After a 12 hour bus ride from hell (that is with a capital H-E-L-L; note to self, book a flight next time says Terry!)We loved Hoi An. It is a beautiful small city full of French colonial 'asian' buildings, and everywhere we looked in the Ancient City we wanted to take a picture! Here are huge trees with feathery leaves which gently wave in the the breeze across the streets. They are heavily laden with beautiful startlingly pink clusters of flowers. Seriously stunning. I was so mad I couldn't get an adequate photo of the street lights filtering through the leaves. Too dark....
Our first hotel, the An Pho was nice, but we found one closer to the center of town. The Than Binh III was right across from Kimmy Tailors (my new home!) where I had 5 different types of jackets and vests made. I had to go for Four Fittings! Poor Terry was very patient! I am pleased with the work at Kimmy's. I also had a jacket made which was ok, but I had a blazer made for Colette and I at another tailor and they were TERRIBLE! But too late to do much, I was even driven on motorbike to the tailor's house on our last night due to the problems.... It was 10:30 pm and I was exhausted and sweaty hot, so I caved in and said enough. I wanted to say give me back my money, but I think she would have followed me to the hotel...

We did love our cooking course. We had a singing chef who loved Kareoke and was quite funny. We were able to pick our dishes and so we now know how to make very good spring rolls with a cool mesh wrapping and learned the secret to having very little oil on the rolls. We also made fresh salad rolls which were terrific, fried noodles and chicken, pho, and a delicious shrimp clay hot pot. The hot pot had a lovely complex flavor from simmering and all the spices.

We were lucky to hit the full moon as Hoi An really goes 'full out'. All along the beautiful riverside, they turn out all the lights and only the light from the good wish candles people set onto the river glow along the wharf. we hired a boat for $5 and bought 3 candles to set upon the river (one for each son!) if they float away without sinking your wish will come true. It was fun floating along the river in an old boat rowed by an old man surrounded by by hundreds of floating candles. Luckily, our candles stayed afloat....truly a magical evening. The riverside was packed with people and as they left on their motorbikes you would not believe the gigantic traffic jam.

The next day we did an Ancient City tour. Again, always interesting to learn about the history of a place.

The only drawback was the searing heat! Even the Vietnamese were squatting for once and complaining about the heat! It was 35 degrees for two days! we decided on the second there to go to the local beach, Anang. We were the only "foreigners" there. It was amazing to see young girls sitting on the beach covered from Head to toe to avoid the sun... How hot they must have been.... We had a great time in the water - we rented tubes from a lady (also covered up) and spent two hours being tossed about in the waves. It was nice to see how the Vietnamese laughed so much in the water with friends and families. They are quite modest and you do not see any bikinis.

The food was good and we tried the two dishes local dishes -Cau Lao and White Roses - special because the wide noodles are made only in Hoi An and with water from one well in the city... It was good but not spectacular.
We did break down and had some great juicy cheeseburgers at an place Alfresco's. Of course, Terry had onion rings!

We left lovely Hoi and headed back for Saigon. One day left! Boo hoo...