting together a home schooling co operative. The plan is to have a class of eight students, taught by a qualified teacher. There will be lots of fun excursions, and, ideally, a procession of traveling WorkAway volunteers to act as teaching aides or specialist tutors. You can read our help wanted ad for travelers here.

There are quite a few home schooling families in Ho Chi Minh City, and I’m hoping to meet them over the next few weeks.

The idea has been bubbling along for a while now. In a way, it’s an extension of our world schooling adventure, where we set out every day to learn something new.

As part of the preparations for our home schooling adventure, I compiled a huge list of activities for kids in Ho Chi Minh City. I’ll be updating it regularly as things really do change fast here.

Oh, and by the way, if you know of any teachers who’d like a nine-month adventure in Ho Chi Minh City, let me know!

For more photos and other fun, follow Dropout Diaries on Instagram and on Facebook

The post We’re Home, What’s Next? appeared first on The Dropout Diaries.

This list was compiled after our big world school adventure, where we found interesting activities to do in far-flung corners of the world. Now we’re home in Ho Chi Minh City again, we’re obsessed with experiences that can help us learn more about art, music, life and this wide wonderful worlds of ours.

This list is divided geographically, with a strong focus on District 2 because we live there. We haven’t had a chance to visit each and every place yet, but we are working on it! The places we haven’t visited yet have been recommended by friends.

District 1

Au Parc

Middle Eastern cafe-restaurant with a kids play area on the second floor. Great coffee, snacks and food.

23 Hàn Thuyên St, D1
Ph: 08 3829 2772
www.auparcsaigon.com

Board Game Station

A cafe kitted out with many board games.

21 Trinh Van Can St, D1
Ph: 0909 361 556
boardgamestation.vn

Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre

Water puppetry started in the Red River Delta north of Hanoi, so Hanoi is considered the home of this craft. However, the 50-minute show performed by the Golden Dragon team seems to be exactly the same as the one performed in Hanoi. It’s all in Vietnamese, and it can be confusing because there’s no plot, as such. The show is just scenes from Vietnamese daily life, mixing in the daily life of royalty and farmers.

55B Nguyen Thi Minh Khai St, D1
Ph: 08 3930 2196
Website was down at the time of publishing

Gymboree Play & Music

Classes in music, art, sports, school skills, and play and learn for ages 0 to 5. Two locations, in Districts 1 and 7.

1st floor, Somerset Chancellor Court, 21-23 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai St, D1
Ph: 08 3827 7008
gymboreeclasses.com.vn

Independence Palace

Sometimes called the Reunification Palace, or Dinh Độc Lập in Vietnamese, this is as much a testament to 1960s kitsch as it is to Vietnam’s recent history. For bigger kids, it’s a comic walk through shagadelic Asian decor, cool army bunkers and real-life tanks and fighter jets. For smaller kids, the playground out the back is the highlight.

135 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia St, D1
ditich.dinhdoclap.gov.vn

Don’t miss the playground behind the palace.

Nau Nau DIY Studio

A charming little studio that where you can make your own lip balm, body lotion, shampoo, scented candle, shower gel or soap. The focus is on the aromas and the fun of making and decorating your own product. Next door to a groovy cafe that overlooks Nguyen Hue walking street. Bookings essential.

5th floor, 42 Nguyen Hue St, D1
Ph: (08) 6281 3056
naunau.vn

Saigon Street Eats’ Pho Trail morning walking tour

Yes, this is one of our tours, which we designed with the help of our then-three-year-old, who helped us work out the precise ratio of walking, talking, eating, jumping off ledges, touching things, finding kittens and bats, and running around like a rabid monkey. It is a long and hot tour, but it is designed with families in mind. (So we take care to point out the toilet stops. And how to stay alive while crossing the road.)

No address because we pick up from hotels in District 1 or 3, or meet in front of the Opera House
Ph: 0908 449 408
www.saigonstreeteats.com

September 23 Park (Cong Vien 23 Thang 9)

A long skinny park that follows the old railway line, this park has a great little playground for young kids.

1 Pham Ngu Lao St, D1

Star Kitchen

A Japanese cooking school with a range of kids classes.

2F 8/15 Le Thanh Ton St, D1
Ph: 0164 968 1044
star-kitchen.jp

Tao Dan Park

A large park with a great playground (can get crowded on weekends). The park is also home to the bird cafe, fountains, topiary animals, a mini Cham tower and open spaces that are used for tai chi, cheerleading practice, badminton, scout camps, ballroom dancing and aerobics.

Bounded by Cach Mang Thang Tam, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Nguyen Du and Huyen Tran Cong Chua streets, D1

tiNiWorld Saigon Centre

Very large indoor play centre with many activities for small kids.

4th floor, Saigon Centre, 65 Le Loi St, D1
Ph: 0934 096 633
www.tiniworld.com

World Games

Arcade games and other amusements, inside the Vincom Center.

B2 (basement 2), Vincom Center, 72 Le Thanh Ton St, D1
Ph: 08 3993 9555
www.worldgames.vn

District 2

Arsenal Soccer Schools

Training, tournaments and holiday camps for ages four and up, Arsenal Soccer Schools has facilities in Districts 1, 2 and 7. Listing just the D2 address here.

8 Nguyen U Di, Thao Dien, D2
Ph: 0903 919 461
www.arsenalschools.vn

Bama Kids Cafe

An indoor playcentre/cafe with loads of toys and costumes for dress-ups.

Level 4, 41 Duong 41,  Thao Dien, D2
Ph: 08 8846 2262
www.facebook.com/BAMAKidsCafe

CaliKids

A kids gym offering gymnastics, dance, martial arts and yoga classes.

3rd Floor, Thao Dien Pearl
12 Quoc Huong St., Thao Dien, D2
Ph: (08) 7303 2999
www.calikids.com.vn

Dance Center

Dance classes for kids, teens and adults. Classes for kids include dance play, dance intro, jazz, ballet, hip hop, tap, acro and Zumba.

53 Nguyen Dang Giai
District 2, Thao Dien, D2
Ph: 08 3519 4490
www.dancentervn.com

DanceSpace

Kids and adult classes in ballet, jazz, hip hop, break dance, tap, salsa, belly dance, Afro dance,  traditional Vietnamese dance and Cuban percussion.

51 Hanoi Highway, District 2
Ph: 08 3744 6519
dancespacevn.com

Family Garden

A farm-in-the-city type of place, with a pond, rabbits, ducks and a little cafe-restaurant. The target market is Vietnamese, so it can be a bit confusing.

28 Thao Dien Street, Thao Dien, D2
Ph: 0913 662 887
familygarden.vn

JoyMax

Indoor play centre with a cafe area for parents.

218 Nguyen Van Huong, Thao Dien, D2

Jump Arena

Vietnam’s first trampoline park, with special sessions for toddlers, a junior jump zone for beginners and equipment for more advanced jumpers.

63 Hanoi Highway, Thao Dien, D2
Ph: 08 2253 1900
jumparena.vn

Let’s Move

Go-karts, inline skating and a kid’s play area.

199 Nguyen Van Huong, Thao Dien, District 2
Ph: 091 691 74 96
www.letsmovehcm.com

The Loop

Great cafe for breakfast, brunch or lunch, with a little kid’s play section at the back.

48 Thao Dien St, Thao Dien, D2
Ph: 08 3744 2662
www.theloop.vn

Mad House

Run by a Danish couple, Mad House is a fusion restaurant in a converted villa. Great burgers, Danish dishes, coffee and cocktails for the adults, a kids menu and a kids play room for the little monkeys. Expensive compared to street food but worth it if you need a splurge-y dinner with your kids in another room.

6/1/2 Nguyen U Di, Thao Dien, D2
Ph: 08 3519 4009
www.facebook.com/madsaigon

Mekong Merchant

Another popular expat hangout, Mekong Merchant has a kids play room with only a few toys. The centerpiece of the playroom is a big screen TV playing children’s movies and TV shows.

23 Thao Dien St, Thao Dien, D2
Ph: 08 3 744 7000
www.mekongmerchant.com

My Gym Saigon

Music, dance, gymnastics and sports for children aged 0 to 13. School holiday programs also available.

8 Nguyen U Di St, Thao Dien, D2
Ph: 090 388 71 66
www.facebook.com/pg/mygymsaigon

Saigon Outcast

For older kids and the forever-young, Saigon Outcast is an outdoor entertainment and event complex with a skateboard tube (and a few worn skateboards to borrow) and Saigon’s highest climbing wall, operated by Push Climbing. Saigon Outcast hosts life drawing classes on Tuesday evenings, outdoor cinema sessions on Thursday evenings and farmers markets and live music on weekends.

188/1 Nuyen Van Huong, D2
Ph: 0902 365 780
saigonoutcast.com

Snap Cafe

Hugely popular with the expat crowd, Snap Cafe has a little something for everyone. For the kids, there’s a kids menu, friendly staff and an outdoor playground, with slides, swings, climbing frames and a little doll house. For the adults, there’s live music, a pool table, a book exchange, a fully stocked bar and a menu with a myriad of options including salads, burgers, pizzas and Mexican and Vietnamese food.

32 Tran Ngoc Dien St, Thao Dien, D2
Ph: 08 3519 4532
www.facebook.com/TheSnapCafe/

Snow Town

A cool indoor snow-themed play centre that occupies three floors of an apartment building.

125 Dong Van Cong Street, Thanh My Loi Ward, D2
Ph: 0902 823 778
www.snowtownsaigon.com

Socio Muso

Music and drama activities for kids aged four and up. As well as classes, Socio Music runs after-school programs and summer musical theatre camps.

www.sociomuso.com

Sweet + Sour

Cupcake cafe full of adorable party supplies. Cute dolls house for kids and a well-stocked champagne fridge for the parents.

9 Ngo Quang Huy St, Thao Dien, D2
Ph: 08 3519 1568
sweetandsour.vn

Cupcakes and coffee at Sweet + Sour

tiNiWorld Vincom Mega Mall Thao Dien

Indoor play centre

4th floor, Vincom Mega Mall Thao Dien,  61, Hanoi highway, Thao Dien, D2
Ph: 0901 313 80
www.tiniworld.com

Trung Tâm Âm Nhạc Armuli (Armuli Music School)

A lovely new piano and art school run by Ms Thanh, who speaks quite good English. There are regular small group classes, or you can just drop in for an impromptu piano lesson.

22 Duong 34 (off Tran Nao), Binh An, D2
Ph: 097 604 01 37
facebook.com/trehocpiano

Vertical Academy

Indoor rock climbing, with regular classes.

18-20 Truc Duong (duong so 3), Lang Bao Chi, Thao Dien, D2
Ph: 08 6281 9248
vertical-academy.com

VinPearl Land Ice Rink

A small indoor ice skating rink on the fifth floor of the Vincom Mega Mall Thao Dien. It can get crowded on weekends and holidays. Skates and animal-shaped skating aids are available for hire.

Vincom Mega Mall, 159 Hanoi Highway, D2
thaodien.vinpearlland.com/en/portfolio/vinpearlland-ice-rink

VinSpace

Art classes and camps for kids throughout the year. The gallery hosts regular exhibitions and art classes for adults (a canvas and wine class anyone?).

6 Le Van Mien St, Thao Dien, D2
Ph: 08 3519 4581
www.vin-space.com

WeeWee Family Cafe

A family-friendly cafe with an indoor playground.

13 Street 10, Thao Dien, D2
Ph: 0983 799 737
www.facebook.com/weeweecafe

Yoga Mamas

A yoga studio with an air-conditioned room (with a nanny service) for babies and toddlers.

Ph: 0169 359 6623
www.facebook.com/yogamamassaigon

District 4

KizCiti

A theme park where kids need to “work” to earn pretend money. Jobs include airline pilot, pediatrician, fire fighter and delivery person. The more difficult jobs usually generate the pretend money, which can be spent on the “fun” activities, such as being a fashion model.

Khanh Hoi Park Compound, Hoang Dieu St, D4
Ph: (08) 3825 3868
kizciti.vn

District 7

Artinus

Clever optical illusion paintings on the walls and floor of the gallery allow you to create amazing photos that will puzzle your friends and family.

2-4 Duong So 9, Khu đô thị Him Lam, D7
Ph: 08 6298 3767
artinusvn.com

That’s my two-year-old trip-trapping over the dangerous bridge!

Gymboree Play & Music

Classes in music, art, sports, school skills, and play and learn for ages 0 to 5. Two locations, in Districts 1 and 7.

4th floor, Crescent Mall, 2101 Ton Dat Tien St, D7
Ph: 08 5413 8198
gymboreeclasses.com.vn

Kindermusik

Music and movement classes for children aged zero to seven.

Crescent Residence 2, 107 Ton Dat Tien St, Tan Phu Ward, District 7
Ph: 090 709 94 80
www.facebook.com/Kindermusik.vietnam

MoMo Kids’ Cafe

Indoor play centre/cafe with Korean food. Can get crowded on weekends.

155-SD04 Garden Court, 1 Ton Dat Tien St, Phu My Hung, D7
Ph: 08 5413 8867
www.facebook.com/MomoKidsCafe.Restaurant

Yoga Joy

Yoga for all ages, from newborns to teens, as well as tai chi classes for families.

No. 14, P Street, Panorama, Phu My Hung, D7
Ph: 097 143 13 99
yogajoysaigon.com

Vietopia

A similar concept to KizCiti in District 4, Vietopia introduces children to the world of work through dress-ups and activities. It’s next door to Artinus, so it’s possible to do both on the same day … if you have the energy.

2-4 Duong So 9, khu do thi moi Him Lam, D7
Ph: 08 6268 5777
vietopia.com.vn

Vuon Tuoi Tho Childhood Garden

An experimental educational garden project. Open weekends only.

159 Nguyen Văn Linh St, D7
Ph: 094 999 05 98
www.facebook.com/vuontuoitho.hcmc

Further Afield

Dam Sen

There are two parts to Dam Sen, a cultural park and a water park. The cultural park has gardens, cultural displays, folk music performances, a small zoo, an aquarium, a Japanese teahouse, a monorail, a Roman amphitheater, paddle boats and rides. The water park has several water slides, a wave pool and a dedicated section for small children.

3 Hoa Binh, District 11
Ph: 08 3858 8418
www.damsenwaterpark.com.vn

De-Form Pottery

Pottery studio, with regular classes.

Floor 17, Room 17.04, 66 Nguyen Ngoc Phuong St, Binh Thanh District
Ph: 0932633200
de-formpottery.com

Suoi Tien Theme Park

The world’s only Buddhist-themed theme park. It can be a little crazy, and there’s not much information in English. But there is a huge shed full of rides and games, and a kart track. The park is vast, so arrive early. You’ll need to allocate one full day to the water park, and a full day to the theme park.

120 Hanoi Highway, District 9
Ph: 0838 960 260
suoitien.com

Van Thanh Park

A government-owned “tourist” park, Van Thanh is a green oasis. There are restaurants, a ponds, tennis courts, a small resort-style swimming pool, an indoor play centre and a little playground at the back. There is also vast swathes of green grass, something that can be difficult to find in Ho Chi Minh City!

48/10 Dien Bien Phu St, Binh Thanh District
Ph: 08 3512 3026
binhquoiresort.com.vn

Why yes, that is a concrete buffalo in the lily pond!

Did I miss anything? Leave a comment if you know of any other kid-friendly place or activity in Ho Chi Minh City. Or if something has closed down.

The post Ho Chi Minh City For Kids appeared first on The Dropout Diaries.

It all started in November when I was shopping for a gift for Darling Man’s birthday. I wanted to get him something fun, quirky and uniquely Vietnamese he could wear on our street food tours. I went to local shops and tourist shops but I just couldn’t find anything.

I could see what I wanted to get him. But no one seemed to have made it.

So I taught myself enough design basics to create some fun food pun t-shirts that totally crack me up. Some are funny because they don’t make a lot of sense. Others require a certain level of Vietnamese food literacy. And then there’s the ubiquitous stuff-on-a-motorbike image.

What makes these t-shirts so fabulously exciting is that they’re print-on-demand and can be shipped all around the world. That means you don’t even have to come to Vietnam to get some delicious food t-shirts!

An com chua? Have you eaten yet?

People traveling in Vietnam, meanwhile, can buy these unique and stylish souvenirs without having to worry about overstuffing their bags and going over their luggage allowance. These wearable art beauties will be shipped straight home! You don’t need to carry them!

The t-shirts are available on RedBubble.com, a company that has been making high-quality t-shirts for years. The company is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and uses production facilities in the US, the UK, Europe, Australia and Hong Kong — which is perfect for our food tour customers, who come from all corners of the globe.

Our Saigon Street Eats logo. On a t-shirt. Unspeakably brilliant, right?

I ordered a few t-shirts so I could check the quality, and guess what — they’re fabulous. The t-shirts come in three different women’s styles, so the ladies don’t have to wear a large boxy t-shirt (unless they want to).

The men’s/unisex styles are pretty flattering too.

I love this photo of my Irish brother-in-law Andy looking so thuggish. He was actually waiting for me to finish fiddling around with the camera.

My devilishly handsome Irish brother-in-law agreed to model the t-shirts for me before I left Australia. He’s not a big smiler, our Andy, but he did his best. For the family.

Saigon egg bike!

If you’d like a body like Andy’s to put into one of our t-shirts, you’re in luck. Andy is a personal trainer! He’s based on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. Check out his Never Say No Fitness Facebook page here. Mention our Saigon Street Eats t-shirts to Andy and he’ll sing you a FREE Gaelic lullaby at the end of your first personal training session.

Our t-shirts are also available in kids sizes!

As an opening special, we’ve turned our commission to 0% on our Saigon Street Eats logo t-shirt for the first week. This makes the t-shirts a real bargain.

Go to my SaigonSass page on RedBubble to see all the designs. And let me know what you think. Are there any Vietnamese food puns you’d like to see on a t-shirt?

Finally, a big thank-you to my amazing models, Andy (wearing a men’s size M), Leigh (wearing a women’s size S) and Miss M (wearing a kid’s size S).

The post I Designed Some Hilarious Food Pun T-Shirts! appeared first on The Dropout Diaries.

Fayza, Mohamed’s wife, is ripping and throwing pieces of bread like she’s dealing a heavy hand of poker. I can’t work out if she’s angry, or the bread-thunking is a normal part of a Berber meal.

We are sitting around a white plastic table in the kitchen of the Berber Cultural Center, an innovative social enterprise about 90 minutes outside of Marrakesh. It’s the first WorkAway experience of our year-long World School adventure, and I’m bit worried about the next two weeks, given how the kids were acting in the taxi.

However, instead of continuing to bicker and complain, Miss M and Sonny focus on Lina, the four-year-old daughter of our WorkAway host Mohamed, the mastermind behind the Berber Cultural Center.

It’s a Friday and therefor a school day for Lina. But the local kindergarten only operates for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. Hence Lina’s presence at lunch, a tagine and bread affair.

We became tagine experts during our stay at the Berber Cultural Center

In our email exchange, Mohamed had said there wouldn’t be much for us to do because it was low season and there weren’t many guests booked.

We arrive anyway, me in the hope of helping out with the project, which was set up to share the Berber culture and boost the local economy. The center is near the village of Immintanoute, where Mohamed’s two eldest kids go to school.

Even though the kids and I are supposed to be volunteers, Mohamed is determined to give us the full cultural experience, inviting us to join his family at a fair on our first night and a picnic on the weekend.

The days pass and we begin to understand the rhythm of Berber life. We share a simple breakfast with the family, a large late lunch and a simple (and very late for us) dinner. The camel-coloured Atlas Mountains and desiccated shrub-studded hills a constant backdrop. Our days are punctuated by the regular calls to prayer from the nearby mosque.

Horsing around in the Berber tent in the backyard

We learn how to bake bread and make a tagine. Guests arrive and we act as defacto hosts. Uncle Brahim takes us to the weekly market for breakfast.

Brahim and his wife Fatimah only speak a few words of English. Mohamed’s wife speaks enough English to conduct a cooking class. Mohamed’s daughter speaks enough English to play with other kids, and his son Anir speaks enough English to have a simple conversation. Mohamed, on the other hand, has near native-English ability. He’s a warm and friendly guy, who loves to chat.

We talk about Berber culture, the similarities between Vietnam and Morocco, family life and the logistics running a tourism-based business. Finally I see a way I can help. I offer to assist Mohammed with the center’s online presence. He is thrilled.

The only drawback is the lack of wifi at the Berber Cultural Center. To get any work done, we have to drive into Imintanout to a male-dominated cafe which has wifi. Painfully slow wifi. Mohamed and I make sluggish progress on our AirBnB listing for the center, interrupted constantly by my kids who found the cafe boring.

Our Berber life is interrupted by more guests – yay! This means more cooking classes and a trip to the local well with Donkey, the sweet old grey donkey owned by one of Mohamed’s uncles.

Donkey on her way to the well

We meet a lovely Japanese-American grandmother called Monica, a trio of selfie-loving English girls and a group of older Americans. Everyone loves the center, with its riot of exotic and textures, stunning views and the welcome extended by the family.

My kids fill their days by play. Sonny starts making elaborate “train stations” with pegs. Miss M creates complicated scenarios with the dozens of toys she’s collected on our travels. I do all our laundry by hand one afternoon when the family is out. There is so little moisture in the air that our clothes are dry within the hour.

Daily life at the Berber Cultural Center. Auntie Fatima heading to the oven, past some laundry we left out overnight.

I’m thrilled my kids are learning to play alone, and to eat exotic food without complaining. We are all tired, though, and a cough is passed around our two families. As well as waking in the night for milk, Sonny begins waking up earlier and earlier in the morning, and having longer and longer naps. It’s a very big trip for a two-year-old.

Mohamed and Fayza both have dental emergencies during our stay, requiring teeth to be pulled. Lina comes down with a fever. I drop my phone off the roof, the place where the 3G signal is strongest.

I come last in a mint tea-making competition and have to sing a song for the guests. I murder I Still Call Australia Home and vow to sit out the next competition, no matter what it is.

One day Mohamed tells us there’s a dance festival nearby. We can go and see it after dinner. It’s nearly 11pm by the time we set off down a dirt track. There are no street lights and no moon. It’s very very dark.

“The outside. It’s gone,” exclaims Sonny from his carrier on my back. There is a group of about 20 people with us and it crosses my mind that we could be amiably walking into some kind of slave-trading trap.

But there’s far too much kindness for me to really feel worried. Some people have torches to help find their way in dark. I realise there’s a man walking next to me lighting the way so I don’t trip and fall. I feel very honoured.

Sonny falls asleep on my back before we arrive in the next village. Miss M only manages to stay awake for two or three dances, then sinks down into the lap of one of the Berber Cultural Center guests.

The dancing is amazing. A whirlwind of drumming, stamping, shrugging guys in colourful dresses.

A midnight danceoff

Our Berber life only lasted a couple of weeks but the memories will last a lifetime. By the end, I was thunking down chunks of Moroccan bread like a local.

The post World School Morocco: Living The Berber Life appeared first on The Dropout Diaries.

We’re taking a break from our usual programming today with a guest post from my awesome traveling friend, Jody E. I have been begging Jody for years to compile her hilarious Facebook posts into longer narratives, and she’s finally complied! Hopefully more posts will appear soon. Jody is a single mum, who’s based in Australia. She is the ultimate travel hacker, and finds the most amazing deals, which lead to some pretty quirky holidays. Two years ago, it was Iceland in December.

Over to you, Jody…

It was a dull and dreary Sydney morning. My five-year-old was watching TV and screaming for more toast, sending me to my “get me out of here” place.

Letting out a deep mum-sigh, I loaded the toaster and noticed the TV was showing images of the Northern Lights, something’s that’s almost at the top of my bucket list. I’d always vaguely thought a visit to Iceland for my 40th would be cool.

But this particular morning, I suddenly thought “bugger it, why wait?”

Less than two months later we were in Reykjavik, driving a hire car delivered by a cute guy in an adorable woollen jumper, looking for our basement apartment.

Reykjavik at night. (Image courtesy of www.iceland.is)

Iceland is probably one of the most remote places an Aussie can travel to. This single mum, in her endless search for the best deals ever, took an arduous route through Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, Paris and Birmingham. (I know, I know, but it was a great deal.)

It was December, and Reykjavik was dark and cold and snowy. The roads were icy, the buildings low. I kept getting the giggles over the name of the city we were in. Flashbacks of Carmen Sandiego. Where in the world was I, indeed?

Our wonderful host had gone above and beyond for us, organising a sled and a snowsuit for my son, and extra layers for me. She also offered to babysit if I needed.

Our apartment was cliched to the hilt, with furs and err … hunting trophies on the walls. I loved it!

Jody in Iceland

We played tourist, my boy running headfirst into waist-high piles of snow, both of us marveling at the light displays downtown.

We visited the Kolaportið, the weekly secondhand market, and tried Icelandic hotdogs from the street, local style. I tried the “one with everything (eina með öllu)” with sauces I couldn’t identify and crisp onion. Yum. And cheap.

Our first few days were punctuated by my repeated exclamations: “Iceland! I’m in fucking ICELAND.”

A snowstorm raged above us one evening as we soaked in a 42-degree “hotpot” at Sundhöll Reykjavíkur, the local swimming pool. Listening to the gossip and chatter around me, I decided it was time to find some adult company.

I jumped on Tinder (no shame!) and immediately got a few matches.. Mmmm… hulking bearded guys in snuggly sweaters. Well, when in Iceland…

With my host babysitting the kiddo, I set off down Laugavegur, Reykjavik’s main shopping street.

Icelandic men don’t talk much, I discovered. Apparently the women have to do most of the work on dates. My big, shaggy Viking date sat there straining to make conversation. Awkward. But he was cute.

The conversation flowed more smoothly after he suggested we try Brennivín, the local liquor. Pretty soon we were making out. (Note to self: make more of an effort to stay classy, Jody.)

But like an Icelandic Cinderella I had to leave, slipping and sliding along the icy footpaths to get home to kiddo.

The next day the Viking invited me to join him at another heated pool. I summoned another babysitter, and headed out.

We chatted and laughed in clouds of steam and I learned about Iceland. Apparently my last name in Icelandic translates to the word nothing. Excellent, my name is Jody Nothing.

Also, there is a frozen drink called Krap, just so you know.

Before long we were no longer talking. Instead we were doing things that put us at risk of being thrown out. (Oh c’mon, don’t raise your eyebrows. Who hasn’t fantasized about running away to the other side of the planet to behave disgracefully!)

With the kiddo still at the babysitters, we retreated back to my apartment and I got to know Iceland a bit more intimately. By the way, condoms are sold right next to the register at the supermarkets.

My adult-time digression didn’t distract me from my main aim in Iceland — the lights!

The kiddo and I took a night tour to see the Northern Lights. Along with a busload of other tourists, we saw some disappointing vague green blurs on the horizon. Pfft.

But by the time we got home, the sky was full of pink and green, dancing and exploding and shifting over half the sky. Exactly like in the movies.

The Northern Lights. (Photo courtesy of www.iceland.is.)

Unfortunately my son missed the main show. He’d fallen asleep, and when I woke him to carry him inside, he started screaming like he was being murdered. He wouldn’t stay inside and sleep, and the tantrum spilled outside to where I watching the lights, drawing the neighbours, still in their pyjamas, outside to check on us.

It was midnight on a school night, and I think we learned the Icelandic for “shut the hell up” that night.

Not exactly the way I envisaged crossing the lights off my bucket list, but magical (in parts) all the same.

With the sun only up for three hours, we only managed one activity a day.

One excursion was to the Penis Museum, officially known as the Icelandic Phallological Museum. As my five-year-old ran around with the information booklet asking where each specimen came from, I couldn’t decide if I was being the best mum in the universe, or the worst.

Apart from one small rude and tacky section, the museum was educational and kid-friendly. And darn funny. (The school mum back home who blocked me on Facebook obviously disagreed.)

The kiddo and I also took a day tour to Geysir, which is not a town full of old blokes, but a geothermal field with spouting hot springs. In homage to the Icelandic region, all spouting hot springs are known in English as geysers. I have no idea how old men got to be named after this phenomenon though.

Some geezers at the geyser at Geysir

We discovered the Laundromat Cafe, a brilliant combination of cafe, laundromat and kids play area. Best idea ever. The kiddo played happily while I sipped coffee and messaged my Viking.

My happy vibe must have been obvious because the girl next to me started to chat. She was another single mum. And just like that she offered me her apartment while she went home for Christmas. We also befriended an American expat and her daughter the same day.

After only a week in Iceland I had a lover, an apartment, new friends, a social life and playdates. My Icelandic life was looking better than life at home!

This situation seemed to concern my friends and family in Australia. I started getting emails pointing out that Iceland is a LONG way from home.

“You wouldn’t move there would you? REALLY?”

I was actually considering it. Sure, I came for the lights, Geysir, the glacier hikes in Iceland, the snow and the strangeness of a winter without much sun. But could I stay for the man, the friends, and the hot dogs?

It was a tough call.

In the end I did get on the flight home, but not without some tears.

It’s been two years since our winter holiday in Iceland and I’m still in touch with the Viking. From time to time he sends me a sweet message.

This is not my actual Viking, but pretty close.

And guess what? Next year I really do turn 40 and that seems the perfect time to see Iceland again. And the Viking.

For more photos and other fun, follow Dropout Diaries on Instagram and on Facebook

The post An Unusual Holiday In Iceland appeared first on The Dropout Diaries.