Vietnam

After all of our fittings and our cooking class yesterday we decided that this would be a low-key day. We woke up later than usual and had a relaxing breakfast.

We strolled to the tailor three doors down from our hotel to get fitted again. Once we finished there we wandered through town. We came across this random temple and statue. We have no idea what it is but it was quite impressive.

We also walked through the Japense covered bridge. This bridge was built by the Japanese workers that were here in 19th century. At the end of the bridge is a set of dogs and the other a set of monkeys. The story is that the bridge was started in the year of the monkey and finished in the year of the dog.

The bridge was kind of interesting, however I think it is the Bow Falls (in Banff, Alberta) of Hoi An. Everyone talks about it and the guide books say you have to see the Japanese covered bridge, but then once you are there for 2 minutes you are going to see all that you will ever see. But, somehow people still spend hours there. I guess I'm not that kind of tourist.

After the bridge we wandered through town and picked up some more souvenirs then we ate lunch. And no surprise after lunch we had to go get fitted for more clothes. Once we got fitted we wandered back to our hotel. Once we got there Court read and I slept for a while.

Once I woke up we headed out for supper. There was a restaurant that got some good reviews in the Lonely Planet book that we wanted to go to. We started out to hit this restaurant, however we left the book at home and I just marked the restaurant on our map with a dot. And, to my surprise the restaurant wasn't where I made my dot. I think it moved that day. Needless to say we didn't find it. We wandered around some more to find a restaurant. We crossed the river to check out some other restaurants. However, when we got even close to one of these restaurants someone was outside yelling at us to come in. So, we didn't go in any of them.

We crossed back over the bridge and were going to go down the main street, but it was flooded and we decided we didn't want to walk through the water from the river.

We eventually settled on the restaurant where we met for our cooking class. We sat out on the front stoop. While we were there it started to rain. Vietnamese people are very smart and efficient. As soon as the first drop fell everybody broke out their ponchos to sell. We didn't bother to buy one; our plan was to just sit until it stopped raining (we're just glad it stopped an hour later; it would have been really cold sleeping on that stoop).

At one point it started to come down really hard, a lot harder than it had in a long time. We saw a poor family of five Westerners hiding in a little sheltered alcove to try to out wait the rain. But, we weren't the only ones to see them. It didn't take very long before two different Vietnamese ladies with ponchos for sale blocked them in. It was about 5 minutes of saying no before (we think) they just bought a poncho so that they women would let them out of the alcove.

After it stopped raining we had to go back out for another fitting. Then we found an Internet cafe, called home and then hit the sack after successfully relaxing all day.

We woke up rather early, ate breakfast, and wandered around town some more. We went to try on our shoes, which were already done and looked great. We also went to one of the tailors so Andrew could have a couple of suits made, as well as some other items.

We had booked a place in a cooking class for the afternoon, so we eventually made our way to the meeting place. We got a complementary drink and waited for things to get started. In Vietnam they don't use coffee makers; they make individual cups of coffee. The thing on top of my cup was made from aluminum and they would put the coffee grinds in and pour hot water over top. Vietnamese coffee is also really strong so Andrew would usually get the "white" coffee, which was half coffee half milk.

First we went on a walk through the market, where our guide identified different ingredients traditionally used in Vietnamese food, and told us how to tell a good one from a bad one. This is her with a dragon fruit and some grains we saw in the market.

We were also shown some tools that are commonly used. We bought a double sided knife, which we still don't really know how to use. You can use it to peel and to cut vegetables, but we aren't good with it yet. We also tried some turmeric candy, which is apparently good for stomach ailments; it turned our tongues yellow, and we decided we didn't like it very much.

After leaving the market we boarded a boat which took us upriver to the restaurant where the cooking course was to take place. It took about 25 minutes to get there, and we passed many resorts and people working on the river as we cruised. The second picture is a ferry that takes all the students and their bikes across the river so they can go to school.

Once we arrived, our guide showed us the herb garden, and then we proceeded to the 'classroom' for our instruction. We watched the chef make the dishes, and then we tried it ourselves. It was pretty simple; all the ingredients were laid out for us, prechopped and measured for our convenience. All we had to do was put it together. Not to say that it wasn't still fun, but it was only minimally hands-on. By the time all was said and done, we had constructed an eggplant dish, made some rice paper in which we wrapped a spring roll, fried some sort of Vietnamese savoury pancake and we also carved out some decorations from tomato and cucumber. Andrew thinks his were less than stellar, but I suppose mine turned out ok.

Once our cooking practice was over we went to the restaurant to eat what we had prepared, which is to say that the ones we ate were actually prepared by the chef. The food was really good. We dined with a British couple who have been travelling through Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand, and we picked their brain about all their experiences (they'd previously been around the world).

When we finished lunch, we took the boat back to town. On the way we saw someone fishing on the river. The boat slowed so we could take some photos, and then the fisherman pulled in his net and approached us to ask for financial compensation for his time and image. I gave him a dollar, because he was providing a service, I guess. The whole thing was well orchestrated. I don't think he has ever got a fish where he was; I think he was fishing for tourist's money. But, oh well, it's a good picture. Here are some of the pictures from throughout the day.

When we arrived at the dock, we went to order some more clothes and get fitted. We were pretty tuckered out after all was said and done, so we went back to the hotel, ate some food and hit the hay.

Oh, and while we were eating dinner, there was a gecko nearby getting his too. This photo was hard to pass up.