Shopping Extravanganza

Jan 28/07

Another early morning arrival, and back to sleep at the hotel. The train last night was not as nice as the first one and the previous visitors in our cabin had been eating durian. For those of you who have not had the "pleasure" of smelling durian, count yourselves lucky. It's an asian fruit, adored by the East, and banned in many Western hotels, due to the horrid smell. Think skunk and wolf willow bark. It's nasty stuff, and the smell would not go away all night. (Thanks Jenna, for you peppermint drops, they were a great help).

After we got up, we went for a walk around the Old City. Hoi An is an old cit from the French colonial period. So, most of it's architecture is very European, with odd bits of Eastern influence.

Hoi An is best known for it's tailors. They are everywhere, and will make anything. Our tour guide finished our walk of town with an introduction to one of the best tailor shops in town, Yaly's. It was very fancy, and overwhelming. The girls in the shop have piles and piles of magazines, pattern books and photos of clothing. After flipping through all the books, and narrowing down a few choices, I decided on 2 pairs of pants, and 2 top styles (2 of each one), and a dress.

Next, the fabric. They have walls and walls of different patterns, and fabrics to choose from. Everything from cashmere to Vietnamese silk, to cotton or chiffon. Another hour of decision making later, I had it all picked out (it took so long because the one fabric I really wanted for a shirt was too small, so I had to find something else)

Then, they measure you, all of you. Everything I ever though could be measured was noted. I was told to return for a fitting in 6 hours. Yup, that's it, 6 hours and they would be ready for fitting. WOW.

So, a bunch of us went for lunch (more of the "wrap and roll"), then wandered around Hoi An. It was a charming town, with a small market. Everybody was very friendly, and easy to get around. The Old City has very narrow streets and doesn't allow any vehicles except for motos.

At 4:00, our guide arranged for a boat ride up the river, which was very peaceful. We saw fishermen, boats, and nets, but oddly enough, no birds. No where I've been has had any type of water birds, except the occasinal small plover-type thing. No ducks (except domestic ducks), gulls, herons etc. Very odd, but I guess they're all eaten.

Back for the fitting at 7:00, and it was interesting. There were a few things that needed to be altered, but the girls were very good about what needed to be fixed, and knew exactly what to mark. I can't wait to have clothes that fit perfectly. (Oh, and really cheap too)

Jan 29/07

This morning we went for a bike ride through the country side. The bike owner/renter was also our guide/engineer. He rode very slowly...very, very slowly. It took a lot of work not to fall over from the slow speed, but we had a lot of chance to see everything. In Vietnam, people don't ride efficiently, they put their heels on the pedals, and stick their knees way out to the sides when they pedal, so it looks super odd. We stopped at a shipyard, where they were building boats, and at the historic covered bridge and then 2 hours of meandering through the countryside. It was beautiful, and peaceful. Very relaxing (except when we had to carry our bikes over the construction zone, where they were building the road).

The afternoon was free, and I had to go back for another fitting. After that, I had to go buy another bag for all my new clothes. They were delivered to my hotel at 4:00, so I had to try everything on, then went for a final walk along the river.