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Cooking class in Hoi An with E Village Truth to be told, there is no shortcoming for a cooking course in Hoi An. Even my hostel offered a bi-weekly spring roll class and all over town, you will find classes to introduce you to Vietnamese food and cooking if you are keen. Hoi An cooking schools offer a typical Vietnamese cooking class with dishes like spring rolls and crepes, E Village likes to offer their visitors something a little different. After my disappointing first Vietnamese dinner with pizza from the previous night, I am immediately mollified after my Hoi An cooking class and more in love with Vietnamese food than ever.

Disclaimer: I was invited by Neue Wege to experience a 10 day Ayurveda Retreat in Sri Lanka at Villa Safira. That didn’t keep me from saying yes when Neue Wege invited me to do an Ayurveda retreat in Sri Lanka for 10 days. Not sure if those could have been prevented either way… My Ayurveda retreat in Sri Lanka took place at Villa Safira, an intimate resort on the southwest coast with the loveliest staff and a team of certified Ayurveda doctors and therapists. Villa Safira is an Ayurvedic retreat exclusively for Neue Wege customers located in Yalegama which is close to Bentota.

You will find Hoi An food and Vietnamese classics here, see how noodles and dumplings are made, find a corner with everyday workers’ food as well as one for unusual delicacies. Someone told me about Good Morning Vietnam, mentioned that they had a great pizza as well as other good dishes. I didn’t eat at Cargo Club but was told by a few people that they serve good western brekkie options if you get tired of noodles & co. While we went to a Cao lầu noodle factory and a small backyard farm where they grow bean sprouts which was interesting, the food options presented weren’t that unusual.

We had a long chat about diving in general, my previous dissatisfying experience on the island, the SDI Solo Diver course, and life as we know it. As the name implies an SDI solo diver course (or any other solo diving course) teaches you the art to dive on your own. It only dawned on me then that doing an SDI Solo Diver course also meant to actually do a solo dive (as my friend Claire smartly remarked when I told her about my jitters I realized that for the first time in a long time I felt proud of my accomplishments, happy to have found a new diving mentor, and excited to learn more – solo or other.