Hoi An Part II

We boarded one of the boats in the river. I'm not sure how far down the river it was, but my guess was maybe about three miles or four miles.

There were these circle of reeds in all the rivers and some of the rice paddies. I couldn't figure out exactly what they were. Maybe some sort of fishing net?

We exited off the boat and saw the red bridge the resort was named after. A waiter came out with more mango smoothies and our guide led us around the herb garden.

These were peanuts.

She pulled one of them out of the ground so we could see the peanuts.

Afterwards, we bid goodbye to our guide and were directed to the back of the resort where the cooking class took place. Our teacher was this funnily sarcastic chef who sounded exactly like a Vietnamese Howard Cosell. He showed us how to make a salad in a pineapple, rice paper, spring rolls, bánh xèo, and an eggplant stew in a clay pot.

Salad

The rice paper is made by pouring the batter on a muslin stretched over boiling water. You then take a bamboo stick and flip it off.

The rice paper was made into spring rolls

Bánh xèo, the egg pancake that I had the first night in Danang

He showed us how to make some garnishes too.

Pretty, right?

Annnnnnnd here's mine.

Eggplant in a clay pot.

Afterwards we sat at a table in the restaurant cooled off by the river, enjoying our cooking attempts and mango smoothies. It was very peaceful and I was very glad that we took the class. I actually learned to like Vietnamese food! We were herded back to the boat and Hoi An when it started to get dark. Hoi An is famous for lanterns apparently and so the city had started to light up by the time we got back. I wasn't there at the full moon, but apparently the regular lights are turned off and there are twice as many lanterns and they float candle lanterns on there river as well.

The bridge from before lit up.

Here's a Junebug that flew out of nowhere and hit Risa on the head.

There were these musicians just hanging out on the street playing for fun. I don't even think they were busking because I didn't see anywhere to give them money.

Mike and Risa were very patient while I shopped like crazy to find gifts and souvenirs, even dragging them back to the same shop three times. We then divided up my goodies on the two bikes due to my lack of foresight that we were going to have to get all this back on scooters and headed back to Danang. Hoi An was probably my favourite day of all in Vietnam.