If you can't stand the heat, get in the kitchen!

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Nick: Danang train station probably ranks as one of the more uncomfortable places we've been to on our travels. It is hot, very crowded and noisy, not an especially fun place to try and manoeuvre with a chunky backpack in tow. Fortunately it also has the redeeming characteristic that trains occasionally pass through it, a result of which being that we are now both sat in a cool air-conditioned and reasonably comfortable train, with a wonderful coastal view sliding past our window as we push slowly northward. For the last three days, we have been in Hoi An, a small-ish town located a short drive from the much larger Danang. Being located pretty much on the coast, Hoi An formerly served as a key trading post for Vietnam and as such has bags of character amidst the countless old buildings. Indeed, the 'Old Town' area is a UNESCO World Heritage sight, and many of the foreign visitors that come to Vietnam each year include Hoi An on their itinerary to experience some of its charm.

Having arrived via the overnight bus on Wednesday morning, we arrived at our hotel in good time for a decent breakfast before - thankfully - being able to check in to our room nice and early. The heat as we'd stepped off the bus had been oppressive, even at 08:00 in the morning, and we knew we'd be in for a real scorcher...a quick check online confirmed that we could look forward to temperatures consistently hitting 37 degrees during the day, settling back down to a refreshing 29 degree low at night! Toasty. After a shower and change of clothes, we picked up our latest tourist map from the reception and got ourselves out into the shimmering heat to explore. Beating a path straight to the Old Town, it rapidly became clear why Hoi An was a firm favourite on the tourist trail; the small, historic buildings oozed charm, and the riverside location added to its appeal. There were of course plenty of market stalls flogging souvenirs and trinkets to tourists, but these were only part of a wider market area which also included the normal day-to-day buying and selling of food, clothes and so on. The river was crowded with boats, large and small, and was a great backdrop for a wander up and down, and a few snaps. In due course, our circuitous wanderings took us past an appealing-looking restaurant called 'Little Menu', and since it was well into lunchtime - and not least to get out of the heat for a while - we popped in.

It turned out to be a great choice. The menu included a number of local specialities that we decided to give a try, and we took what has become our usual approach to eating out: buying a variety of dishes and sharing them between us. We worked our way through a plate of local dumplings, including 'white rose' (which were basically dim sum with a delicate, tasty pork and prawn filling), crispy-fried rolls with duck filling, and wonton pastry topped with a type of salsa. My mouth is watering at the memory of them! Accompanying these was a bowl of 'cao lau' noodles, which are another Hoi An speciality, very thick and chewy noodles. These were served up with pork, including delicious crispy squares of crackling, and shredded lettuce. Absolutely lip-smacking! Whilst we were working our way through that little lot, we noticed a sign on our table advertising a cooking class. Having enjoyed the food so much, we decided to have a think about it and come back later to sign up once we'd made a decision (cooking classes seemed to be the done thing in Hoi An and we wanted to make sure we were onto a good 'un). Leaving the restaurant, we explored a little more of the Old Town area but the midday heat soon got the better of us and we beat a hasty retreat to the sanctity of our hotel room to cool down for a bit. I know we've previously written about how hot some of our destinations have been, especially since arriving here in SE Asia (an issue probably compounded by our British heritage and therefore complete lack of exposure to warm conditions of any kind), but in terms of oppressive heat, our time in Hoi An really took things to the next level, putting previous places like Bali, Singapore and even Cambodia into the shade (so to speak). We were both seriously struggling!

An hour or so spent in our room with the a/c set as low as it would go and another cool shower worked wonders for us, and we felt ready to venture out once more. Finding ourselves back in the Old Town, we swung by our lunchtime restaurant and confirmed our places on the following day's cookery class, having confirmed that it was considered to be one of the best in town. Then, like a good couple of tourists, we set about seeing some sights. As mentioned above, Hoi An is awash with historic and cultural sights, such that they have set up a ticketing system to allow visitors to pick and choose which ones they want to see. A book of five tickets cost us 120,000 Dong (just over three quid) and came with a little map showing us where the sites were dotted about the place. Our first visit was to 'Phoc Kien' temple, which was built in the 17th Century (I think) and offered a peaceful retreat from the busy streets. Having nosed around there for a while, we pushed on to our next stop, 'Tan Ky' historic house, which included a free glass of tea and a brief talk explaining the Chinese and Japanese architecture. It was a pleasant enough little place to look around and had some interesting little features, including mother-of-pearl characters inlaid into the timber beams. To be honest, though, there's only so much diversion I can get from this sort of thing - HOOONK! HOOONK! It's our old friend, the Philistine Klaxon! - so we soon left. With afternoon turning into evening, and once again drenched in sweat (which had been the case approximately thirty seconds or so after leaving the hotel), we thought we'd made a pretty good fist of checking out the Old Town for one day and found ourselves a good place to shore up with a cold drink for a while, before subsequently happening upon another place which had a decent pool table. Aaaah...that's more like it! After a few frames we were back out in to the street, in search of some dinner and eventually having a punt on a restaurant nearby called 'Morning Glory'. Again sharing a few plates between us, we ordered some papaya salad (fast becoming one of our favourites) with red rice and some pork belly. All in all it wasn't bad grub, although nothing to write home about (despite the fact that that is exactly what I am doing), and perhaps was cast in the shadow of our wonderful lunch earlier in the day.

After dinner, we once again took to the streets to meander, although in the general direction of our hotel. The town looked great after dark (a bit like Reading then, boom boom) with red, yellow and orange traditional lanterns strung out across the streets, bridges and riverboats. Shortly, we came across some sort of public performance. As it turned out, this was a traditional game of bingo, played out Hoi An style, and we allowed ourselves to be convinced to join in the fun by a lady selling tickets. In exchange for a few Dong we were each given a sort of wooden paddle which had three hieroglyphic-style pictures on them which were in effect our bingo cards. We sat down on mats with everyone else, locals and other tourists, and, not entirely clear what was going on, waited to see what happened. After a little while, the game itself began. Two local performers, a man and a woman, began singing traditional music through microphones, whilst another bunch of people began bringing out large wooden boards, one by one, from a big pile at the back. Each board was hung up on a rope, and had an individual symbol on it...after each board was hung up, a few people would wave excitedly if they had the corresponding image on their 'bingo paddle' (as I have christened it), and were given a little flag. It was all happening pretty quickly and to be quite honest we didn't really know what was going on; thankfully a young lady sat near us in the crowd took us under her wing and helped us out. For the first few boards, neither of us got any matches, whilst all around us the little yellow flags were being handed out. Then, our luck changed, I matched a symbol and got my first yellow flag. Shortly afterwards, I had another, and then, it all still unfolding in a bit of a blur, I matched up the last symbol on my paddle! Bingo! There were three or four other winners too, and we were brought to the front to be given our prizes, a bag containing a traditional lantern and a CD of traditional Hoi An music. Well, better than a slap in the face, I say. Knowing full well to quit whilst ahead (well, sometimes) we called it a day and worked our way back to the blessed coolness of our room and bed.

On Thursday morning, we made our way to the 'Herb and Spices' restaurant, sister restaurant of 'Little Menu' where we'd eaten the previous day; this was where we were to meet Phap, the chef that would be taking our cookery class. We'd been given the chance to come along a bit earlier and join him in a trip to the local market, where we would pick up most of the ingredients for the class, and we gladly accepted. Phap turned out to be a really engaging, witty character and as we moved around the bustling marketplace he stopped to tell us this and that about the many weird and wonderful foods on display. He showed us how to tell if a river crab is fresh (poke it in the eye...if it retracts the eye, it is fresh, if a little irate, I would imagine); we learned that bitter melon is good for 'cooling the liver' if you've had a bit too much grog the night before; we were shown the local cao lau noodles mentioned above, and told how 'cau lao' means 'high flow' since this represented the major source of food during the flood months when fishing catches are leaner and other crops are less available. What I am getting at is that our little jaunt to the market was great fun and really informative, and most importantly by the end of it we had a bag full of fresh goodies to take back to the restaurant and start cooking! As an added bonus, for less than a quid Sarah picked up a handy little kitchen took for shredding veggies in the way they do when making those amazing mango and papaya salads we love so much, so we look forward to having a go at making some of them when we get back!

Back at the restaurant, a table was set out with five chopping boards and knives, and we were soon joined by a young Aussie couple who had given the market trip a miss but who were joining in the cooking. Over the course of the morning, we set about preparing our ingredients, finely chopping an array of lovely fresh produce, and mixing together all sorts of tasty vinegars, oils and sauces as we created a few different dishes. The types of flavours going into the mixing bowls were right up my street: garlic, chillies, onion, shallots, turmeric, thai basil, fish sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, spring onion....YUM! With most of the ingredients prepared, we were given a hand with the cooking part, which was no bad thing considering the heat in the kitchen, whilst we sat down and cooled off with glasses of cold water. Between us, we had prepared a few different dishes: seabass, cooked in a banana leaf and coated in a Vietnamese dressing, squid stuffed with a pork and prawn filling, pork patties that were served up with vermicelli noodles and lettuce, and a sweet/sour Vietnamese dipping sauce. In addition, we were given some rice papers and shown how to prepare Vietnamese style spring rolls. The food was all delicious, and all the more satisfying for the role we'd had in preparing it, but it was unanimously agreed that the star of the show was the seabass...it was absolutely superb, the flavours were like a smack in the mouth (in a good way!). The stuffed squid were also delicious, and were happy to have both recipes so we can make some more when we get back!

Once we'd finished eating our mornings work, signalling the end of what what been an excellent cookery class, we went back to the hotel for what was becoming a customary mid-day cool-down-and-recharge break. During this time we read, in my case scouring the press for the usual inter-season football transfer news, rumours and general silliness. It was also interesting to see that the hot weather was making itself known back in Blighty as well, with reports of the hottest July on record and almost 37 degrees reported in some places...it was comforting to know we weren't the only ones of our friends that would be suffering from the heat (sorry folks)! Late in the afternoon, we were back out once again to put paid to our three remaining sight-seeing tickets. After a bit of fruitless searching, we finally found the Hoi An Museum of History and Culture. It was a pretty small place, albeit an interesting insight into the towns past (where else do you think I got those punchy little factoids at the top of this blog, eh?), and it wasn't long before we'd worked our way around the exhibits and displays. Adjoining the museum was another temple, the 'Quan Cong' temple. Even smaller than the museum, it didn't take us long at all to nosey about the temple and find ourselves back outside with only one more ticket left. We used it up visiting the covered bridge, a...well, a covered bridge, built by the Japanese a few hundred years ago across a small river in the Old Town which looks like it would get a good deal bigger during the wet season. It was one of the more popular sights in town, and had a constant swell of tourists thronging about it. It was worth a visit, but we didn't hang around longer than necessary.

Our day's cultural learnings completed, we once again popped into the bar with the pool table for a cold drink and a few frames, before seeking out our dinner. After sniffing about a few of the many restaurants on offer, we found ourselves in a nice relaxing courtyard, tucked away down an alleyway and removed from the main street. It seems to be quite a sophisticated place and specialised in barbecued food, especially seafood. We chose some barbecued river scallops, served up in open shells with a fresh-tasting marinade, a bit smaller than the king scallops normally served up at home but pretty tasty. In addition we shared a barbecued fish dish, the details of which elude me and so one that cannot have been that memorable! Reasonably priced, cold Chilean Sauvignon Blanc was also on the menu, and we treated ourselves to a glass or two. All in all, yet another decent feed, and another good conclusion to the day, although we managed to get back to the hotel without becoming embroiled in any traditional games of chance, this time.

Friday morning came around, and after a couple of days of experiencing the Old Town, we were all set to immerse ourselves in another of Hoi An's big attractions: the beach! After breakfast, we picked up a couple of clunky but serviceable bikes from a places conveniently located over the road, for the bargain price of less than a pound each, and joined the traffic on the road heading out of town. Thankfully, the traffic in Hoi An isn't remotely like that in Saigon, and whilst motorbikes and scooters do still fly at you from all angles, it was a relatively stress-free ride. The ever-present sunshine meant that the pace was nice and slow, which was probably a blessing given the almost complete absence of brakes on my bike. Mercifully, the landscape was very flat and made for very easy cycling, which probably explains the great many bikes we'd seen about town. From the bike shop, the road soon took us away from the town and into the surrounding countryside, the buildings in either side giving way to spectacular picture-postcard views of bright green paddy fields with long-horned oxen in them. It was only a short 15-20 minute cycle to the beach but by the time we arrived, we both were struggling with sweat dripping into our eyes. Parking our bikes, we stopped into a roadside cafe to down cold cans of ice tea and a bottle of water, then walked down to the beach proper.

We were soon set up on a couple of loungers, underneath the protection of a sun-brolly, and couldn't resist immediately heading into the water to cool off a bit. Despite being fairly busy, there was plenty of space in the water, and we enjoyed splashing about for a while before doing the sensible thing and hiding in the shade before we cooked ourselves. Although we'd had a very beach-heavy few weeks toward the end of our journeys in Oz, and then Bali, our recent travels in Singapore, Cambodia and Vietnam had been devoid of any sun, sea and sand so we we both very much enjoying having another lazy beach day! We idled about reading, leaving our loungers to go to the nearby restaurant and grab a mucky (but tasty) lunch of burgers and fries, and to go for another dip in the water during the afternoon. Great fun. It wasn't until gone 16:00 that we thought it was about time to get back on our bikes and trundle slowly back into town. The way back was slightly less relaxing than the way out, the traffic having picked up a bit, but we managed to get back in one piece and return the bikes. After washing off the salt and sand, and in a fresh change of clothes, we soon back down by the riverside for our last night in Hoi An. After a cold drink on a streetside table (with the associated attention from street vendors hawking nuts, toys, etc.) we found a place for dinner, another courtyard restaurant although this one was decidedly busier than that of the previous evening and we had to wait a little while to get a table. This time, our spread included local rice pancakes with a shrimp filling and sesame dip, some more of the wonderful cao lau noodles, and a barbecued fish cooked in banana leaf. As usual, it was all really good; we've both picked up a real taste for Vietnamese food since coming here, much more so than after our previous visit to the country, but in particular Hoi An has stood out as a really special place for the foodie-minded!

Back at the hotel, we decided to watch a bit of telly before bed and managed to find a good trashy film being shown in English ('Con Air', starring Nicholas Cage...daft nonsense but good fun). Just as the film finished, disaster struck: a power cut, which knocked out our lights and, worse, our a/c. Within a minute or so, the temperature was rising, and fast. It was only a good hour later when the power came back on, by which time the room was stifling. Grateful to hear the hum of electricity return and the soothing wash of cold air, we fell to sleep. The following morning, dressed, packed and breakfasted, we were picked up by our prearranged transfer to Danang, from where we would be taking a train north to Dong Hoi. As described at the top of this blog entry, the station itself was a pretty uncomfortable affair, to say the least. Thankfully, we are now on the train in question, and over halfway to our destination, so it's goodbye to Hoi An. I'm not sure if it will be any cooler up north...fingers crossed!

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