We arrived at Da Nang airport eventually, along with our bags, and were picked up by our hotel and driven the 40 minutes to Hoi An. After checking into the hotel, we decided a drink and snack was in order as it was SWELTERING and we hadn't eaten all day. We wandered over to the hotel restaurant and ordered a Mango Caprioska and Pina Colada of course as well as some spring rolls. The spring rolls were incredible, they were triangle shaped and had a whole prawn. Doug of course HAD to know how to make them. We already had an offsite cooking class booked in for the next day, but after some chatting, we also had a cooking class booked in with the hotels executive chef!
Always the talker, somehow Doug got chatting further to the waitress and she ended up reccomending we get some clothes made. No less than 2 minutes later, Doug was on the phone, chatting to her uncle, who offered to pick us up and keep the shop open late!
We ended up doing the Hotels "street food" banquet that night before heading into central Hoi An to meet Doug's new tailor, Moon from Rubin's Tailor. Doug ended up settling on a peacock velvet smoking jacket and a shirt and I, a copy of a Viktoria Woods coat. We walked through the streets back to our hotel and settled into the room, ready for a 8am start to our day of cooking!
We woke up and ate very light before crossing town to Miss Vy's cooking school. As Vietnam is really struggling for tourists, we ended up on a private tour for the huge sum of $45 each! We wandered around the local markets, and let me tell you, it is a genuine shock we didn't get sick all trip despite the questionable food storage solutions! After spending an hour learning about the market (women work there, while the men are at the cafe!) and walking around, we were ready to start cooking! Clearly not my forte as I struggled to chop, boil or do any other basic skills but we learnt how to make a cabbage soup, rice paper rolls, vietnamese pancakes and spicy chicken! All were amazing!
Hoi An was by FAR the hottest place we'd been so after our self cooked lunch we headed back for a quick dip before visitng our tailor! A few alterations here and there and we were back at the hotel for our second cooking class of the day.
Doug has been desperate to learn how to cook a good satacy sauce so we learnt that, our special spring rolls and another version of vietnamese pancakes. Once again, I struggled and was asked to step aside!
After a few chill hours we headed back into the city to finally pick up our finished pieces from the tailor. They were amazing and we were both so happy with the finished products. We were struggling to get home, so Moon offered to drive us on the back of his bike. Probably by far the least responsible thing I've ever done!
After we dropped off our goods we headed into the Ancient Town to see all of the lanterns. It was so magical just walking around, however was acousted by a small girl and her Mum to take photos with me! It never ends!
Off on a motorbike tour tomorrow through to Hue and then hometime!
