Big cook little cook

We booked ourselves onto a cookery course for the morning as that seems to be the cool thing to do in Hoi An. At half 8 a man met us at our hostel and took us to the market to buy food. We thought there would be a group of us but it turned out we were the only ones that had booked for the morning slot. About 10 had booked for the afternoon. So we got a private course which I think was even better. In the market our guide bought papaya and quails eggs for various dishes we would be making later. It was fun to be like one of the locals, weaving in and out of the market stalls. 

Another taxi ride later and we were at his restaurant, about 10 minutes out of town. It was lovely, all made from coconut and bamboo, even the chairs and tables. We were given a cold towel to cool ourselves off (genius idea to just put damp towels in the fridge for later) before going for a row in a basket boat. The boat is round and like a big basket. We were kitted out with a Vietnamese hat (the pointy ones) and a life jacket which seemed a bit pointless (the Vietnamese don't tend to do health and safety). The guide, the two of us and the guide's son all fit nicely in and Matt and I were told to row. I was happy to row but it was pretty hot, my hat had broken a little so kept falling off and I ended up cutting my hand where the oar would rub against. We also asked if bringing our belongings on board (mainly our phones) would be okay and the guide said it would, he brought his iPad on. However, his son kept moving about so the boat would tip and a part of me would panic that all of my stuff would get wrecked. This kind of ruined the boat journey for me. The guide also kept taking pictures of me looking super sweaty. I was tempted to hit his iPad into the water. 

The river (or stream as it was small) was lined with water coconuts making it extremely peaceful and beautiful. I wish I had appreciated it more at the time. 

Back on dry land we were given bamboo fishing rods and told to fish. Neither of us had fished before but within 10 seconds Matt managed to catch one. We put them back into the little pond afterwards but sometimes part of their mouth would come off with the hook. Surely that hurt them. I managed to catch one but got a little bored after that. The excitement of trying to catch one had gone. 

Before cooking we had to play a game which is popular in this area. You're blindfolded then given a wooden bat, similar to a piñata you have to hit a clay pot hanging around head height. I hit mine first time. I was rather smug when it took Matt 3 tries. 

Finally we were allowed to cook, the part that I had been looking forward to the most. I'm massively missing cooking. We made a papaya salad with papaya and carrot, pork and shrimp cooked in garlic with a dressing of lime juice, sugar, chilli, carrot and garlic. The salad was garnished with carrot flowers and deep fried spring rolls which we also made. The spring rolls were the best part, probably because they were deep fried. I will be making this again back home. Anyone is welcome to come round for tea. 

We also made a pork dish with ginger in a caramelised sauce mixed with chilli. I would have preferred for there to be no chilli seeds in the dish as it became a little too spicy for me but it still tasted nice. We got to eat all of it so were happily full by the end. 

We were dropped back off at our hostel around half 1 so we got our swimming things and headed for the beach. The beach we intended to go to was 2 kilometres away so we got a taxi there and planned to walk back when it was cooler. The taxi took us to the wrong beach over 4 kilometres away. It was still nice with palm trees for shade but it was nothing special. After a couple of hours we got a bit bored so walked along the beach, thinking we could maybe get to the nicer area. It took us an hour but we got to one section of beach that was packed with people, mainly Vietnamese, having picnics, swimming in the sea, all within a small area. It didn't look like the description in the reviews (white sand, quiet with not many people) but it was the right location. We walked back towards town, which took us another 40 minutes, as it was nearly 6 by this point and we didn't particularly want to stay on the packed beach. 

Back in town we found some street food place and both chose the barbecue option (the other option was chicken and neither of us wanted that just in case). It turned out to be quite pricey if you get a whole barbecue set to yourself (100,000 dong which is only about £3 but still expensive compared to other stuff). However, it was good. You get meat (pretty sure it was pork) which is marinated in some sweet sauce and then barbecued on a stick which you then wrap in rice paper with lettuce and cucumber and pull off the stick before dipping it in a peanut sauce. I thought it was great and the amount of meat you get is maybe worth the price. The rice paper is sometimes hard to bite though. 

Before we returned to the hostel we also had an egg coffee as everyone keeps raving about them. The coffee over here is good anyway and with condensed milk and this foam on top (the egg part) it was even better. I wanted more than one cup.