Hoi An

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A sleeper coach had deposited us in Hoi An after holding us hostage at an associate hotel. The hotel staff were so keen to get our business they paraded the coach aisles pleading for us to just take a look at the rooms. A few passengers resorted to saying they would look at the rooms & once off the coach they scarpered along with all their heavy luggage. The long walk back into town was probably why the hotel didn't get much business in the first place. After we had been released our hotel had arranged for a taxi driver to pick us up & drive the short distance down the road through the oncoming hoards of cycling students wearing white Aoi Dai dresses (the girls anyway) on their way to school.
Having caught up on a few hours of sleep we decided to tackle a walking tour of Hoi An. We missed the start point by wandering off past streets full of tailors all desperately trying to add to our wardrobes & overstuffed back packs. Once back on track we entered the charming town which although supposedly traffic free we still had to dive behind lamp posts & into shop doorways to avoid the motorcyclists just as in the rest of Vietnam. It wasn't long before we saw the familiar faces of Jane & Adrian in this small town & we went for lunch with them in a restaurant they recommended. The speciality was a noodle based dish using water from a local well, it turned out to be very tasty but I don't think the water made much difference. After a couple of coffees percolated through ingenious tin devices that sat on top of the cups we made plans to do a cookery course that evening with Jane & Adrian (well Sam didn't as she couldn't of anything worse than cooking & having to pay for the privilege, so she made plans to watch) & continued on our walk. It wasn't long before we caught up with Bruce & Rebecca who were on the second stage of their Intrepid trip & we said we would catch up with them later for a drink. On our walking tour we popped into an original town house owned by a retired teacher who sat us down for a cup of vietnamese tea & gave us the history of the house & the generations of his family who had lived there. We then signed his guest book right after Jane & Adrians entry & finished the walking tour by going to Yaly tailors. Sam then spent ages deciding on fabrics & styles for a suit & having traipsed across town to their sister shop to look as even more fabric, plumped for a purple silk to make a traditional Aoi Dai. It was then back to the original shop for measurement & a lengthy discussion on what size the sleeves should be. Finally capped sleeves were decided on & we arranged to return the next afternoon for a final fitting.
It was then a quick dash to the restaurant for the cookery class. While Sam, Bruce & Rebecca sipped beer, Jane, Adrian & I watched & sort of cooked Fish in Banana Leaf, Spring Rolls & Squid Salad.

The salad was my favourite & the recipe was a little something like this:

Squid Salad (5 servings)

• 500 g fresh squid
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 tsp minced ginger
• 2 tsp crushed garlic
• 3 large white onions (sliced)
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• 3 cups Vietnamese mint
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 3 tbsp peanuts

Slice the squid into very thin strips, add a pinch of salt & fry in the oil for 3 minutes.
Turn down the heat. Add ginger, garlic & onions & stir for 1 minute.
Remove from heat. Mix in lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper & fish sauce.
Finally very gently mix in the mint so as not to bruise any of the leaves & serve with peanuts on top.

Drink of the day: Biere La Rue

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Comments

[AJ]

ahhhh, so you guys were on an intrepid tour huh!? Cool. This is exactly what we're doing in Cambodia/ Vietnam... the highlights tour....sounds like we'll have a great time huh?!