After our ordeal last night we would’ve preferred a lie in but we had to be up at 7:15 for our cooking course day. We got picked up in the mini bus and taken to the coconut boating village.

For context, the day before I had a salt coffee which is made with heavy whipping cream. I thought I would be okay. I was wrong.

We boarded the boat and began floating down the river stopping at photo opportunities and boat spinning. 5 minutes into the ride and I had to get to a toilet right then and there. We had to keep going on our boat ride. I white nuckled my way through the spinning boats, fishing demonstrations, and photos. Once on land I ran to the toilet and vowed to never pretend that I am not lactose intolerant again.

The coconut boats themselves are made of bamboo with rounded bottoms and the shape of a half coconut. They are very wobbly and one movement send the boat rolling and lurching making them perfect for a spinning coconut ride.

We were then taken on a rather wet market tour as the heaven opened and drenched our feet. The tour provided ponchos which we were grateful for.

Next we got driven to the cooking school and kitchen. We started with prepping the filling for the spring rolls and the salad. We shredded green papaya, carrot, and purple potato before splitting the veg into two bowls. We added different seasonings to both before leaving the salad mix aside for later. To make the spring rolls we added filling, a prawn, and a slice of chicken to rice paper and sealed with coconut milk. After shallow frying them they were ready.

We had a short break to munch the rolls and salad before continuing on. We prepped our lemongrass clay pot chicken. Lemongrass, chili, garlic, onion, turmeric, oyster sauce, soya, pepper, and sugar went into a pot with sliced chicken breast and set aside to marinate.

Before cooking our chicken, we set about making crispy pancakes. We flash fried some chicken and shrimp before adding a ladle of spring onion, spices, and rice milk to create a pancake. Next came a drizzle of egg and bean sprouts. The highlight of the cooking process involves setting fire to the pancake and oil with a dash of rice wine into the pan. Huge flames shoots out of the pan before dying down and leaving you with the finished dish.

After munching our pancake and chicken clay pot we came back to the hostel for a much needed nap.

We woke up, had a coffee (I stuck to a lemon soda), and went for pho.

Before bed we visited the river and watched people boating and releasing lanterns into the river.

-M