Hoi An is about 600 miles south of Hanoi, and while technically about midway down the country, it was south of the DMZ during the war, so culturally it is southern Vietnam. Vietnam is long and skinny, so most places aren't far from the coast, and Hoi An is no exception.
The town is well known among travelers for its many many tailors. Almost everyone who comes here gets some things made, and we decided there was no reason we should be the exception. Our first afternoon in town, (having previously done some research to help choose among the 200+ options) we took a deep breath and walked in (bartering not being one of my favorite activities, especially after a long night on a bus). I had been planning to get a few dresses, but just didn't found anything I was inspired by, so Matt started looking at suits and ended up with a very nice grey three-piece suit. Eventually I ended up with a few things for work, and two pairs of shorts. It's a fun experience b/c you get to look through all the examples they have, plus lots of pictures on computers, then you pick out each fabric for the outside, the lining, etc, they measure you, and 24 hours later they've created your clothes and you're back for a fitting. 2-3 fitting is typical in the span on 2-3 days and then they package them up for you and for a fraction of the price you would pay to buy it off the rack it (theoretically) fits you perfectly. We were very happy with how everything turned out except for my pants, which were just ok.
The rest of the first day we just wandered, ate, took care of laundry, took a dip in the pool at our hotel, and relaxed. Sunny with temps in the 80's.
Day two we did a tour with
Heaven and Earth Bicycle Tours, recommended by our friends
Lance & Val who were there last year, and had a fabulous time. Our guides Lan & Thuy were crackups, spoke great English, and were super informative without making it feel too much like a 'tour'. We had the two guides for Matt & I, and one other couple. I'll let the pictures tell the stories.
wooden boat making
Mother of pearl carving & inlaying
more mother of pearl
final product
making the round boats
Balance carefully. Paddle your stick in a figure 8.
My turn to try
Weaving colorful sleeping mats
She's been doing this for decades. Still beautiful.
That evening, we ate at Ba le well, recommended by my parents (gosh we were lucky with all our recommendations in Hoi An!) and loved it. It's down a little side alley and you sit down and they bring you a little wipe thing to clean your hands with that has the 'menu' on it. It's a set menu so you just nod your head in simi-confusion and order a beer and then the food starts appearing. There was a good mix of locals and westerners and the servers are well used to our confusion with how to approach getting their unfamiliar food into our mouths. Our kind waitress proceeded to make Matt and I each a number of wrap type things that were fabulous, giggle at us as we attempted, and then continue feeding us when we had had enough fun failing. It was as dipped in a fantastic peanut sauce, which (of course) really made the whole experience for me.
'menu'
The next day I'm doing as a separate post, but that evening we had dinner at
Citronella (the restaurant belonged to the family of one of our guides from the day before) and had a great time watching life on the river go by.
The next morning it was up early and off to the airport to Saigon and then Phu Quoc Island, our next stop of the trip.
