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Hoi An: A market tour, a cooking
class
and dinner with two new friends
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Tuesday 14th November 2017
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Today was our second full
day in Hoi An. The highlight of the day, much anticipated
by Geoff, was to be cooking lessons at a specialist school.
Bruce was a little less enthusiastic about the cooking
aspect, but looked forward to eating the results!
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Cassava for breakfast
at our hotel. Geoff is always ready to try something new. |
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We were collected by
Tien and the driver after breakfast and driven into the
old town once again, where we were taken to the meeting
point at this restaurant. Tien left us there and said she
would pick us up later at the school itself, which is further
down the river. |
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After registering, we
were treated to refreshments while we waited for the other
students to arrive. We were then split into parties of four
and taken for a walking tour of the local market. By coincidence,
our guide was the man who would be giving all the cookery
lessons later. He was quite a character! |
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Making rice noodles
in the market |
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This lady has been
working in the market for 62 years |
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Our guide was quite
keen that we all buy a variety of stuff from one particular
market stall. He clearly had a vested interest and he was
a good salesman... |
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...we know that because
we bought all of these essential items to take home with
us! (We shan't say too much about the sharper items in
the collection, except that attempting to board a plane
with them in one's hand luggage is not recommended.)
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After an interesting
tour of the market, we were guided to a boat for the trip
down the Thu Bon River to the cookery school. Our guide
and chef (on the right of Geoff below) left us there and
went on to the school by road to prepare for our arrival. |
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We were accompanied
by two nice American women. We got on so well that we met
for dinner in the evening. Geoff is chatting to one of them
here. |
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We sailed gently
past the market we had visited earlier |
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Thirty minutes after
setting off, we arrived at the cookery school. |
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First things first...
another welcome drink! |
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Amidst a flurry of demands to wash our hands at
every opportunity, the cookery lessons began!
These are the recipes that we followed.
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Lesson 1 - Hoi An
rice paper pancakes |
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Chef demonstrating
how to make rice paper |
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Geoff's pancakes.
Not too shabby, as he himself said! |
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Lesson 2 - How to
make fine vegetable strips |
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Lesson 3 - Steamed
rice paper pancakes with prawns |
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Lesson 4 - casserole
pork with vegetables. They let Bruce alone with a cleaver and vegetables!
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Lesson 5 - making delicate flowers from
vegetables.
Bruce found it challenging... it was meant to be a rose!
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Geoff claimed his was
not much better.
"Oh, Rose, thou art sick".
His courgette looked good though. |
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After completing the
lessons, all the food we had prepared, plus another fish
dish, was presented back to us in the restaurant overlooking
the river. Afterwards, Tien and our driver appeared from
nowhere and took us back to our hotel, where we relaxed
for the rest of the afternoon. |
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Bruce loved the fresh
mango juice everywhere in Vietnam, while Geoff appreciated the local
beers. |
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We returned to the Old
Town of Hoi An to have dinner with the two ladies we had
met on the cookery course. We dined at a restaurant specialising
in training disadvantaged children. |
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Afterwards, we took
a tour of the night market with its abundance of lanterns. |
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Like last night,
we walked back to the hotel afterwards.
We needed to walk off some of the food we had consumed today! |
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