Our last night in Hoi An

Howdy everyone! Today we were up at 5:00 a.m., so don't think that this is a lolly gagging relaxing vacation. The market is a crazy hive of activity, so we wanted to catch the action before it slows down in mid morning.

Hoi An is situated on a river, and the market is right next to it. The fishermen fish during the evening and night, and the catch is brought to the market starting at 4:00 a.m. It was interesting watching the women do all the wheeling and dealing. Many unload their catch from little boats lifting big wicker trays of all types of fish, prawns, crab, and shrimp to the dock. Their balance is amazing. The catch is sold to those that run stalls in the market (or other markets) money is exchanged, and they go on their way.

We saw women tying up fresh crab with rope made from wet banana leaves both so they wouldn't run away and so that they would stay wet. Other women were scraping out some small fish with a spoon, making a kind of fish paste, and then rolling it into fish balls and fish cakes. Refrigeration is not common (other than crushed ice) so people shop at the market twice a day.

Okay, so a little more about food. We went out for dinner last night to an out of the way restaurant. We had a set menu for 80,000 dong for both (about 5.00) and had a really fantastic meal. I will spare you the details, just know that our tastbuds were well satisfied.

During the day, we rented the most ancient bicycles and rode the 5km out of town to the beach. It was pretty nice, made all the better with the addition of a book that Mark borrowed from the hotel for me. Marley and Me is a very good book - so good in fact, that I finished it today. A great holiday read.

The beach seemed to be populated with gangs of grade 9 students and a few old ladies wanting us to buy things. The funny thing about the kids is that none of them had bathing suits (as we know them, anyways). They all ran into the water in whatever they were wearing. Jeans, belts, shirts....it didn't seem to matter. And of course, they all wanted to gawk at the whitey on the beach reading her book. And practice their English.

Also, as I am in Hoi An, I am getting some clothes made. Everyone who has ever spent any time at all with me knows how much I lament about finding pants that fit. Well, when they're made for you, they really do fit. It does take a lot of trips to the tailor to get it right though, but for 80.00 for four pairs of pants and a blouse, who am I to complain? Just as an aside, our clothes from the motorcycle ride did come back from the laundry surprisingly clean.

We went to cooking school today! It started with a tour of the market (which of course, we had already thoroughly explored) but it was fun to go with a chef and learn about some of the ingredients we had wondered about. Then a 1/2 hour riverboat ride took us to the "Red Bridge Cooking School". There we learned to make eggplant in a clay pot, fresh rice paper salad rolls (I think I'll stick with the store bought dried rice paper) Hoi An pancakes - a rice based pancake with shrimp that is wrapped with assorted tasty greens in rice paper, and a crash course on garnishing. After the course we hung out by their pool and I finished reading my book.

As always, thanks for posting. It makes for fun reading for us.

Next stop, Hue. Look for it on a map near the DMZ.