Too many tailors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Trip Start
Jan 16, 2008
1
37
49
Trip End
Jun 30, 2008
Hoi An,
Vietnam
Friday, May 16, 2008
We travelled to Hoi An with a lovely bus company and even got dropped off outside our hotel of choice!!! Hoi An has a reputation for having brilliant accomodation for cheap prices, so for 20$ a night we had hot water, tv, ac, a big room, free brekkie, free internet and a swimming pool, one can't complain!
We dumped our bags, wandered down to the riverside for a look around and got some lunch in an open-sided restaurant. Luke had a cheese toastie, Becky can't remember what she had and we shared some White Rose Shrimp things (a Hoi An speciality) as we watched the world go by.
After a lovely lunch we decided to get it over with and picked a tailors. Luke decided to have a suit made and Becky a trench coat and trousers. That was our excitement for the day.
Saturday morning we were up early AGAIN for our cooking course. We were shown the fresh ingredients at the local market and they tried very hard to flog kitchen knives, albeit these knives could make some nice patterns, but we did not succumb (for a change). We were loaded on to a boat up the river to the Red Bridge Cooking School
A bendy lady
. Firstly our rather witty Vietnamese chef told us he only uses one knife and he found it funny that other group members had bought the fancy knives.The cooking class was good but it was a little rushed and not quite hands on enough - we are struggling to remember what we made. Luke thinks he can remember.... we made: shrimp salad in a pineapple, aubergine hotpot, fresh spring rolls (Luke broke alot of rice pancakes before getting one he could use), Hoi An pancakes and we did food decoration. For the record, there was lots of ummming and ahhhhing in that remembering session, he does make a good tomato rose though!
Sunday morning meant fitting sessions at the tailors, Luke looks very pretty in his suit (we'll take a picture mummy), Becky was a little flabberghasted by her coat and had some alterations made. Blobbing along we visited sights of the old town; a traditional house, an assembly hall, a temple, a museum of ceramics, a Japanese bridge and a square well. We managed all this before lunch woo. Walking back along the road Becky saw a beautiful dress which she just had to have (maybe for her daddy and helen's wedding). Luke bought his Granny's birthday prezzie......are you excited Granny? : )
We went down for tea on the riverbank again and we found a big crowd as there was a lantern festival celebrating the full moon. Vietnamese were floating paper lily candles down the river, we stood on the bridge and watched them float by, it was a magical sight. What luck our visit to Hoi An coincided with a full moon! Fairly early to bed ready for our big day the next day.
4.30am Monday morning bleary eyed Becky and Luke fell out of bed, down the curly stairs and into the waiting taxi. Up at sunrise to visit My Son, remains of the ancient kingdom of Champa, erected from the 4th century onwards and occupied until the 13th century. There were hardly any people so early on and it was cooler so we had a nice wander in the ruins that looked like they were from The Jungle Book. Killed time that afternoon (waiting for our overnight bus) by putting photos on the blog for you lucky peaches and eating. xxxxx
Comments
Love the body transplant!!
Hi, love the body transplant pic, made me smile. Dad would love all those stones looks like a great place and was that really you reading a guide book Luke? I find that hard to belive after all the piles of rock and historic sites we've visited over the years!!
What about a picture of your new suit Luke, thought you would have had that on for the visit to the posh restaurant! Thought the peacock was great, very artistic, was it edible?
Glad you have got back into the blog and the photo's it will be great for you to look back on when you get back, keep it up. Take care. Love Mumxx