Hanging out in Hoi An

If you're looking for authentic Vietnamese culture, don't come to Hoi An. If you're looking for a laid back, quaint, touristy walking-town, then Hoi-An is the city for you. Tourists of all sorts, even Vietnamese, seemed to enjoy Hoi An's shops, walks along the river and restaurants. However, the prices in this town came to a complete shock to us. We had grown accustomed to $2 meals and suddenly the prices had doubled or even tripled.

Eli and Dave decided to spend the day apart - Eli to cooking classes, and Dave to historic sites. Eli took a class at Morning Glory, one of Vietnamese chef Ms. Vy's (quite the incredible entrepreneur) 4 Hoi An restaurants. It was a packed class, with probably 25 students. The room was set up so that we could watch the demo and then prepare the same dish. If only we could do that at Whole Foods in St Louis! There were probably 10 staff members in the room clearing dishes, assisting with cooking, and passing out salads, etc. While the class was excellent, Ms. Vy also kept many secrets to herself, such as the dipping sauces. One great tip learned was how to make rice crackers from sesame rice paper. It's on the to-do list for when we get home.

Dave visited the 5 big city sites and enjoyed his day.  Here's the most famous, the Japanese-covered bridge:

After a nice dip in the pool, Eli went to another cooking class, to learn even more Vietnamese dishes. Dave joined her to eat her dishes for their dinner. Some hits, some misses. Too much fried food all around.