July 15th - July 20th, 2024

July 15th

Today I did a cooking class. We started by going to the market and showing us the ingredients we would be using to make our meal. We then went on a coconut boat which is a circular boat big enough for 3 people. They toured us through some coconut trees and the water between them. We also then fished for some crabs on the shore too. I caught three and we just released them after. Part of the coconut boating is getting spun around but I hate spinny things so I said no to it. We then made our way to the facility where we would be cooking our meal. We cooked a 3 course meal. Pork and shrimp spring rolls. Chicken papaya salad and a similar fish to catfish. The papaya salad wasn’t a papaya that would be one you’d get at Canadian supermarket it was something different. It was much firmer and cut into matchstick sized pieces. Everything tasted yummy. The fish was good but it had bones in it so I tried some of the flesh and I bit a bone so I said nope and didn’t eat the rest. We also got to make a pork pancake as well. You eat it by adding fresh leafy greens and rolling it in a rice paper. The icing on the cake would have been dessert but sadly we didn’t make any dessert. To finish the cooking class off they let me flambé something but it was more so a purposeful grease fire and it was pretty cool. After that I went in search of some shoes to buy because I lost the only pair I had. I went into one store and they had some knock off original air Jordan’s that were my size and were Red and white. They wanted 1.5 million dong and I was able to get them down to 1 million. Which is 54$. I didn’t want to buy at the first shop I went to so I started leaving with out buying anything and the lady in the store grabs my arm and starts pulling me back into the store begging me to buy the shoes. It was a very disturbing event. I then went to the next store and saw a really cool shoe design that I wanted to replicate so I inquired about buying a custom made shoe. To have it custom fitted and custom coloured only cost me 40$. I really like them. 

July 16th 

The next day I went paragliding. It was super cool. In total I was probably in the air for 20 minutes. Had some great views too. It was a little scary but definitely manageable. After that I went to the Hoi A post office and mailed 30 of my friends letters. It took me to 2 hours to prepare everything from cutting out the notes to stick in the letters to sticking the stamps on the letters. I mailed them on the 16th of July. After that I went to a nice restaurant along the river. I had some salad roles but I didn’t like them so I didn’t eat all of them. I then ordered Tom yum soup. It was really good. I even had a beer. Next I went on a lantern boat. The driver was terrible. He crashed into two other boats. I made sure to wear my life jacket just in case. I then let a paper lantern out on the river. Cost me 200 k for the boat ride and the lantern which is 10$ Canadian. A little over priced but I was the only one on the boat so I had no negotiating power. Once I got back to the hostel they had a bonfire on the beach planned so I went to that. It made me realize how much I miss campfires back home. 

July 17th 

The next day I went to a coffee making class. I was a barista for all of 5 minutes. I made a yogurt coffee. It tasted good. Kind of anti climactic. Next I went to a pottery making class. The first place I went to just took my hands and shaped a cup so I didn’t really do anything. Luckily I was in a pottery district of town so I just went to the next shop and they let me handle the wheel by myself. I wasn’t able to get the hang of it to make anything. You might have been able to make something with their help and get it fired and pick it up the next day but I didn’t want to do that. I just bought a pre made soup spoon to commemorate the class. My SIM card ran out of data so I had to get a new one so I went to the closest shop I could find without using maps. I bought a SIM card but when I went to use it it only had 3G service so I wasted some money. Next I went around town trying to find an actual store that was from a reputable brand. Eventually I just took a grab (se Asia Uber) to a well known hostel and bought a SIM card from them. Next I went for a massage and asked the lady to push as hard as she could. It was a good massage. After that I went to an Italian restaurant and had a nice pasta dish and some chocolate mouse for dessert. When I got back to the hostel me and 15 other people played the werewolf game (also called mafia). It was fun. 

July 18th

The next day I went to ba na hills resort with Harrison. I took a motorbike from my hostel in Hoi an to pick Harrison up in da nang. Then we doubled on the motorbike to ba na hills resort. It was good to see him again. Especially because I didn’t want to the ba na hills resort by myself. It was an 1.5 hour trip door to door. We saw the golden hand bridge and the whole resort which was made as if we were in a French modern castle with nice gardens and architecture and sculptures. It also had traditional Chinese and Vietnamese architecture and gardens too. It was really pretty. They had some carnival rides there too. I went on an alpine coaster that was really fun. Then I did the drop of doom too. It started to rain so I put on my rain coat and Harrison and I toured the rest of the resort. We even saw a magic show and some acrobats. We were about to leave when this 19 year old white kid stopped us and asked for directions out of the park. His name was Jake and ended up being from the same neighborhood I live in currently in Calgary called Beddington. We eventually found the exit but they made us wait in line for 1 hour before we could catch the cable car down the mountain. Because of the rain I decided to spend the night in da nang just to be safe. Harrison Jake and I went to a bar and I ended up calling it an early night. 

July 19th 

The next day I got up and made it back to my hostel in Hoi an in time so that I was only charged one day for the motorbike rental. I napped most of the day and was supposed to leave for da lat that night but this cool dude Charlie talked me into staying one more day. We ended up going to the lantern festival and ended up at this nice cocktail bar where it was just our group of 12 people. It was nice. I went home early again because I had taken my medication and was tired.

July 20th

The next day I got up early and paid for an excursion to go snorkeling. Scuba diving was an option too which I would have preferred to do but my hostel only signed me up for snorkeling. It was fun. I made sure to wear a life jacket just to be safe and expend less energy. I forgot to wear sun screen so I got quite burnt all over my body. We snorkeled in the morning, had lunch then relaxed on the beach for 2.5 hours before we made our way back to my hostel. I got back to the hostel had something to eat. Played some pool with Charlie and then left on my sleeper bus for da lat. I paid extra for a ViP sleeper bus and it ended up being really nice. Long enough to lay flat and wide enough to sleep on my side and spread out. The journey to da lat is 14 hours. I’d just like to mention that Hoi a was my favorite spot in Vietnam so far. I stayed for 6 days and was never bored. The hostel and the people I met there were awesome