Although the dark cloud was gone this morning, Pati.and BeeBee did not see a spectacular dawn, just a gradually lighter sky and then – boom – the sun.
Today is a day “at leisure,” which means that the tour company has not arranged anything for today. Yesterday, Patti arranged for a cooking class at Chopsticks Restaurant, where they had lunch. After breakfast this morning, they checked at the hotel front desk and learned that it is within walking distance. The guide had estimated a taxi fare of 100,000 dong ((around $5 USD) because of the one-way streets.’ll
Walking to the cooking class leisurely, they arrived at 9:30 am. Since they were the only students, the class began immediately. Donning aprons, they shredded carrots and cucumber, cooked small shrimp, moistened rice paper, and folded (clumsily) to make fresh summer rolls. After the teacher (restaurant chef) added garnishes, they sat down to sample their handiwork. Delicious!
After this came two more dishes, shrimp with tamarind sauce and seafood lotus salad. As they completed each dish, the chef added her garnish and they ate each dish (well, sampled each dish as they were getting full).
The final three dishes were made in parallel, since they were to be eaten at the same time: tuna in clay pot, chicken with green peppercorn sauce, and fried rice. So good!
As they left, totally full of good food, they were given a list of ingredients for each dish.
In the afternoon, they decided to attend a water puppet show. They liked the one they saw in Hanoi. This one told almost exactly the same story, but the music was recorded rather than played live. It was still very well done.
Then they went back to Ponagar, the restaurant they discovered yesterday, for dessert (being still too full for dinner): coconut ice cream and coffee ice cream. The pick-up volleyball game was there again. They watched the same beautiful moonrise.
Then it was time to return to their hotel and bed, for their last night in Nha Trang. As for internetting, they are unable to access the blogging site they use. Perhaps it will be available tomorrow.
iball round the world 