Hoi An
After arriving Hoi An the first afternoon was spent getting some nice local food, walking the streets looking around and just getting a bit familiar with the place before taking an early evening. The next day started with a good breakfast at the hotel before entering the city.
Hoi An is famous for the tailors and for in general being a very nice and quite town. This is however expected to change somewhat over the next years as they expect tourism to increase here. One of the topics on our agenda was visiting a recommended tailor for maybe buying a suit and a couple of shirts. If everything seemed good and the price was reasonable I would maybe go for 2-3 suits. So one of our first visits this day was with the tailor looking at design, fabrics and details and takinhg measurements. After some two hours or so looking at all this and discussing price we lef, having payed a deposit and agreed to come back for first testing the next day. It feels ok (compared to previous experiences in bangkok) going to a tailor somebody have good experiences with from before. after this we webt to a shoemaker closeby to get fitted for some handmade leather shoes. After an hour of looking at design, taking measurements and discussing price we paid a deposit and ordered some shoes with agreement to come back next day for testing.
Feeling somewhat aroused by the good experienc and the good bargains we made we decided ro celebrate with lunch, a cocktail and a mojito! Not a bad plan! I recommend the Mango Room for very good food. After this we decided to head back to the hotel for some R&R before the evening. This was well accomplished with a great aroma massage at the hotel spa.
The trying of clothes over the next few days makes me realize how much work and adjustments are necessary to get it right. The next couple of days are spent on trying clothes, visiting cafes reading books, talking and surfing internet. The evenings in Hoi An are spent having good meals, visiting small local pubs and chatting with the australian owners, or having drinks in typical backpacker-pubs with a mix of european, australian and american people having fun.
Although there are some pubs and bars open, one of the nice things about Hoi An is definately the quietness in town during the evenings as the town is almost fully closed for traffic, the shops close and they play soft classical music from speakers in the streets.
The last full day in Hoi An is spent with the last fitting of clothes, a long break at The Cargo Club (reading, surfing, talking, lunch, beer, mojito and dessert) before we successfully picked up our clothes and headed back to the hotel. In the evening, once again we experienced a great meal before we met up with fellow travellers Gemma, Mark and Emma for a few drinks.
Leaving Hoi An we had booked a car at the hotel who took us to Da Nang airport for the flight to Ho Chi Minh. As the airports officical opening was planned for the first day of christmas, everything wasn’t all ready but we got our flight with Vietnam Airlines and arrived in Ho Chi Minh an hour later. Here, me and my friend Torbjørns paths split as he was going to Thailand and I continue in Vietnam and Malaysia. ..
More to follow…
