For Spacious Skies: Hoi An: Renee’s Vietnamese Kitchen

After Hue, we headed to Hoi An, about a 4-hour car ride south along the coast of the South China Sea. Hoi An is a charming, picturesque town with cobblestone streets and timeworn houses painted yellow, covered in flowering vines. #bougainvilleatobeexact

Some (benevolent dictator of) fun facts about Hoi An: Hoi An (which translates to “peaceful meeting place”) is a very well-preserved trading port active from the 15^th to 19^th centuries. Hoi An lost its importance as a trading port as the Nguyen dynasty began to lose its power to rebels that were opposed to foreign trade. Today, Hoi An is a tourist attraction due to its history, architecture, and crafts such as textiles and ceramics. Hoi An currently has about 120,000 inhabitants.

Hoi An is known for producing fine silks and has scores of tailors ready to whip up custom-fit creations in any fabric and in any color or pattern, sometimes in as little as 24 hours. These stores have wall-to-wall bolts of fabric and a team of seamstresses on site. Needless to say, Christine and I indulged a bit. #fashionweek #houndstooth

Because of Hoi An’s varied attractions, the town draws a steady stream of tourists. #didimentionthere’sabeach? Despite Hoi An’s timeworn appearance, Hoi An is actually one of Vietnam’s most prosperous cities due to its tourism industry.

One of the highlights of our stay in Hoi An was the Vietnamese cooking class we took at Hoi An Eco Cooking Class, run by Kien and Phi, who are co-instructors and also husband and wife. #totesadorbs

There are scores of cooking classes available in Hoi An and all over Vietnam, all basically with the same method of teaching (hands-on with a lot of the prep work done beforehand) and very similar menus. What caught my eye with Hoi An Eco Cooking School was the boat ride to the school, which was located on one of the waterways branching off of the Thu Bon River. #yesagimmick #butitworked We drove to a dock where we boarded these round basket boats. During the short ride to the school, we paused to go crabbing. We even caught a couple!