After a long 14 hour over night train from Ninh Binh we finally made it to Hoi An. But before doing anything we needed food and we needed it immediately, we were so hungry.
So, first stop was Madam Khanh - The Banh Mi Queen shop. A Banh Mi is basically a baguette with sandwich filling inside, like a subway but Vietnam style. Without a doubt just one of the best things I have ate in Vietnam so far.
After lunch we explored Hoi An and decided we would get some clothes tailor made. Hoi An have so many tailor fitting shops, they will make whatever you want in whatever fabric you pick and do it to a T, that is if you pick the right shop. We went to Mr Xe, I asked for a skirt and crop top vest in a soft pink colour, whilst Rob asked for some smart trousers. All measurements taken and fabric chosen they said for us to come back the next day to try on our outfits. We did go back the next day to try on our clothes made completely from scratch in 24 hours and they fitted perfectly! We are both so happy with the results that we regretted not getting more things made. This all cost only around £30, this is so cheap to get whatever style and fabric you want and have it complete in 24 hours.
Our second day in Hoi An has been my favourite day so far of our whole trip. We set off on yet another boat (can you believe it) towards where we would be spending our day. A surprise was in store for us when the boat stopped and we learnt that we would be continuing the rest of our journey on basket boats. We saw lots as we were getting closer but didn’t actually think we would be going on them! We jumped into the bowls, popped on some Vietnamese paddy hats and floated into the most entertaining thing I’ve seen someone do with a basket boat. He was spinning around and around to the Gangnam Style song absolutely loving life. Best job ever? I definitely think so. Then it was our turn! The man rowing our bowl began to spin us around and around, with Rob guaranteed he was going to fall out whilst I was giggling my head off. Once our heads stopped spinning we did some crab fishing, we caught 4 and 3 out of the 4 were big ones too.
We hopped off the basket boats and headed straight into our cooking class. We learnt how rice is separated, turned into rice milk and how the rice milk then becomes noodles and rice paper. I had a go making a rice paper sheet and grinding the soaked rice to create the rice milk too. After learning about all the amazing things rice can become we began the fun part, cooking. We made 3 dishes; shrimp and pork spring roll, rice milk pancake with shrimp and pork and beef stir fry. It was delicious and we were pretty good at it too. We even got a booklet on how to make the foods we did incase we forgot and long chopsticks you use to cook with too. Just hoping the chopsticks don’t break in our backpacks. Fingers crossed.
To end our stay in Hoi An we set off to the river. Here we boarded small boats with different coloured lanterns hanging from them. Aboard the boats, we were passed water lanterns where we could light the lanterns candle, make a wish and set it free onto the water. It was peaceful seeing all the lanterns float around us with the hustle and bustle of Hoi An just on the edges around us. It was like an Asian version of Venice in some way. Later on in the evening after dinner we set off to the night market. The night market was loud with music and locals trying to lure you into buying their amazing food. From shrimp, chicken, nutella crepes, ice cream and fried frogs they had something that would suit your taste. I passed on the frogs and stuck with some rolled ice cream, the pan rolled kind which I never had before. It was delicious and only cost £1 for a big tub!
Hoi An was the prettiest most colourful little town in Vietnam and I hope to return there once again to get another outfit from Mr Xe and his amazing team. Might even try a frog next time.
Next stop Ho Chi Minh City!
コメント