We awoke to rain yesterday morning, and as it was the meant to be the day of the wedding photo shoot, we tried to be optimistic that it would pass. Unfortunately it didn't let up and the steady drip drip of water forced the shoot to be rearranged for Monday. This isn't such a bad thing though and we have already made plans to go out this afternoon to a small get together of some friends of my brother and sister-in-law.

After my bowl of Frosties, Ha told me she and her Mum would be going out for a fishcake-noodle breakfast. As the first breakfast I had when I arrived and one that I particularly enjoyed (the fishcake thing is nothing like an English fishcake), I decided to go along. This was great fun as it meant suiting up in ponchos and donning our helmets to ride the scooters to a street food stall. Here we sat on the side of an alleyway, under the shelter of some giant umbrella canopies and enjoyed a steaming hot breakfast out of the rain. Many tourists do not get to experience this part of Vietnamese life as they eat in the hotels and the food is not nearly as fresh or served up in such unusual surrounding as the tiny tables and chairs we sat on today. I love that as soon as you arrive, you watch the various ingredients, already cooked up, put together in the bowl and served almost immediately to you.

I was then treated to finally being able to see my bridesmaid's dress, a beautiful ball gown that will be adjusted just three days before the wedding. The dress is being hired from a shop that is overflowing with all sorts of dresses; stepping into the room there are dresses and suits hanging up everywhere, which create a beautiful rainbow of colour.

We rested a lot of the day; the rain cut through the heat and the whole of Da Nang felt so much cooler. We took cover inside and helped Ha's mum prepare lunch, a dish where you wrap pork, carrot and spring onion in rice paper and then deep fry…once enough are cooked, you wrap each in a cabbage leaf with salad and then dip in fish sauce before eating. Because the living-com-dining room was being used, we had to wrap the meat in the corridor between the living room and kitchen. This was a great meal as it was the first time we had eaten altogether at the same time.

In the afternoon, we met up with Ha's friend and hung out at his flat before going onwards to another friend's house for a get together. This was great for us English as everyone there, although all from different countries, could all speak English fluently as a second language. I could communicate with the hosts of the party who were from Singapore; there were a couple of Americans and the rest Vietnamese. We had beautiful food, a Singaporean crab dish where you really had to make a mess to get to the meat; there was also an Indonesian pork soup, which was just as amazing. This was all followed by a variety of ice creams and ice cream toppings to make our own ice-cream sundaes! What a great way to end a rainy day, especially as the ride back was nice and dry!