Hoi An is a UNESCO listed city. It was a major trading port many years ago and developed because of the mix of people from all over the world coming to make money. The old city has changed little with small homes, merchants houses and businesses all setting up a stone's throw from the port area. Nowadays the ships dock at the deep water port at Da Nang about 30km from Hoi An, which was where we arrived by train in order to get to the historic city.

We had two full days to explore the town, which would have been fabulous if it was not for the rain. When it rains in Hoi An it does not do it by half but even through the deluge it was easy to see how attractive the old town area is. The majority of the buildings are painted a shade of yellow, some of the buildings are slightly run down and some of them house top quality cafes or restaurants and this mix really works well against the older wooden buildings that trade as tailors or souvenir shops. Some of the old houses and temples can only be seen by buying an entrance ticket for 120,000 Dong (or just over £3.00) that allows you see five properties and for us it was enough to get the flavour of the different building styles - plus it allowed some respite from the rain on day one.

Nearly every restaurant or hotel in town seems to offer a cooking class. I had been tempted in Laos to do this and in Mui Ne earlier in the Vietnam trip I had tried to do one but because it was only me they would not run the course. My luck was in at the Rice Drum restaurant as I did get to do a private cooking class complete with a market tour to buy some of the ingredients required. I was met by two giggly young ladies who promptly popped a Vietnamese hat on my head to go to the market before returning to the restaurant to change hats and start some cooking with my own personal chef! The menu of prawn and pork fresh spring rolls, avocado and carrot salad, again with pork and prawns, mackerel cooked in banana leaf and a pineapple pancake was not too testing but putting together the sauces and marinades did need to be done correctly to get the right balance of spice and sweetness. I was however able to teach the chef a new trick . . . he seemed to be struggling to turn his pancakes over with chopsticks (you can imagine how difficult that could be), so with one toss I had mine golden brown on both sides. He was so impressed and then did the same himself! It was a really good afternoon and hopefully I can try some of the recipes at home.

Day two saw even heavier rain and we were soaked to the skin within about five minutes as the heavens opened just after we left the hotel. Typical. We decided to take refuge in a coffee shop for a few hours and do some holiday planning - the joys of having free wifi pretty much everywhere. Having again got soaked after lunch we gave up and went to the hotel to dry out. On our third day we awoke to sunshine but is was the morning that we were leaving however it did enable a quick walk around the town to get some photographs in better conditions. It was a shame to be leaving on the best day we had had in Hoi An.

There is no denying that Hoi An is a bit of a tourist trap and that seems to bring plenty of street vendors that have mastered a few English phrases like 'Lovely Jubbly' which can be a bit tiresome, but it also brings nice restaurants and other trappings that make it a pleasant place to visit and shelter from the rain.