Vietnamese Cooking Class

Today we did a Vietnamese Cooking Class. And honestly, I think the trip there was my favourite part! We started out by going through the market, which was neat but not all that informative as you could hardly hear the guy. But, at the market we hopped onto a water taxi and took about a 40 minute ride along the river. The water itself is pretty dirty and kind of gross but the buildings lining the banks were really cool to look at. Lots of French style homes and some fairly elaborate. Also looking at all the different styles of boats was pretty cool! At one point two local fisherman came up to our boat and showed us how to toss the fishing nets. A couple from our group gave it a go but of course didn't get anything. Picture attached that hopefully helps explain! At the end of the water taxi ride we transferred into small Bamboo baskets to complete our journey! Those were fun. They literally were Bamboo baskets with a bench in the middle rowed by one person with an oar. Super cool. We took shallow canals through thick plants growing in the water, it felt like we were right in the middle of the jungle, and I'd compare it to that one time I went duck hunting and we followed sparse openings in the reeds to get to our destination. Pretty peaceful and relaxing, I loved it!

When we arrived at the cooking school we dove into making different dishes. We made fresh spring rolls, Vietnamese pancakes, pork clay pot, and papaya salad. All of it was delicious and we were given cookbooks at the end so that maybe I'll be able to make them again at home. The lesson was group Orientated so each person didn't get to actually make each dish as we did in the Thai Cooking Class, but it did go much more quickly with them having done a fair amount of prep work ahead of time for us. My favourites were definitely the spring rolls and the clay pot. I'll be making those at home sometime for sure! The only downside to the class was the sheer exhaustion I was feeling which resulted in a lack of appetite. But that's okay, I still had fun :)

We took a bus back from the class instead of a boat which only took about 15 minutes instead of the hour on the way there. Immediately we went back to the tailor shop to have our clothing fitted again. I'm pretty happy with my items, I think I look fairly professional! Which was the intention. A few minor adjustments were needed, so pictures will be coming later. Same with the shoes! Adjustments to be made. With the shoes there was something lost in communication between myself and the staff and they aren't quite what I was hoping for... They don't look like the pictures at all but are still nice. We'll see what they look like tomorrow after the adjustments are made! In any case they're super comfortable and will definitely be worn for that reason alone ;)

After the shoe shop I couldn't the rest of the group members and just hung out by myself for a while. Which was actually not really a bad thing, but definitely adds to the feeling of not really being included. I decided to catch up on some writing instead and just take some me time even though all I really wanted to do was sleep! I went out for dinner on my own to a nearby place and had some pho ga and cheap beers. I couldn't believe that I was wearing a hoodie and pants at dinner! And the weather report says 23 degrees. Definitely acclimatized. Going home will be a shock to the system I think, but at least it will be gradual coming back on the boat and all.

After dinner I wandered back to the hotel met up with my roomies and went back out for a couple drinks and some dessert before heading to bed for an early night!Read more