Like previous days in Hoi An, we woke up to the sound of an alarm, got ready for the day and went down to the breakfast buffet. As Hoi An is a world heritage listed site many of its historical land marks are still present. Sunny, our tour guide, started off our day with a tour of the history of the town. It began with the Japanese bridge in town which was made in the 17th century. She then moved on to the Tan Ky House which was a traditional Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese styled house that has been passed down for 7 generations of families. In comparison to Melbourne much of Hoi An has been kept near identical to it’s original state and comparatively Melbourne has been majorly changed and urbanised over a much shorter period of time.
After our tour, we were allowed 4 hours to ourselves to pick up any clothes we had got made at the tailor, eat lunch and roam around the town to either shop or explore. Two of the students were chosen to represent St Leonard’s at Children’s Home In Action (CHIA). CHIA is an organisation designed to help children with disabilities – most commonly Cerebral Palsy – who are at an unfortunate position in which the school system is subtly denying their education. Many of the children suffered of Cerebral Palsy which is a physical disability. Because of their disability they cannot spend the full day at school, CHIA provides a space for the children to go to in the middle of the day so that they can have a break in the middle of the day so as to continue their education. While this was happening across town, the majority of Vietnam Red were allowed to spend some time by the pool. Afterwards, there was a small fashion show to happen after everyone had gotten out of the pool, which was a way of displaying any items people had tailored. Surprisingly the turnover from three days to today went by way too fast.
For dinner, we went to a restaurant where we were taught how to cook our own Vietnamese meals. This was definitely the highlight of the day for some, and having a person instruct how to make the food allowed us to learn new skills and techniques that we could possibly take home. Overall, the cooking class was an enjoyable experience, taking on the Vietnamese way of making food. Tomorrow we venture out to Hue to do absailing on the marble mountains down 20m cliffs, it may be a challenge for some but an adventure for all.
Harry Q and Ashley D
