A Busy Day In Hoi An

Our day started with a boat trip along the river towards the river mouth where we saw at first hand what a hard life the local fisher people  have, fishing either from boats, like this husband and wife team, or using large nets supported by a complex structure of bamboo poles. A couple of our party were invited to have a go at reeling in theses= nets and can testify to what hard work it is, and for increasingly little reward judging by how few fish they seemed to have caught.

From here we transferred to traditional bamboo coracles (see extra) where we were paddled through the waterside vegetation to have a go at crab fishing, using hook and line.

We then hopped on bikes for a ride alongside the waterways and rice fields ending at a village co-operative farm where the crops were growing in impressively ordered rows. one of the farmers showed us how it was done and we tried our hand at tilling and planting a small section of land. Our host had a nifty way with the watering cans (also in extras).

We were given a demonstration of how to cook a local rice flour pancake and then enjoyed them as part of our lunch at the farm before getting back on the bikes for the hour's ride back to the hotel. we were happy to have a couple of hours R&R by the hotel pool.

In the evening we ate at a riverside restaurant before taking a walk through Hoi An old town by night.It was every bit as picturesque as we had been told with lantern-lit boats plying their trade  along the river and the illuminated bridges  (see extras).