Cocolocal Farm, Hoi An: Cooking Beside the Shrimp Ponds

Five hours, which is the longest of the Hoi An classes, and the extra time goes into the setting rather than the schedule.

Cocolocal is a farm in Cam Thanh, with shrimp ponds on one side and a tropical garden on the other, and the cooking happens outdoors in it. A welcome drink under the coconut palms comes first.

The menu is four dishes and it is more ambitious than most: banh xeo, the crisp folded crepe; pho, whose broth is the reason it rarely appears on a half-day menu; papaya salad; and spring rolls.

Before that, the market, where the point is less the shopping than the seasons. What is ripe now, what the fruit is, how people here actually buy food.

Then the basket boat through the Bay Mau coconut forest, which is the water-palm maze everyone comes to Cam Thanh for.

Ten people at most, in English or Vietnamese, with hotel pick-up and drop-off in an air-conditioned vehicle, bottled water, all tickets and fees.

Wheelchair accessible throughout, transport included, and prams are fine.