Hoi An

We take the “open bus” (basically a hop on hop off bus) from Hue to Hoi An in the morning and arrive just after 12 noon. Always the first order of business is to find a room and today was Tim’s lucky day. I was able to find a hotel with a pool! also has 2 beds, bathroom, refrigerator with internet for only $12 a night. Everyone is happy and first thing Tim does is swim, which he does then for several hours. Jeff and I head out and explore Hoi An, which is relatively quite and quite colonial. It appears that they can make anything here from clothes to shoes and wood carvings, and have cooking classes at many of the restaurants.
We take a cooking class, (surprise surprise) the next morning. We begin our class with a trip to the local market where we purchase our ingredients. Our is instructor is Ly, she is a very nice young woman and is very good at answering all of questions. It is so nice to a native speaker with us in the market, really helpful in finding out what things are. We have chosen to make BBQ fish in bamboo leaves with lemon sauce, green mango salad with chicken, Cao Lau (special noodle soup of Hoi An), fresh spring rolls with shrimp and vinegar, and Hoi An fried pancake. Ly also makes us a fresh dish of jelly fish along with lots of fresh fruit. We have a wonderful time and have some new recipes we can now make at home. Yummy! A bonus for us came one evening when I asked and was allowed into the kitchen and was shown how to cook braised pork in a clay pot. We really enjoyed this dish so was very happy to learn how to make it.
Tim has had a pair of shoes made for himself. He was able to pick style and color and logo! He is very pleased. I went out and had some clothes made for myself. I had traditional Ao Dai and trousers made, along with cotton skirt and dress and then at my fitting opted to have a silk dress with embroidery done also! I only spent $65 total on all, and they fit me perfectly! Okay that did not fit in our budget but I could not resist and I usually have a hard time finding clothes I like and fit. Did I justify that enough?
We also bumped into George and Emily whom we originally met in Laos, but have now run into several times in the past month. We share an evening and a bottle of Dalat red wine.
Although we only spend 2 nights and 3 day here, we have thoroughly enjoyed Hoi Anh. We have made a plan to come back here with the idea of having an extra bag available for our clothing purchases. Anyone who wants to come along let us know, we can make it a group holiday.

~Karen~