Hoi An is a really charming town full of tailors that are ready to make anything you want but they use mainly silk as the fabric. They are everywhere and all the people we met said be careful because it is so cheap it becomes addictive; especially when they can make it for you within 24 hours. We never thought of anything we needed/wanted, so never got anything made. All the buildings in the old town are the same size and color with wooden signs labeling the stores/restaurants. It has a river running along the side of it that is connected to two different islands by bridges and is small enough to just walk from one side to the other. Our first day there we relaxed a good bit just checking out to the town and local market - we didn't sleep much on the overnight bus since the sleeper seats are really short (even for me; Ben had a tougher time!). We took a cooking class from a place called Red Bridge that was awesome! They brought us to an organic garden to see how they grow all the veggies that are sold in the market. While we were there we sat at a family's house to have a drink that was just water, sugar, and lemon basil seeds. It was really good and we are going to have to find some lemon basil seeds to bring home (theirs' tastes very different than what we have found at home - more lemon flavour). During our break the grandma of the family hit Ben a couple times in the shoulder yelling something; our guide said she was crazy and didn't remember anything. It was hilarious! From there we went to the market to buy all the ingredients we needed for our food. An Aussie in our group tried the beetle nut we always see old women chewing. The old women's mouths are stained black and red from doing it so long, but luckily his just turned a little red after chewing for a couple minutes - he said it was horrible. The actual class was much more hands on than the one we took in India so we actually got to make the food we were going to eat. We learned how to make Pho Bo (a necessity for us by now), Shrimp in Banana Leaf, Fish Curry, Chicken with 5 spices, and Papaya Salad. Everything was great with the Fish being the biggest hit among our group. We left by boat to go back to town at about 3 pm and were completely stuffed! However, we did force ourselves to find a place to eat our Christmas dinner and found a restaurant that was serving a 6 course set meal with turkey; we were sold!
Most people here celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve at midnight like it was New Year's. So Christmas Eve night we decided to hit the town and take advantage of the drink specials at various places. We ended up spending a little more money than intended, shooting tons of pool, and playing the fishing game made for kids - where you fish while they spin around opening and closing their mouths (a service the bars here have included with darts and pool). We didn't feel that great when we woke up on Christmas so had our standard breakfast of Pho Bo and brought 2 sandwiches back to our room. Our Christmas dinner was amazing! It costs us $20 each for 6 courses and a free glass of some sparkling wine drink; plus we finally got our turkey! Tomorrow we leave early in the morning for Hanoi.
No comments:
Post a Comment