I'm now in Hoi An which is a really old quaint town in central Vietnam. I highly recommend it. I've been feeling very unsettled all week, getting used to travelling by myself, so I treated myself to a decent hotel. I arrived with the sun shining and a sun lounger by the pool calling to me. All is ok!
I've been to the beach which is gorgeous and spent hours pottering around the higgledy piggledy streets filled with tailor shops, art and ancient buildings.
There's so much I could buy here if I had some space in my rucksack. I took a shine to the people here when they started showering me with compliments. It didn't take long to realise that they were trying to entice me into their shop to have some clothes made. There's often a story of a dead mother or aunt to add some emotional gravitas to their sell too. I've got away reasonably unscathed with only the one tailor-made skirt - a midnight blue silk 50s style prom skirt. Not bad for about a fiver!
I did another cookery course too which was fun. Our teacher-chef was hilarious and kept coming out with peculiar English sayings like 'too many cooks spoil the broth'. He had a few wise words too such as'eating food without chilli is like making love without kissing and warning the men to wash their hands after chopping chillis and before going near their 'population stick'!
I have many more recipes to add to my repertoire now - spring rolls again, rice paper, Hoi An style pancakes, claypot casserole and banana leaf grilled fish. We also learnt vegetable decoration. It's clearly not a hidden talent of mine. I managed the tomato rose, but the cucumber fan was way beyond me!
I still feel a bit weird about travelling rather than working or volunteering and I do wonder how my students are doing. It's time to think about me now though. It's my 'me-ternity leave'after all.
Miss you
Pip x
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