Clothes, Clothes, lanterns and clothes...

Hoi An has to have been my favourite place in Vietnam. It was picturesque. The old town has a relaxed and cultural vibe that I hadn't yet experienced. There was an abundance of tailor, craft, coffee, cake and latern shops which meant the old buildings had a back-drop of colourful silks and wooden carvings - I loved it! The river ran past the old town too and whilst sitting enjoying a drink, meal or 'fresh beer' (about 10p a glass which made Jon very happy) you could see small boats where people lived, people trading and generally milling about on bicycles with large conicical straw hats (they really do wear them here). It was really nice to just stroll about too.

The food was good here - we had a five-course traditional Vietnamese dinner for 40 Dong - about 1 pound ten pence (no pound sign on these keyboards!). My chop-sticks skills are developing rapidly - I can almost cut fried fish with them the 'proper' way and that's saying something.

The majority of time in Hoi An was spent in a tailors shop having clothes made! It was an experience that almost makes you feel like you're landed-gentry and it's easy enough to get carried away (as I did!). The way it works is you decided what clothes you want, what detail is added and what material you want them in, then the shop makes it overnight - literally. You come back the next day for a fitting so any adjustments can be made and then, if needed, the clothes are ready on the third day. It was something else. For an idea of the cost, I had a full-length wool, lined coat made in dark green - it cost me $38 which is about 19 pounds). Not bad when it's made to measure!

I won't go into detail about Jon's suit, but let's just say it'll be perfect for his friend's gay wedding in November. The lady who made it developed a 'soft-spot' for Jon (which I warned him about - women's intuition is never wrong!). When I wasn't around, Jon was practically getting proposals of marriage. I would say he enjoyed the attention, if I hadn't found him sculking out of the shop desperately scanning the horizon for me. Tee hee.

Jon and I have shipped back our stuff, including some of our things that we didn't want to carry anymore. Actually, I should say we worridly left our things in the tailors shop to be shipped back, so who knows if they'll arrive or not!! Will have to wait until the end of April to find out as sea-mail was the cheapest.

Next stop Hanoi, but we chickend out of yet another horrendous bus journey and flew from the nearby airport of Danang - well, we are landed-gentry you know. ;-)