Hoi An, part 2

Hello again! Sorry it's been a couple days since I posted! It has been a busy and fun time here in Hoi An. There are a lot of tourists here, which takes a bit away from the experience ~ it's much more fun to travel and see only locals around you:) At one point, we were walking down a busy street when school was let out, and it was crazy and awesome to be literally surrounded by hundreds of grade school and high school kids on bikes, motorbikes, and walking. We made a comment that it was the only time in Hoi An where we didn't see other tourists, only locals.
So it's probably going to be hard to sum up these few days in a short post, but I will try. First of all, it is a completely enchanting town and I could really spend a long time here. I met another American who has been here for three weeks! Especially at night, with the lanters all lit up, it is just beautiful. Also, I can thankfully say that I am glad that this is the first country I am in because I have to think about the rest of the year and my budget - I feel like I could spend all of my money on art and gifts and clothes and food here! The buildings are so old here, and they all have shops in them with the most colorful items, so I feel like I can't stop taking pictures of them. There are many old temples and pagodas, as well as the Japanese Covered Bridge, which was constructed in 1593. While I have been here, I have been lucky enough to enjoy my most favorite food in Vietnam so far (did I mention that the Lonely Planet calls this place a foodie heaven)! The previously mentioned American guy we met took several of us to his favorite place the other night, a place called Ms. Nam's, and it was fabulous! We tried several different and new dishes, plus had some "fresh beer" - which I believe is just locally brewed beer, and is available for 3,000 dong per glass in a lot of places (about $0.15) -for about $5 per person! We loved it so much that we arranged a cooking class the next day, so that we could learn to cook the delicious food we had just eaten! My most favorite dish is called Bahn Xeo (bahn seouh) and is basically rice pancakes with shrimp and bean sprouts.

We also learned to make spring rolls (very easy and something I can't believe I haven't made before), and white rose. White rose (a petite steamed dumpling with shrimp in the middle) was only a formality as the dough for it is literally made by one family here in Hoi An, and all restaurants get theirs from that family. So, it would never be possible to make it in the states, although apparently you can order and ship them. I loved the class so much that I brought a girl who I met in Hanoi, and who is here in Hoi An now, there. She is going to take a cooking class today, and I think I will probably take it with her, because she is going to learn how to make pho and duck! The Nam family is awesome - Mr. and Ms. Nam are there all the time, and so are their two daughters, and a younger son. They will teach you to cook whatever you want, which is pretty awesome:) Also, we each paid $6 for our class, and got to enjoy the food we made, plus some fresh beer. When my friend was scheduling her class, they told her she can pay what she feels she wants to pay, because I am now their friend and brought her to them! Most cooking classes here start at $25. Just a bit more about the food, and then I will move on! I have tried some other local specialties, including cao lao (doughy flat noodles mixed with bean sprouts and greens, topped with pork slices and served in a savory broth) - this also is only available in Hoi An, as the water for the noodles must come from the Ba Le well. Another delicious dish is fried wonton, which is just those big fried chips basically with shrimp and cooked veggies on top! Ok on to other subjects...
Hoi An is also famous for it's many tailor shops, and most of the people I have met here have had several things made. I was an easy target and accepted the first offer I had, because I had decided I wanted long pants of quick-drying material. I also decided to have a dress made, and got both done for $40. I went back for a couple of fittings, and now I have the finished product. I am not sure what I think of the dress as it is different than what I envisioned, but I think it will grow on me. I already wore the pants out last night as it was more chilly here than it has been. The other thing that happened is that I was walking through the market and got "kidnapped" by a lady named Kim, who told me she would give me a pedicure for $1. I had her put a fun Vietnamese Red on my toes, and then suddenly I was getting offered to have my legs "threaded" (this is something I have never seen before - they put baby powder on your legs and then take thread and pull out the hair, very strange!) and a full body massage, and my feet scraped! I settled for the pedicure, and a foot massage and a back massage (my shoulders are SO sore from carrying around my backpack). Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that they are filming a movie here - supposedly it's an American-made movie about the Vietnam war....I will have to look for Hoi An in whatever war movie comes out next!

So, I have stayed here for three nights and now it is time to move on. I will take yet another night bus tonight for about 12 hours to the city of Nha Trang, which is supposed to be the beach capital of Vietnam - I can only hope it is warmer, beachy-type weather than what it has been so far! I also hope that the night bus is ok - I heard a funny (in hindsight, anyway) story from an English couple about a guy on their night bus peeing into a plastic bag and then reaching across them to throw the bag out the window! Let's hope something like that doesn't happen to me! 

I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day - there really wasn't much at all here that had to do with it. The only way I really remembered that it was even Valentine's Day was due to facebook posts from back home. I hope everyone is well!