Culinary journey

The plane landed an hour later than planned, so we abandoned our luggage for Tony to collect and headed straight to the resort for dinner (really loving the service!). The boys went off with the guides for "junior adventurers' night" and I sat with our travel family for some adult time.

I picked up the boys at 9pm and we settled in to our new quarters for the next few days. There was a bit of confusion about the toilets in our rooms - no one could find them. Josh opened all kinds of doors and cupboards and then announced there were none. I couldn't find them either. Campbell saved the day. There was also some confusion over the water sprayer in the toilet. The jury is out as to whether it is a toilet cleaner or a "butt cleaner" (Campbell's words not mine). Who would thought I could write a whole paragraph about toilets?

The resort is lovely with high ceilings and lots of dark wood, glass and gauzy white curtains. It feels very beachy and tropical after the chaos that was Saigon. The front beach was destroyed in a recent typhoon so it is closed off while they rebuild. There is a little side beach however with flags and a man all dressed up in red and yellow like an Aussie lifeguard.

Breakfast was buffet style and the sticky rice with peanuts was a hit with Josh and Flynn. All the boys were excited by the sign on our table, promising free cocktails if you wore a "freedom shirt" of red with a yellow star - illustrated with a picture of the mother, father and child all wearing the shirts. I suspect they might acquire the shirts today and try for the free cocktails tonight.

We met in the lobby for a short bus ride to the Good Brother Cafe, where we were introduced to our chef / teacher. He took us for a walk through the markets to look at produce. The fish area was pretty stinky! Campbell had a chance to carry a basket load of vegetables. It weighed about 40kg and the lady had to carry it about 10 k to get to the market. ( photo below)

We then had a boat ride back to the restaurant were we were all provided with a fresh white apron. We made rice paper wraps and then filled them with fresh fillings. We then made Vietnamese pancakes and eggplant hotpot. I tried to leave the mint out of the hotpot but I got in trouble and they put it all in the pot. Campbell's pancake was pretty impressive and everything tasted delicious. Drew had purchased some silkworms in the market and our chef fried them up with peanuts and some greens. All the boys tried them but I could not quite bring myself to go there...

We then went to a lantern making workshop. I was thinking dodgy cardboard weaving, but you should see our professional silk lanterns! Our little table had two helpers and I suspect the quality of the finished product was directly related to the fact they they grabbed it out of our hands at each step and performed running repairs. 

Dinner this evening was "on our own" so we scooped up Ginny, who had lost her group, and caught the free shuttle into the old town. It was very charming and picturesque. Cars are banned from the area so the streets are perfect for wandering. There is a proliferation of tourist souvenirs but we ARE tourists, so no problem there. We had dinner at a place called Cargo ( not bad and quite cheap) and then wandered back to catch the shuttle to our hotel.