Hello Hoi An....

Overnight on the bus is good, it saves us accommodation and you get to wake up in a new place. When we arrived in Hoi An this morning we contacted our friend Jason and he rocked up on his Virago motorbike looking all tough and stuff. As we both had a backpack he was unable to take us to his place where we will be staying while we are here so he suggested that we rent a motorbike and whisked Alvo away to go and get one from a place he knows to be reliable. Minutes later Alvo arrives on a flash black number ($6 per day to rent) and I climbed aboard so we could follow Jason. The roads here are a lot quieter and we feel confident riding, this will give us much more freedom to check this little place out. Jason took us to the Old Quarter which is the old part of Hoi An and we walked around all the old buildings which are now filled with shops, cafes and restaurants. It is really nice there and after walking through the market we stopped at a cafe for a well deserved beverage. Alvo and Jason had an iced coffee which has condensed milk in it so it turns the strong Vietnamese coffee into sweet deliciousness, Alvo really likes it and it seems to be keeping her headaches at bay. I had watermelon juice which is freshly squeezed and contains only watermelon which is so great. Jason was heading off to have lunch with his girlfriend so we were on our own.....scary stuff, but we made our way back to the house without getting lost or hit by any crazy road users. We did some googling to find some cooking classes and went to An Bang Beach to meet the man who teaches them, after chatting to him we decided to do a private all day class so that we can ask plenty of questions and spend as much time as we need to learn. He even gave us a discount so Hoi An is restoring our faith in Vietnam. We got caught in a bit of a rain storm on the way home but it wasn't too cold so didn't mind getting wet. It does however dictate dinner time as going out in the rain after having showers isn't fun. Oh, we have met Jason's other roomies, Levi as in jeans and Kong as in Hong Kong and they are both great blokes so will be chatting to them more over the next couple of days. Jason's girlfriend, Jess, also made an appearance after finishing work and she is lovely. She offered me a rain jacket to wear when we head out for dinner just in case.....she must know I am a bit of a sook that way. We ended up heading to the Old Quarter for dinner as Jason recommend we try Cao Lao there, we found it and it was pretty nice. A mix of noodles, greens and some crispy crouton like thingys. We also tried the White Rose which is a small dumpling/wonton with a sweet dipping sauce, also nice. We walked along again looking at the old buildings, this time in the dark and it is so different and lots more people. The lights there are really beautiful and you can buy a lantern with a candle inside to float in the river if you like. We have been told by a couple of people to go to the Cargo Club and try the deserts, although they are similar to ones you would buy in Oz.....things like chocolate brownies, cheesecake, mousse and even the good ole pav we had to do it for doing it's sake. We were recommended the passion cheesecake which was delicious and not too sweet all for the whopping price of about $2.25 and it looked like something you would get for desert at a fancy restaurant. There were so many things to try, sweet potato, coconut bbq cake thingys (very nice) and bbq pork skewers. I reminded myself that we have 2 more weeks to try food, I dont have to taste everything in one night. We couldn't go past the ice cream shop that allows you to scoop your own and then pay by weight at the end. There are about 45 different flavours ranging from chocolate to coconut coriander and we tried heaps. Another one of those things we can say we did but don't need to do it again. Can't wait for cooking class tomorrow, we will be picked up from the end of our laneway at 8am so a good sleep is needed for our culinary adventure. OMG of the day.....The garbage truck here plays a tune like an ice cream truck in Oz, oh and Alvo was shat on by a bird as we hurtled along on our moped at 40kph....lol. Tanya xxx