Hoi An – Tailor made fun!
18th March 2007
From Nha Trang it was another overnight bus journey to our next destination, Hoi An, as we continued our journey North through Vietnam. Night busses are really cheap here, but unlike the luxury of South American long haul busses, in Vietnam, you get what you pay for!
So, after 10 hours with no air con, no toilet (not good after suspecting I ate dog for lunch the previous day!), a broken seat, the ever honking horn, and surprisingly no sleep, we left the bus at Hoi An and made a vow to never, ever, never, ever, never, ever get on another overnight bus in Vietnam again!
Thankfully, despite the traumas of our journey, Hoi An proved to be well worth it! Our $10 a night accomodation budget even stretching to pad with a swimming pool, cable tv (although this meant I got to watch Newcastle lose 2-0 to Charlton!) and mini bar, happy days!
Hoi An is billed as a ‘shoppers paradise’ as it is one of the cheapest places on the planet to buy tailor made clothes! The city itself is relatively quiet by Vietnamese standards (i.e. only 2,000 motorbikes per sqaure inch), with gorgeous old buildings and cobbled streets.
Having read all this before we arrived, I must admitt Charlotte was looking forward to our time in Hoi An more than me. However I agreed to spend a couple of days here safe in the knowledge that I would earn enough Brownie points to last the rest of our trip, and maybe even roll over a weekend or two when we get home!
In reality, I’m ashamed to say that we both really enjoyed our time shopping in Hoi An! I discovered that buying clothes is actually ok if they are being tailor made, and you can sneak to the pub for a couple of lagers in between fittings! Unfortunatley, the shops accepted credit cards, so we ended up getting a little carried away (surprise surprise!) and ordering a complete new work wardrobe for when we get home (fingers crossed the Vietnamese post service is reliable!).
We chose to do our shopping in Yalay, and Thu Thuy shops, which despite being relatively more expensive, provided fantastic service, and made the best suits and shirts I have ever seen (and I have shopped in Geordie Jeans before you know!). The tailors of Hoi An are extremely talented, you can choose any design of clothes or shoes, select your material, and within 2/3 days you have a perfect fitting, carbon copy for significantly less than you would pay at home!
The town itself has a unique feel, with every building housing either a clothes / shoe shop, the workers producing the material or the cutters and tailors making the alterations. The click clack of the old fashioned looms that work all night to produce the material provides the sound track to a Hoi An evening. Suits and jackets replace the usual pigs and chickens as the main cargo on the back of the motorbikes that fly around the tight streets all day and night!
In the end we spent 4 great days, lazily wondering around Hoi An centre, we didn’t even make it to the beach which was only 4kms away! The evenings were spent eating great food (including fantastic desserts!) at the Cargo Club overlooking the river. On our last day in Hoi An, the heavens opened, and we were treated to our first rain since Australia, nearly 3 months ago! It would take much more than a bit of rain though to stop the Hoi An locals going about their tailoring business as they simply pull on the ponchos, or drive one handed on their motos whilst taking shelter under an unmbrella!
Without doubt, Hoi An has been our favourite place in Vietnam so far. The town centre has some great old buildings and there is a great feel to the place, oh, and the clothes aren’t bad either!
Tags: Vietnam
Chris and Charl
Not quite sure what the young lady is fitting you with Chris? Perhaps a local solution to a forthcoming 10 hour bus journey??!!
By the way – have we thanked you for the Oz Journey Jottings map? I think not!! It was great! Thanks to cousin Linda for her great idea!! (To find out more about this fabulous concept, go to http://www.journeyjottings.com)
Keep ’em coming guys – it’s financial year end for my three employments – god I need all the humour you can provide!!
Pete & Margie
Hi Pete and Margie!
Great shout on the Journey Jottings map, I’ve added a link to Linda’s website on the right hand side of our blog!
Good luck with your financial year end duties….we would love to be there to help you with your accounts and tax return obligations…NOT!
Take care, and hopefully see you both again soon (I guess we best get a date sorted for our wedding!).
Chris and Charl
Been a while – all OK?
Pete
Hi Pete!
I’m sitting in an internet cafe in Bangkok right now, counting down the hours to our flight home!
All is great with us, we got a bit lazy with the blogs in the last couple of weeks, but posted two more today. We have about 3 more to go, but they are going to have to wait till we get home!
See you soon,
Chris and Charlotte!