Day 8: Our eighth day in Asia started with a sleep in until 7am; when the constant horns from the scooter woke me up. The weather had turned the rain on for us and it was bucketing down. I guess that is what happens when you travel at the start of their wet season; luckily for us we don’t really mind and the hotel had provided big umbrellas for us.
Tuyet picked us up from the hotel and drove us to the Dao Tien River View Restaurant for our Vietnamese cooking lesson. We met the restaurant manager Hung, and started walking towards the Hoi An markets as the rain stopped. Hung guided us around the fruit and vegetables, meats, fish and spices areas of the market and explained how the restaurant chooses their produce.
After touring the market we headed back to the restaurant via the river on a water taxi with Hung. About 15 minutes into our leisurely cruise the rain started again.
On arrival back at the Dao Tien River View we met the head chef and started our cooking lesson for day. First up was making rice paper and fresh spring rolls.
After eating our fresh spring rolls we prepared our lunch for after the lesson; grilled fish in banana leaf.
When the staff whisked away our fish into the kitchen for cooking we started preparing and cooking some eggplant and spices.
Next was the big challenge of the day, attempting to replicate the chef’s favourite; money bags. These seemed quite simple to put together; stir fried vegetables and meat inside of a thin flour sheet and tied up with a piece of blanched shallot.
After all the cooking was done we sat down to enjoy the food we had just made for lunch.
After what was the highlight of the trip so far, we ended the day with a walk through town and a quiet dinner near the river.
Day 9: With nothing at all planned for the first time on the trip so far and Hoi An with sunny, clear skies; we spent the day relaxing and enjoying ourselves. There were a few trips to the tailors for Carly to buy new clothes, lounging around the pool, sitting out the front of cares drinking coffee and aimless wanderings around town.
Blogged Down By Life 
I miss Hoi An so much! Vietnam is just food heaven to me, they know how to do it like no other…. your trip looks amazing! 🙂 M
Awesome posting, that coffee makes me want to make my 2nd espresso of the day! We did a cooking morning as well In Hoi An, was awesome, although I think we cooked the sh*t out of our spring rolls lol.