Hoi An: Old Town, cooking class and 18 cent beer

Bougainvillea, decorating sidewalks throughout Old Town section

     Hoi An, just south of Danang, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Its protected historical status was recognized even during the Vietnam War. Both sides agreed not to bomb the city, and they kept their word. The French architecture and ancient buildings are intact and preserved thru the UNESCO designation. And a beautiful city it is! We are here for five nights and have toured the Old Town with our student guides, wandered the city, enjoyed $5 foot massages, taken a cooking class, and ridden in a basket boat.
     Nhi and Duong met us Friday morning and led us thru five of the historic structures of Old Town, sharing the history of the city and the importance of the buildings. The girls are both university students, actually driving their motorbikes from Danang to lead our tour! Both spoke English. Nhi was more experienced with the tours; Duong was only on her second tour, so it was great fun to encourage Duong when Nhi let her lead the discussion.

Nhi and Duong of HoianMates

     Several historic buildings are assembly halls, as Hoi An was a prominent trading port. The Chinese traders of the 1800s built assembly halls, highly decorated in accordance with their culture.

     While Nhi and Duong were leading our tour, we came across groups of schoolchildren, also on tours!

Our student guides were so helpful with the details of the historic sights that we would have missed without them. For example, the pillars in the Tam Ky house were decorated with mother of pearl. Only when Nhi directed me to examine them closer, did I see the birds. The mother of pearl had been inflaid to form over 100 birds on the pillars.

in the Tam Ky house

     During the evenings, Phillip and I walk in the night market. Lighted lanterns hang across the streets and in front of almost all the business.

garlic-shaped lanterns to ward off evil

     Yesterday, we spent the day on boat rides and a cooking class. The day started at about 8:20 am when we were picked up at our hotel by a van and taken to the market next to the river. Our guide, Hai, gave us shopping baskets and the group (8 of us) went with her to get the food we would prepare later.

selecting produce in the market

     No grocery stores or packaged food here. Fresh vegetables, fresh noodles, fresh meat. A surprising lack of flies and bugs, but the produce and meat move so quickly, the bugs don't have a chance to find it.

three kinds of fresh rice noodles

Once we had our food, we boarded a boat on the Thu Bon River for the 30 minute ride to our class.

on the Thu Bon River

     At a tributary to the river, we transferred from the motorized boat into basket boats for the final leg of of trip. The women in the next picture are two young ladies from Denmark who were part of our tour.

basket boat

     While in the basket boats, which were paddled by a guide, Phillip and I fished for little crabs. A piece of chicken on a string attached to a short stick. The guide manuevered the basket boat to the trees growing out of the water and we fished. The little crabs grabbed the chicken and we hauled our catch in! We didn't keep any, as they were about two inches across (we have garden spiders bigger than that) but it was fun.

crab caught with a piece of chicken

     We arrived at the cooking class location, palm covered pavillions set up with tables for us. Our first lesson was about rice. We hulled rice, ground rice, and in this picture, made rice paper.

rice batter poured over material above steaming water

Hai was our cooking teacher. She demonstrated for us, then we went to our stations and made the dishes.

Hai demonstrating fresh spring rolls

In addition to supervising our preparation, Hai also took pictures for us. Notice that Phillip is cooking.

Our work area under the pavillion

We made four different dishes, however, Phillip and I both ate the sizzling pancake without taking a picture, so here are three of the four!

fresh spring rolls

fried noodles with shrimp

pho (I already stirred in the bean sprouts and herbs)

We received a pamphlet with the recipes we made and a pair of cooking chopsticks when the class was over. With full bellies, the van returned us to our hotel.
     After sunset yesterday, we walked back to the night market, had dinner, got another $5 foot massage, and then finished the evening with a 4,000 dong fresh beer. That beer, which was surprisingly tasty, cost $0.18. Yes, 18 cent beer!

fresh beer

    Today, we just wandered around an area in which we hadn't ventured yet. We have a foot massage in a few minutes, complimentary from the hotel because we booked a suite. Tomorrow: a countryside tour with another cooking class.