Hoi An - tailors galore
Trip Start
Oct 28, 2007
1
15
33
Trip End
Nov 21, 2007
Hoi An,
Vietnam
Thursday, November 8, 2007
We go to the restaurant anyway and find out that our next door neighbour is an American called John.
After breakfast, we took a taxi to the local mudbaths. John was rather apprehensive about the whole experience. The experience was simply a whole lot of laughing. This is the first time that John has been to the equivalent of a day spa and he is unlikely to return! Essentially there is a 5 step process of mineral spa and mud...if you're a girl, that probably sounds great. If you're a boy, you are probably wondering from which local sewer the mud came from!
We then caught a taxi to the airport (about 35 km south) and found our flight was delayed (well it didn't board until 40mins after it was supposed to so we worked out it was delayed).
We arrived in Hoi An at 1.45pm and apparently tried to catch a "mafia" taxi. Yeah right....anyway, we found another taxi with a driver who could not understand let alone speak English. He did use the meter and tried to drop us at his friend's hotel. Finally, he dropped us in the old city. We walked around for about 30mins and found a hotel out of the trusty Lonely Planet ($15Us a night).
Next was our first taste of 2 Hoi An specialty dishes - White Rose (shrimp in rice paper) and Cao Lau (noodles). Interesting.
Next was John's first effort at having a suit and shirt tailored. It was tiring for both of us. After about 90mins of talking, choosing fabrics and agreeing prices, the suit and shirts were being made!
Natalie then had a go at being measured up for suits. With the experience of watching John, she was slightly more patient and finished quicker!
Definately time for a feed. On the way to dinner, we happened upon the shoemaker side of town.....Natalie proceeded to be fitted for new boots. The hardest part was finding and agreeing on the heels.
Right, dinner. We found the Blue Dragon - on the river front and associated with a children's charity. We had a lovely set menu dinner for 65,000 dong (about $5 each). Time for bed - tonight at 10pm.
