Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in EnglishThe open-topped jeep – with defunct rocket propelled grenade strapped to the bonnet – is waiting for us outside reception.It towers menacingly over the hotel’s fleet of golf buggies but the doormen of the Intercontinental Westlake smile and help us into the vehicle as though it’s a limousine.Half a century of Communist rule could get a country down but the people of Vietnam are as irrepressible as they are inventive.And so, hours after our arrival in its capital city, we find ourselves all aboard a demilitarised Soviet juggernaut ready for a backstreet tour of Hanoi.’We have two types of weather,’ says our guide, offering headwear for protection against the blazing sun. ‘Hot and hotter.’He also has two types of hat. Vietcong pith helmet or conical bamboo. Fighter or farmer, I ask the children, as the trying on begins.Not that the two are mutually exclusive. For a country that’s been repelling foreign invaders for almost two thousand years while blending homegrown produce with the best enemy cuisine, Vietnam knows a thing or two about fusion food.And, thanks to the rise in popularity of its dishes on social media, my three insist they know their bun cha (meatballs) from their bot chien (rice cakes) before we’ve even joined the bustle. Fiona and her family (pictured) spent the first portion of their trip in Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital, before heading south to Phu Quoc, a Vietnamese island in the Gulf of Thailand The Hidden Gem cafe, where Fiona and family tried Vietnamese dishes such as bun cha and banh mi, is located in the Old Quarter and decorated with recycled items Bun cha is a popular Vietnamese dish made with pork patties and pork belly. It is usually served with vermicelli noodles and a dipping sauceFirst stop, the Hidden Gem cafe, so well hidden down an alleyway you could miss it altogether.Furnished almost entirely from recycled materials – three jumbled storeys of tables and chairs that were once bits of motorbikes and machinery – it’s worlds away from the gloss of Gail’s and I worry that my daughters won’t see the goodies for the grunge.Rose, 18, looks doubtful as we perch on stools made from old tyres and await our first banh mi. I’ve heard great things of the national sandwich – a French baguette with Vietnamese fillings of pate, pickled vegetables, pork and chicken – but make the mistake of saying so rather than leaving it to TikTok.The sandwiches are served and the sceptics silenced. Emboldened, Evie, 16, orders an egg coffee. My husband and I exchange looks of relief. Our furthest venture east is off to a promising start.Back on manoeuvres, and remnants of war and resistance are everywhere. My husband, dissuaded from making a family movie night of The Deer Hunter prior to the trip, excitedly points out the wreckage of a B52, its battered fuselage jutting from a lake. Felix, 12, lights up.We brave a blizzard of mopeds for a selfie on Long Bien Bridge, repeatedly bombed and repeatedly rebuilt, a symbol of a country that forgives but never forgets. Yet Hanoi is as delightful as it is defiant, its raw energy impossible to ignore.Within minutes of arriving in the Old Quarter, a labyrinth of 36 lanes named after the merchandise they sell, the children are let off the leash with some hard cash.I leave Rose picking out swathes of satin as she explains her vision of a prom dress to a seamstress in Silk Street, while I browse neighbouring Silver Street in search of souvenirs. Hanoi’s Old Quarter sells all kinds of different goods and crafts, with each street named after the merchandise they sellAlthough there’s no actual Shellac Street, Evie reappears with two sets of gel nails which, she tells me, cost a quarter of the price at home.Never one to miss out when the purse is open, Felix easily talks Dad into handing over some dong and returns to the jeep carrying a bright yellow toy goose that comes up to his waist. After a quick Google of the Vietnamese word for the animal, the newly christened Long Nong joins the party and it’s time for our final stop: Train Street.Now fully reopened after it hit the buffers in 2019 following safety concerns, Instagram’s favourite railroad is back drawing crowds twice a day to watch an inter-city train rumble through a bypass so narrow that residents who live either side of the line have to move outdoor belongings before its approach.Ingeniously, a cluster of cafes – some in people’s living rooms – have cropped up providing ice cold beers and seating. We find a prime spot next to an electric fan and cheer as the 3pm to Ho Chi Minh City hurtles past.Back to the cool of the Intercontinental Westlake, where sainted staff greet us beneath a 10-metre chandelier and remind us that cocktails at the Sunset Bar –a circular hub on a small island accessed by a series of walkways – will soon be served.No surprise, you may think, that a hotel designed to resemble an open lotus flower should be so Zen, but with its clean open spaces and generous sized family rooms, with sweeping views of the lake and the country’s oldest pagoda, you’d never know the hubbub was just ten minutes away.Time for a quick splash, I think, before I set eyes on the tree-lined pool with smart double loungers, and realise it will be a struggle to get us out before nightfall. Truth be told, it will be a struggle to leave Hanoi at all, each of us under the spell of this pulsating city whose past pushes headlong into tomorrow. Fiona and her family stayed in the InterContinental, Westlake, located in Hanoi’s Tay Ho district Overlooking the tranquil waters of Hanoi’s Westlake, the InterContinental offers refuge from the bustle of Vietnam’s capitalOur next stop – the island of Phu Quoc off the southernmost tip of the country – couldn’t be more different.Prized for its white sands and tropical jungle, it’s recently leapfrogged from the category of sleepy backwater to bucket-list beaches, and development is accordingly on the rise. But there are developments – and then there’s the Regent Phu Quoc.Overlooking the Gulf of Thailand and perched on perfect white sands, the Regent is an opulent place for opulent people.While our enormous villa – one of 63 that circle two lagoons, with the same number dotted around the resort – has me reaching for the smelling salts in the form of the Aqua di Parma room diffuser, it blends into the garden landscape so easily you wouldn’t know it was there. That’s stealth wealth for you.Time to raise our game as I shake out what passes for best clothes and supervise getting ready for dinner. No simple matter when you’re constantly stopping to admire the fixtures and fittings.The main bathroom has me mentally knocking down the one at home while the fully equipped kitchen for which you can call in a private chef is doing similar things to my husband. But it’s when you overhear the children talking appreciatively not just about the constantly restocked artisanal crisps and chocolate but the abstract art work dotted around the place that you know you’re not in Kansas anymore.The feeling intensifies when you step outside and realise everyone else is dressed to the nines – posh frocks even beside the pool. In the second instalment of their trip, Fiona and her family headed south to Phu Quoc, where they stayed at the Regent The Regent is a luxury resort on the island, and offers a range of suites and villasBut for all the grandeur, there’s nothing snooty about the Regent. Staff are friendly, thoughtful and telepathically attentive. When waiters realise on day one that Rose likes two bowls of sticky rice with every dish, two magically appear henceforth before she even has to ask.It’s all in the detail – and there’s plenty of influences at play.The canopies that flutter over the first swimming pool a considerate touch for Far Eastern guests who prefer not to tan, while the Speakeasy bar, whose gorgeous jade-green interior is accessed through a secret door, a nod to American friends.But it’s the Bovi motif, a ladder-like pattern inspired by the wooden truss system of the Vietnamese house which runs through the resort that we instantly fall in love with.We’re so busy picking it out as we take our seats for dinner at Rice Market, the central dining area, that it’s hard to keep your eyes down long enough to take in the menu.When we do, we find it’s so extensive that even my nuisance family (two vegetarians, one picky eater, a die-hard carnivore and a seafood addict) could happily eat for a week and never have the same meal twice.Although, as Felix points out, once you’ve tried the wok-fried Wagu beef, why choose anything else?And once you’ve sampled the captivating contrasts of Vietnam, you may just feel the same.Rooms at the Regent Phu Quoc start from £311 per night, including breakfast. Rates at InterContinental Hanoi Westlake, an IHG Hotel, start from £106 for a Classic city view room, on a room only basis. Hanoi Backstreet Tours offer tours of the capital from £27. Fiona and her family flew with Cathay Pacific.
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