Last night I decided on an early alarm as we had to be on our way by 8am. I was up and eating breakfast by 6.40. I had an omelette this time but somehow there was no taste to it. The American style crispy bacon just didn't work either and the muffin was full of candied fruit, so once again I left the breakfast table wanting.

 Today was our cooking lesson! Vietnamese style.

 Nam escorted us over to the Red Bridge restaurant in the pouring rain, where we sat and had a coffee whilst the order of the day was explained to us. For coffee, read rocket fuel. It was so strong and a funny nutty flavour, not really my taste, so I left it. The Vietnamese are keen coffee drinkers but they add condensed milk to theirs. Yuk!

 We were to be taken to the market by one of the chefs. I thought that the aim was to buy our ingredients but it turned out that it was really just an introduction to the various fruit and vegetables and the types of fish and meat that were available in the market. Nonetheless, it was very well done and informative.

 So, off we went to cooking school, by boat.

 We chugged back up the river and took a side stream to the restaurant school. The rain was actually getting a little heavier now and you really felt like you were in the jungle with the steady dripping off the trees.

 The format of the lessons was such that each dish was demonstrated to us by the lead chef and then we were dispatched to our various cooking stations to recreate it. Once created, we were then expected to sit down and eat it. It was now about 10.30. A little early for lunch.

 I was quite pleased with my crispy pancake in rice paper creation, it was flipped over quite expertly by yours truly, even adding a little bit of garnish to make it even more attractive. It tasted ok too.

 Next we actually had to make a really thin rice pancake. It is done by stretching a piece of cotton muslin across a saucepan of boiling water. Then you pour the rice batter onto the cotton and smooth it out with the back of the ladle. Then it's lid on and wait one minute, now comes the tricky bit. Take your chopstick, dip it in the boiling water and then slither it under the pancake and lift it off the cotton. Hmmm......

 There is a sticky side and a dry side. I managed to put mine down the wrong way and then holed it as I turned it over. Bum!

 Then we had to fill it with barbecued pork, herbs, shredded carrot, green papaya and green mango, roll it up and cut it into three. Luckily the hole I'd made was about a third of the way across, so all's well that ends well! Result! Then we had to eat that as well.

 I was getting a little full at this point and it was only 11am!

 Now the tricky main course which involved slicing and finely chopping numerous vegetables and herbs, making a marinade for the chicken and then starting to cook in a clay pot with a lid. As an ex Malvern Hall girl my chopping skills are legendary and I was streaks ahead of everyone else! So I started my cooking, using the dreaded chopsticks to stir my food in the pan. Once cooked we added half a beaten egg and a cup of water, popped the lid on and then it was on to the decorative vegetables!

 I have seen the chefs on a cruise carving amazing things in demonstrations and have always wanted to try it for myself. Clearly it is not as easy as it looks and this seemed to be a relatively simple introduction.

 First off - the cucumber fan. The cucumber is quartered and the ends chopped off. Easy so far? Yes, except they have different shaped cucumbers from us. Theirs are shorter and stubbier. Anyhow, then you make a lot of very fine diagonal  cuts but not right to the end, leaving the slices still attached by about a half inch deep top.

 Now the clever bit. Take the second slice from one end and bend it up to form a loop, tucking the end next to the first one. Leave the next one straight and repeat the loop with the fourth slice etc . You should end up with a beautiful fan. Or, in my case, a load of broken cucumber slices. Must use finer slices next time!

And finally - the tomato rose. Some hopes of this turning out right.

Using a plum tomato, carefully peel the tomato in a continuous loop, a bit like peeling an apple. Just don't go right to the end and cut it off, leave it attached with a bit of a stump left at the top of the tomato, where the peel is still attached.. Cut off the bottom to make a flat surface so the tomato will stand up unassisted.

Wind the peel around the stump to create a lovely red rose.

Yeah right! Mine looked like it had been through a hurricane.

Ah yes but what about my chicken dish ..... We took our clay pot and sat down at the dining table, added a few of the inevitable noodles and began our lunch proper. Do you know, it actually tasted really good. It was the only recipe that I would be able to recreate at home as it had no weird ingredients.

Then, as if we hadn't eaten enough, out comes some sesame chicken and more noodles, then some pork and salad neither of which I could eat as I was so full. I don't have much lunch usually and this was a lot earlier than normal.

All in all a very interesting experience. I did learn that fish sauce is actually really useful for flavouring and not just for fish dishes. And of course my veggie decorations which may need a little more work!

 By the time we were ready to leave the weather had set in and it was chucking it down. My Primani waterproof parka turned out to be anything but, however my trusty cat brollie kept me a little dry. A short pitstop at the tailors, again, it has kind of taken over this part of the stay and I'm not sure it's worth the hassle. I would have gone back to the hotel, but the old town is a bit of a maze and I'd probably still be going round in circles, so I waited for the others. 

We were supposed to be going out to eat but as the rain increased we all decided to stay in for dinner, which was just a snack really and a couple of beers. I had a bit of packing to do, so it was an early night for me, the others went on to watch football (yawn).