So we arrive me Hoi An - there has been so much travelling in Vietnam - we done most of it on sleeper buses over night............anyway - Hoi an is a quaint little town which is famous in Vietnam for its tailoring, there are literally hundreds of boutiques along the roads - basically all doing the same things. you can get absolutely anyhting you desire made - just tell them what you want. Vic and I spent ages decding which of the 'SAME SAME but DIFFERENT' (thats a saying everyone uses here) shops to give our money too and then spent even longer deciding what we should get made. WEll I wanted a nice coat so got flicking throught some catelogs and eventaully choose a style - then came the fabric then the colour - trimming or no trimming - every detail was taken and then i got mesured well - that was the funny part - cos it was a wee small vietnmese lady doing my meauring and well i was just a wee bit bigger than her, in every way possible!!! was all good - i also got some funky shirts made - just in case i need them - was thinking about hte interviews i'm gonna have to do when i get back!!! MAN............ not looking forward to those!! Vicky went all out and opted to get a wee black number made and a shirt too. So we ordered all this about 12 noon and we where told to come back at 1930 - i though it would be to check how it was going - but no, when we got back - the clothes where pretty much finished - i needed some adjustmetns as did vic so they took the details and told us to coem back in the mo. Vic was so pleased that she ordered trousers that night too - wait till she gets back she'll be the best dressed in town!! :) I'm soimpressed with my cost!! mmost of all i'm impressed with how fast they turn the clothes out- every time i wwakled past that place people were in making orders. I later foundout tha, that particular shop had five hundred tailors - no wonder they could meet the orders made!!! And all for next to nothing!! Amazing. We also got some footwear made - i got some sandle - flip flop things and they are really lovely!! :) they lady was laughing at the size of my foot - she had to draw around it and it basically filled the A4 sheet!! haha SO after all the tailoring was sorted we decided that we wanted to do some cooking, we booked in for a days cookery class at the red bridge cooking school.

It tok us a whiel to find it - tok a few worng turns and that but when we did -- our day started off with a guided tour around the local food market. We were in small groups with a guide - who pointed out different foods nad told us what they were and how the ywere used in vietnamese cusine - we got the taste some - that was a good and bad thing - enough said!! :) After our tour - we were brought on a boat trip for a bout 30mins to the cooking school - we arrived and the spot was idealic, so quiet and in the middle of no where. Basically - we had a menu that we where gonna prepare - first of all the chef prepared everything in front of the whole class and we got to taste it. THEN we got to prepare it and also taste ours!! we done this for about 7 differemt dishes nad after that is that wasn't enough food they brought us to the restraunt o have a littel bit more!! I can safely say that i wasn't feeling so great after all that - even though it was soooooooo good. Dishese inculded

pinapple ad shrimp stirfry * spring roles* rice paper* egg plant stewy thing * veg decoration* pancakes* and there was more but i really can't think! I've got the recipie of course with my wee notes for alternate ingredients!! such a mum i know :)

Our day was sooooo good and vic says that she will be cooking for the Johnston house hold whe nshe gets back or did I hear her wrong!! not sure :) After our cooking class we had an easy ngiht and watch a bit of TV - the next day was gonna be a fun trip to Hanio!! Leaving at 0700 arriving the following morn at 0630. We did stop for a few hours midway, but it was still a long day!!

Michelle...........