Hoi An, Vietnam

Hoi An is rich in history dating back to the 1st century when it was known as Champa City. The town is on the coast of the South China Sea and has been a major trading port in Vietnam. Hoi An is an incredibly charming ancient town.  It almost looks like a movie set with it's old buildings and illuminated lanterns.  The buildings are so colorful and full of textures and contrast.  I found myself taking pictures of a lot of walls.   A river called the Thu Bon River, flows through the town and often floods as you will see below.   In fact one night we had a torrential downpour resulting in this.

This town is full of street food, market food, bars and restaurants.   You  would not have any problem finding a spot to indulge your appetite.  They even had a great Italian restaurant that we hit called Good Morning Vietnam, just when we were crazing a little pizza and pasta.

OK. I know.  More market pictures.  I can't help myself.  I just love these markets in Vietnam.  This one is called the Central Market and it sits on the river.  You can eat at one of the many food stalls in the Central Food Hall or shop in the outside market for pretty much anything. And that is my segue to another subject.  There is a great cooking school in Hoi An called the Green Bamboo Cooking School.  Van, the owner and chef, picked us up in the morning and we visited this market to buy the ingredients for all of the dishes we were going to cook.  There were 10 of us and each person picked 1 recipe.  Needless to say, thats a lot of food.  But so delicious, and with an ice cold beer……… 
Next stop is Siem Reap, Cambodia.