Textile Excess in Ancient Hoi An

On Boxing Day (26th Dec) we flew from Ho Chi Minh City to Hoi An in Central Vietnam. Hoi An Old Town is a Unesco World Heritage Site, mainly because of its Chinese, Japanese and European influenced architecture. We parked ourselves in a convenient centrally-located guesthouse (Thanh Binh Hotel) and set about exploring the quaint narrow streets and the old temples.

This place is also famous for its tailoring and has some 300 shops in its vicinity. Gerry had himself made a silk shirt (being completely fed up wearing the same old t-shirts every day!) and Denise 5 dresses (being completely greedy!).

Out alone one morning taking photos some women persuaded me to have breakfast with them by the roadside. One of the women owned a boat and she desperately wanted me to take a trip, so I hired it to take me to Thanh Ha Pottery Village, where they hand make pottery in the same way since the 16th century. On my return I wandered around the riverfront and watched the women sorting all the fish for the market then I sat and indulged myself with a fresh coffee in a riverside cafe which donates its proceeds to vulnerable children.

One day we hired some bikes and went to the beach about 5kms away. It was blowing up a storm and the beach was deserted apart from an army of desperate hawkers who swarmed on us like vultures at the first kill of the day! We thought we would take a seat under an umbrella on a part of the beach which had no hawkers. No sooner had we sat down than a security guard came over asking for $10 each. It turns out that part of the beach belongs to a 5 star hotel (which doesn't allow hawkers). We stormed off muttering under our breaths about the injustices of the world and that no greedy corporation should be allowed to own public beaches etc. Mind you it might have been worth paying the money to escape the dreaded hawkers!



(If you wish to purchase any of the photos shown please click here)

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