Hoi An is a Newton-sized city in the middle of the country, on the coast, with a heavy French influence. Many years ago its river silted up so it was slightly forgotten, which was great for the city since it was preserved. It had a resurgence and has become a tourist mecca.
Flying into Da Nang and then driving down the coast to Hoi An one sees many large hotels and golf courses. Cancun in Vietnam! But upon arriving in Hoi An traffic slows (and one can even cross the street without worrying about instant death) and a quaint city emerges. Again, we could have spent days there.
Our hotel had an inner courtyard and restaurant with a huge buffet breakfast so we started the day right.
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| Our bedroom on arrival |
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| Hospitality is key |
After a good night sleep Eric and I went for a quick walk around town at about 6am. Turns out that is when the Vietnamese eat breakfast. And they eat out at local outdoor places, which are everywhere. Days start early because many work in shops, the food market, etc. They have lunch at 10am, and light meals at 3 and 6.
Who can guess this fruit?
At 8am we joined the Green Bamboo cooking school for an amazing day of shopping in the local market for the freshest ingredients and then going to Van's (our cooking instructor) home to prep, cook and eat. The market is organized by food groups - fruits,
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| Fruit |
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| Van, letting us try passion fruit |
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| Charlotte shaving lemongrass |
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| The fish is so fresh that there are no odors or flies |
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| Same with the meat which was killed this morning |
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| Tofu |
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| Fresh herbs |
Along the way we made new friends from Australia and Denmark. Each person made their own dish and then we had to eat everything. Let's just say we weren't hungry the next morning and each dish was better than the last!
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| Van's home and cooking school |
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| We were cooking Charlotte's vegetarian spring rolls |
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| They were as amazing tasting as they look |
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| This was a beef salad with fresh greens and herbs |
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| Eric might have made the best dish, a slow cooked fish with a bit of spice. So proud! |
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| Charlotte eating my dish of noodles and veggies, including pumpkin, tofu, mushrooms - and herbs |
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| Tofu, pineapple, tomatos |
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| Sauteed eggplant |
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| Pho Beef |
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| Charlotte and her new friend, Phillipa |
After our class, we had a few hours to shop and there are tons of stores in which to do so! There are over 500 tailors in Hoi An. We took Van's recommendation and went to one. We each had selected one garment we wanted copied (Charlotte, of course, selected two!). In an upcoming post I'll show you pictures of the original garment and the new copies. We purchased at 5pm and picked them up at 10am. They had to work hard - and fast!
This is what the fabric warehouse looked like - and you can imagine how hot it was.
We also bought knock off sandals - again pictures to come.
Maddy and Char wanted some lanterns to decorate their rooms and this is what they look like lit up. They are all handmade.
Totally got ripped off on having our laundry done, but it looked so pretty when it came back that who could complain? All nicely folded in plastic sleeves.
Our last morning in Hoi An was a crazy rush as we raced to have our nails done (great prep, awful nail polish), buy Eric a t-shirt to mark the event of being in Vietnam, and to pick up our clothing and shoes. We made it, but just barely!
We flew to Ho Chi Minh City. We wandered around a bit and all feel this could be missed. It is large with not much of interest. We did find bubble tea though.
We are staying at the Sheraton and it has a great roof bar the looks out over the city. These are pictures from there.
The traffic didn't look bad down below because it was Sunday night.
Today we head to the Mekong Delta and Can Tho.
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