iolanda andrade: The 15 Day circuit to Vietnam - The Mandarin Route - Day 5 (early afternoon) - Hoi Han - Traque village - Mint Garden Traditional Vietnamese cooking lesson - lunch preparation and visit to the farming gardens

We were driven to a small farming village in the outskirts of Hoi Han for lunch. What none of us was expecting, particularly as we had reached the village exhausted and because of the extreme heat and humidity level was to be handed out aprons and cooking hats so as to learn how to prepare and cook a traditional Vietnamese "entrée" we would later try at table, not before having taken a group photo.

Under the direction of a Chef and a cook we (I excluded) took turns in learning out ot cook. Sakina, Candide and particularly Ines were the "shining" cooks on the female team, with Daniel having been the keen to learn male representative of the group.

Lunch was delicious (as always) though this one had a particular "touch" to it.

Soon after lunch and before continuing our exploration of Hoi Han we strolled around the cooking and restaurant complex walking through the farmland and gardens where local farmers grow their vegetables and herbs using traditional one hundred year old methods.