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“Vietnamese cooking at its best” |
Thursday morning we left Hue bright and early (again!). The four hour trip to Hoi An followed the coast for some of the way - the waves crashing in on the occasional beach resort looked very uninviting. The scenery was interesting - apart from the bit through the 6.5 km tunnel which cut out some of the more spectacular mountain passes.
Apparently the monsoon usually finishes in November in this part of the world, but was still in full swing when we arrived in Hoi An. However, we attempted a bit of a look around town during the afternoon - it's a beautiful old town with the "Old Quarter" still well preserved and, pleasantly, cars banned from the streets. Even in the rain we could appreciate the French influence in the old buildings. Somewhat sadly (as with other Old Towns we've visited in China) almost all the old buildings are now given over to the tourist trade - in Hoi And the big thing is made-to-measure clothing, with perhaps 70% of the shops specialising in the rag trade. Keith succumbed to a small extent - he'd torn his trousers, so got a new pair made to measure.
Next morning we had booked a cooking course - wisely, as it was still raining heavily and most of the morning would be spent indoors. The group (about a dozen peaople of assorted nationalities) first toured the market, having various fruits, vegies, fish and cooking implements explained to us.
By the way, it is impossible to buy chicken in Vietnam at the moment with the bird flu scare - we have seen a few around, but none in the markets. We can reveal which came first, though - there may be no chickens, but it is still possible in places to buy eggs!
A short boat trip up the river brought us to the Red Bridge cooking school, where we sliced, diced, sauteed and fried the morning away. Most enjoyable, as indeed was the lunch! Our compliments to the chef!
We returned to town for a little more desultory sightseeing including a short performance of traditional music - another must for Keith. They have some fascinating stringed instruments here which Keith would like to take home, but sadly the suitcase is a little small.
Saturday morning we were up bright and early (yet again) for a 1 hour bus ride to My Son. This is the site of some ancient ruins dating from the 10th to 14th centuries when it was the centre of a Hindu kingdom (the Cham kingdom - the descendants now live much further to the south) originating from Indonesia. Most of the ruins were quite ruined, not only the ravages of time but American bombing back in 1969 destroyed 70% of what was left. The bits that were still standing were most impressive and quite beautiful. What's more it stopped raining for the whole 2 hours we were there! We ran into the Swiss girl from Halong Bay there - no sign of the Spanish guy!
Back in Hoi An for the afternoon - we wandered the streets looking at some of the historical sites - Chinese temples, old trading houses, a Japanese covered bridge - back in the 17th century Hoi An was a major trading port with people from all over Asia. A little bit of shopping and the day finished with a bang-up meal (a feast for $10!)
This was supposed to be our last day in Hoi an, but back at the hotel we got a message that the next morning's bus to Nha Trang was cancelled due to flooding. So the next day was a lazy one - it stopped raining so we had another wander around town taking a few photos which didn't require wiping rain off the lens after each shot! Meanwhile we heard that the night bus which we intended to take had also been cancelled - a section of the highway was in fact washed out. With no idea of when this might be repaired, we cancelled the bus tickets and bought a plane flight instead, straight through to Ho Chi Minh City, for the following day.
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