Day 8: Hoi An For Dear Life

 

Day 8:  Slept like a King and woke up to a Queen.  Someone in the group was talking about being more romantic.  I wasn't listening.  How was that for some blog romance though?  The King looks bald.  Wendy is wearing sunglasses because of the glare off the King's forehead.   

It's good to be the King.

The white water appears soon after the break;
ala my smile soon after you awake;
And you may throw up now from my poetic mistake.

Anyway, good morning Vietnam.  I stepped on something that stung me after our walk.  At first I got a bit concerned.  Do you every get a bee sting and it starts to move up from your foot up your leg and into your groin area.  The nurse came to see me and gave me a full exam.  She said something looked off.

"Should I be concerned?"

Nurse!  Don't leave.  Nurse!

 

The show must go on.  Today we are doing a cooking class.  

Monday is our cooking class.

Try something new for time shall pass.

For sure a spring roll we will make.

Maybe for dessert, some carrot cake.

Who will cook best the woman or man? 

It matters not, when in Hoi An.

So far the food, it has been great.

And so has my rhyming; a brand new trait.

Let's go cook Mo-Phos.

Mark leading the way...

Here's the menu.  Looks delish.

This is our chef and teacher. His name is uh, Chef.  I called him Chef and he responded.  Funny guy and the class moved fast and we really cooked a lot of dishes.  Home run Chef.  

Top Chef.  Chef. 
Our “Whatever Man”

Class in session.  

Roll, roll, roll the spring gently down the roll...

Who's work do you think is better?

Doodles is stiff competition.  No pun intended.

Brad sweating his way to 2nd Place (in the Pearl family).

Mark y Mike.  Mark likes cooking class.  

 (sing) My roll's better than your roll.  My roll's better than yours.
My rolls better cause yours tastes like Ken-L Ration
(you're old if you know the jingle)

After cooking class we all gathered in the restaurant and ate our last dish.  It was like a noodle, chicken/fish stew.  Very tasty and very fun.  If ever in Hoi An, look up the Red Bridge Cooking School.  

Mike organized a boat ride on the Hoi An River to work off our lunch.

                                   I'm stuffed.  All aboard.

This was my Vietnam Apocalypse Now moment.  I knew it would hit me at some point, but for some reason cruisin' down the river, it reminded me of Vietnam from the movies.  

  And this reminded me of Pageant of the Life Jackets 

Time for Coffee Talk

Time for coffee breath.

Time to play "Where's Rowan".  It's a new blog game where you try and find a Rowan.

Not easy.  But fun.

Grandparents with a trip shout out to their precious granddaughter.  

            Hugs and kisses to Ruby

          Easier to find this Rowan here

Every night at 5:30pm the hotel has a Letter to Earth ritual.  It's an exercise where you write your own personal letter to Earth about anything you want and then you set it out to sea.  Dear Earth,

Do I need a pedicure?

Actually, it was a real rewarding exercise led by our spiritual leader.  

      Inspiring...

No really, I enjoyed thinking about why I'm grateful for our Earth.  And I folded up my letter and I sent it out to sea.  Go Grasshopper.  Go take my message out to sea.  Flow with the wind and come a shore in a land far, far away.  And take with you the message of peace, happiness, and prosperity..

Yes Earth.  It is I who's the lucky one.  And so lucky to have traveled with some of the best people on Earth and to spend my last night in Hoi An with all of them.

Bye bye Hoi An. Mo-Pho memories Phoever.

Thank you Earth.  You've made my day, my year, my life.

Please Nurse!  Earth help me!