Well fed and rested, we got to see what Hoi An was prepared to offer... There is a beautiful covered Japanese style bridge, a few temples, and various other historical stuff that did not make it through my distracted eye... All I could see we're the numerous tailor shops!
Getting tailor made clothes is a highly overwhelming but extremely enjoyable task. I had a good think before finally deciding that some kind of a coat would be a practical option. Dresses and tops can be bought quite cheaply at home but coats tend to be expensive. With that in mind the lady in the shop steered me in the right direction. She had an iPad with lots of different styles of coats they have made previously. Even better than that though was the fact that you could just google any style you wanted and then make any modifications. I saw a coat I loved but preffered it in a winter white. It had a lovely high, dramatic funnel neck but unfortunately with my height I would have the 'coat wearing a girl' kind of look! The tailor said that was easily changed. She measured me in about 5 minutes, I returned the next day to try on a fully made coat, all that was left to do was see on the buttons!
That would have been wonderful if I had stopped there.... But it's all so tempting!!! I've always wanted a cape.... This time I got to design the cape I've always dreamed of! Grey and charcoal with a rich red check running through it, double breasted in a slightly military style with a high neck. I wanted to wear it home from the shop but unfortunately it didn't quite match my shorts and flip flops! (Plus I don't think it's the thing for 40 degree heat!)
The next most memorable part of my time in Hoi An was the cooking class I took part in. The ads began with a trip to the market. Our teacher explained the names of many different fruits and vegetables and their uses for both cooking and medicinal purposes. Green tea- good for weight loss, Tumeric with a spoon of honey- good for digestion problems and if rubbed on the skin helps you tan! Breathing the steam from a bowl of lemon grass and boiling water helps soothe a cold. It was so interesting to see such an array of fruits and vegetables that I had never seen before. Even better when we got to taste them! I was overwhelmed by the colours and smells and noisy shouts of the sellers that punctuated the market. It was a complete feast for the senses!
We then took a boat down the river to get to the tiny island village where our teacher grew up with her grandmother. Sadly it was a piece of land that was made an island during the bombings of the vietnam war. It has made life much more difficult for the community, who are already in a remote area, as their access
To the all shops, schools, medical care was cut off until a bridge could be built which took years.
The cooking class was brilliant although I was definitly in the low ability group!! Our teacher would ask us to finely chop the garlic. No problem, where's the garlic crusher? No, no!! I needed to use the giant meat cleaver/machete!! While I chopped slowly and carefully to avoid loss of limbs, the rest of the group sped on ahead! I watched them add their finely chopped garlic to the dish and then added my own sort of chopped chunks of garlic!
The recipes we learnt were all easy to prepare with ingriendients readily available at home. I will be a lot more comfortable using my own utensils though! Flipping a full fish with chopsticks is a lot more difficult than a fish slice!
Marinated pork skewers.
Papaya salad.
Caramelised tuna steak
The cooking class was a wonderful experience and one I would strongly reccomend. Hoi an is a great place to go to relax at the beach, go for a few drinks and eat well. A lot of the restaurants have been too westernised for my liking. The best food in Hoi an was without doubt the street food, and of course my own home cooking!! Next stop Ho Chi Minh City! Looking forward to my next Asian adventure!
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