It’s been a pleasant stay in Hoi An. The Ancient Town is interesting and we’ve had some leisure time to relax. But it’s Sunday and time to move on. We have a good breakfast, check out of the hotel and load our luggage into the van.

​We are off to visit the Marble Mountains, about 30 minutes away. They are a cluster of five hills made of limestone and marble. The visit starts with a promising elevator ride to an entrance path to the caves. Perhaps this will be an easy visit.  But then we climb up and down the uneven steps to reach grottos containing Buddhist statues. Fascinating. There are some grottos with bullet holes from The American-Vietnamese War. Overall the Marble Mountains are impressive but a bit tiring walk.

​Our next stop is Bana Hills. The Bana Hills, with an elevation of 4,800 feet were used by the French as a holiday location starting in 1919.  We have been interested in Bana Hills because of the Golden Bridge, which looks like a bridge held within giant hands. We didn’t realize that today Bana Hills is Vegas faux meets Disney, all produced by Sun World.

​It’s lightly drizzling at the base when we board the modern cable car for the 40 minute ride up the hill.  As we ascend the fog and rain increase.  By the time we reach the end of the run it is very foggy and rainy. We laugh as we walk out on the Golden Bridge - it’s hard to make out the hands through the rain and fog, though we do attempt a group pic.  We take the next cable car further up to the French Village where we decide to stop for lunch. During our lunch Cha Cha sends photos from his phone of Bana Hills and the Golden Bridge on a clear day. What a difference!

Following lunch the group agrees to throw in the towel - today is not a good day for Bana Hills. The rain dissipates by the time we reach the base. We pile into the van and Cha Cha proposes to take us to the Dragon Bridge and Lover’s Bridge in Da Nang on our way to the airport, just a 15-20 minute stop. Sounds okay to us, they are fine for a short stop in the sun.

​Cha Cha ensures that we are all checked into our Cambodia Air flight before we part at the Da Nang airport. Once again the Priority Pass comes in handy and the six of us spend our extra time before the flight in a comfortable lounge. Our 6:30 pm flight to Siem Reap is uneventful and our new guide, Gho Vanda is waiting for us upon arrival. Perfect!  We’re driven to the Saem Siem Reap hotel.  It’s an older property, well maintained and charming.

Friday morning we drive 10-15 minutes to the outskirts of Old Town of Hoi An. The Old Town is closed to car traffic and motorcycles are only allowed during certain hours. Hoi An is an ancient town in Vietnam that used to be a 16th century merchant trading port and was a major international port in the 17th-19th centuries. The town was fortunate to escape the destruction caused by the wars. This is definitely a tourist area, with old buildings and temples interspersed between the numerous stores and restaurants.

​We begin at Thang Loi factory which makes silk scarves, tailored clothing, wood products and paper lanterns. The quality is very good and the prices are quite reasonable. Alas, when one is a vagabond priorities must change, and I now look at how frequently I could wear something and how well it will dry on a line (or in the occasional clothes dryer). Home furnishings are for times gone by.

Cha Cha begins our walking tour of the historic buildings. We stop at the Japanese Bridge, which dates back to the 18th Century. It is believed to have been built by the Japanese living in Hoi An to bridge to the Chinese Quarter across the Thu Ban. We continue on to the Museum of Trade Ceramics with pottery from the 16th-18th Centuries and then visit two of the ancient houses. We include in the walking tour the Phuc Kien Assembly Hall, Quan Cong Temple and the Chua Ong Pagoda and stroll along the dock looking at the boats strung with the famous lanterns of Hoi An.

In the evening we return to the Ancient Town. The group has cocktails dockside, watching the small boats with taking couples or groups on the river. We have a nice dinner then walk through the night market before retiring to the resort.

We sleep in on Saturday then are picked up by Cha Cha and the driver for our cooking class. We walk through the Ancient Town to Hai Cafe, the starting point of the class. While we enjoy a coffee the chefs are putting meats into a Vietnamese smoker. We note that these meats will be on the dinner menu tonight.

The class is broken into groups and each is greeted by a chef. We walk the few blocks to the market and we squeeze through the stalls with the chef providing explanations of the foods and cooking utensils along the way. Following the market tour we hurry to the dock where a boat awaits to take us downstream to the location of the cooking school. It’s a pleasant 20 minute ride.

​The school has been setup with several pavilions to handle ~20 students each. A garden walk and talk teaches us about some of the typical ingredients of Vietnamese dishes, then are seated in a demonstration area.

The chef first demonstrates a dish while we can refer to the recipe in our pamphlet. Then we are up working hands-on at the cooking stations. Luckily there’s a coach for every 6-8 people, otherwise I would have had more than one flop. Our hands-on includes Seafood Salad, Fresh Rice Paper Rolls of Shrimp, Quang Noodle Chicken and making a rose from a tomato.

​Probably the most interesting was learning how to make the rice pancake used for spring rolls and the rice noodles for the chicken soup. Of course we get to eat the results of our hard work! For lunch the staff has also prepared steamed fish. We have an entertaining, educational and delicious time at Red Bridge Cooking School.

​The late afternoon provides some time for massages, and in the evening we return to Hai Cafe to try some of that smoked meat. It is a delicious treat of smoked duck leg, pork ribs and grilled pork belly. Unfortunately they have already sold out of the beef brisket. Well, perhaps we will be lucky next time we are in Hoi An.