Christmas in ‘Nam
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008Hoi An, Vietnam.
Happy Holidays from Vietnam! It has been a while since I last wrote, but for very good reason. We have been very busy with life stuff–all happy. Steve and I got engaged while we were in Luang Prabang! And for the past five days or so we’ve been in Hoi An, Vietnam having suits and dresses and shoes made! Shoes! It’s been really fun and surprisingly affordable, but also incredibly exhausting and a bit time consuming. It wouldn’t be taking up quite so much time, but we’re getting everything done at different places! Steve had two suits and two shirts made at Yaly. There are four locations of this store, and each seems to specialize in its own thing (they have one that specializes in casual clothes and blue jeans, and I haven’t dared go into it!). His took a bit of time because we made one suit first to make sure we were happy with it before making the second one. It turned out beautifully after 3 alterations and fittings, and other than hemming the pant leg up a little bit the second suit was perfect right off the bat. Both shirts were also perfect the first time. He looks so nice in suits! The shoes were fun to make, too. You can basically just choose whatever style of shoe you want out of their books (or bring in your own photo) and than choose the shape of the base and the leather that you want, and voila! The next day you have handmade shoes! I got a pair to match my wedding dress and they were right the first try, but Steve’s black dress shoes needed a couple of adjustments (which they happily did) until they fit right. There are hundreds of shoe and clothing store all around the Hoi An and you can’t go anywhere without people yelling “Hello! Buy something!” It gets a little annoying after a while, but it’s no worse than all the other ways people have tried to get our attention over the past 7 months.
montarsig