My partner and I did the cooking course, thinking it would be just that. But it was so much more. As others mention, definitely do this at the start of your trip if possible to make use of the Vietnamese. We were picked up from our hotel in the Old Quarter by our guide Ha Nguyen, along with another \student\ for the course, who was great company. Once across the river at the cooking school we got a great introductory Vietnamese language lesson so we could buy our ingredients at the local market. Ha accompanied us as we biked to the market, trying to get a good price while remembering the correct words was heaps of fun, as was just getting a look at a local market. Following that we had a drink, then prepared the dishes we\d chosen earlier along with a couple of friends of the cooking school who did the \behind the scenes\ prep. Once we\d finally plated the dishes, we were perfectly hungry and had a great lunch looking out over the river. All in all, a great time learning something about the country we\d chosen to visit, and highly recommended! Added bonus was the list of recipes they sent to us afterwards.