Yesterday we woke up early and rode bikes to Cua Dai, an amazing beach with crystal clear water and jagged islands in the distance. We lounged on chairs beneath a small hut roof and lazily transitioned from reading to dipping in the cool water to playing volleyball on the burning sand to sunbathing to drinking buckets full of beer. We ate a lunch of dumplings, spring rolls, beef skewers, and cao lac (the yellow noodle dish that's a specialty here in Hoi An). Once we'd have enough of the sun we biked back into town to get our cameras (which were both fixed!) and have a fitting for our clothes.
Carly looks amazing in her formfitting black and floral dress and her black suit (with the hot pink lining I convinced ehr to get!). My dress, on the other hand, did not turn out exactly as I wanted. Manon, I'm afraid I need your expert fabric advice because it looked a bit like a matronly slip! They happily agreed to take it in a bit, lower the neckline (giving shocked and uneasy looks, calling me "sexy mama!"), and created two satin colored belts for me to use as I liked. While we were being fitted, a lovely woman offered to give us both incredible neck massages. The fabric factory was incredibly hot and her expert hands worked wonders for our sunburned bodies. We didn't quite realize that she was buttering us up for pedicures! She was so nice and friendly that we agreed to get our nails painted and ended up having a pretty funny conversation with her and her friend. Carly was practically seduced into paying for an additional neck massage (the woman was whispering "60? 50?" softly into her ear!) but we left happy customers.
After the market we headed to Green Moss where we took a Vietnamese cooking class. This class was a bit more "authentic" than our last class. We actually just joined the chef and owner in their kitchen as they shouted out measurements and ingredients and Carly and I took turns writing and watching. We chose four dishes: fish salad, garlic and sesame pork, cau luc noodle, and an egg/pancake/roll that's traditional to Hoi An. We were able to write the recipes and I'll definitely be recreating the pork dish back home!
We've been sleeping really well in Hoi An because we splurged on a $15 a night place that has air conditioning! It's the first time I've slept with a blanket the entire trip! We both want to come back to Hoi An. Our plan is to save tons of money and come back to buy entire new wardrobes... someday after we win the lottery! Hoi An is a gorgeous cross between a beach resort town and small quaint French village. It's been an incredible couple of days but I'm excited for our next adventure. We're about to take a short bus ride to Hue, spend the night there, and then begin our journey to Vientiane, Laos tomorrow morning. I'm crossing my fingers that the border crossing will be easy!
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