Please don't say the food is yummy!

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We arrived into Da Nang airport on Friday midday and had our hotel pick us up for the forty-five minute drive down to Hoi An. Both Da Nang and Hoi An are on the ocean so it was a beautiful drive and we got to see the numerous resorts that are currently in the process of being built between the two cities. Pretty soon, there will be a Le Meridian, a Hyatt Regency and a ton of fancy local resorts open on this stretch of road that used to be referred to as China Beach. Da Nang and Hoi An, and the beaches in between, were all places of R&R for the U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam war and it is easy to tell why. It's a gorgeous, white sandy coastline! Apparently the Vietnamese government is offering large incentives to resorts to invest in the area...it all seems like a bit much to me and I'm not sure how they will sustain all those massive hotels.

When we got here, we checked into our beautiful hotel that costs a whopping $40 a night for our triple room. The Long Life Riverside hotel is really nice but the people are strange and unhelpful and they informed us upon check-in that they do not accept credit cards because of the government. This is especially weird because everywhere else we've been has been happy to take our credit cards! Shady!

The boys took off immediately for the beach and Kimika, AC and I decided to explore the town. Hoi An is a charming little town that escaped bombing during the war so it still looks much the same as it did as far back as the 1700s (minus the motorbikes of course!). It's absolutely adorable and has a ton of great shopping so we enjoyed our afternoon. Although Hoi An is known for its tailors and custom-made clothing, we all resisted getting a dress or suit made because it was simply way too hot to have clothes fitted. Instead, we decided to watch the sunset over the river and it was beautiful! It really seems to cool down once the sun goes down (I guess it's all relative) so it was actually bearable sitting outside. Some very adorable, and very excited, little boys around four or five years old came up to say hello to us and we took pictures of them and then showed them to them which totally delighted them. They thought it was absolutely hilarious! One of them reminded me so much of Sean (my nephew), it made me a little homesick!

We met some other Rossers for dinner at a restaurant called the Mango Rooms on Friday night. Hoi An is known as a culinary delight and it has definitely lived up to expectations! The food is fantastic and we have had amazing cocktails and many specialties from the area. Everything is so flavorful and tastes so fresh! It doesn't hurt that everything you order is accompanied by noodles too - it's all so good!

We took a Vietnamese cooking class at the Red Bridge cooking school yesterday which included a visit to the town market and a short lesson on Asian vegetables, meat and herbs. The visit to the market included a stroll through the fish section and a nice layer of water and fish guts on the ground. I think we all wished we weren't wearing flip flops. It was pretty gross and smelly and I was at least thankful that I was not hungover...it would have been ugly.

We took a boat ride down the river to the cooking school and got to see how many of the locals do their fishing. Basically they rig up a huge net and then lower it into the river. Every few hours they reel the net up with a pulley and then get in their boats and row over and cut out the fish. Apparently the river is fair game so you can put your net anywhere you like. I guess there's no way to police it around here.

The cooking portion was very hands on and we learned how to make rice paper and spring rolls, savory pancakes and an eggplant stew in a hot pot. They also tried to teach us to make decorations for our plates - a tomato rose and a flowery cucumber - but we were pretty awful at it. Our teacher, Co, was a total character and made dirty jokes the entire class. He told us at least five times not to say the food was "yummy" because it means horny in Vietnamese. Ha ha. Still, all the food was really tasty and it was definitely a unique and fun experience.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool and then went straight to happy hour at 5:00. The white sangria here is amazing - full of watermelon and passion fruit. I could drink it all the time! For dinner, we tried out more of the local fare which included some delicious steamed dumplings, fried wontons and even more spring rolls!

We got bikes this morning and rode the 2.5 miles out to the beach (apparently it's still China Beach down here). We swam in the ocean and it was so refreshing! The sun was brutal and the ride back was blazing but it was definitely worth it, especially since it was Kimika's first time time on a bike in fifteen years and her first time ever in the Pacific Ocean!

Tomorrow it's back to Bangkok for the night before we head to the beaches of Thailand. Ann Candler is USA bound on Monday and we will miss her. Only one more week in Asia and we will be headed home as well. Time definitely flies!

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Photos

elephant
this was on our beds when we arrived. jason and carlos had two kissing swans which we found funny

begger
this woman was very pitiful but she would also not leave us along

more locals
the one on the bottom right reminded me of sean

Mango Rooms
Kimika's dish was called exotic dancer :)

shrimp
AC and I had salt & pepper prawns

Comments

[Heather]

jealous
love the pictures. you guys look like you're having a blast! Enjoy the last week and let me know when you're home. we're overdue for your graduation celebration. can we meet in NYC?