We should be banned from tailors in Hoi An!!!

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until our South to North of Nam trip is over 😞

1st December 2007:

We got into Hoi An this morning at 7am from the sleeper bus. The bus was great, but I was busting to go to the toilet every single hour and we had no toilet on the bus, so it was painful! We stopped off 3 times in the first 4 hours and then pretty much went from midnight right through to 7 without a stop...not the greatest...When I finally stopped watching the trucks coming right toward us at most points of the road I actually slept quite well...Mark did too, and bianca...well she didn't even budge when we stopped because she slept almost the minute we got out of Nha Trang main town.

We fought with places about where we would stay and fought with taxi drivers to drive us to a street with many guesthouses, but using his taxi meter...finally a driver agreed! And finally after walking in and out of full guesthouses we found one in our price range and one that had availability. Unfortunately, it turns out Mark and I were unlucky. Not only did we have to buy bug spray because there were so many mosquitoes, we also seemed to end up with damp clothing and fogged up cameras...for some bizarre reason the room was damp...strange...but we still put up with it for the full three days...

We really did nothing but walk and walk and walk from tailor to tailor and shoes shop to shoe shop. Already the three of us have added a huge chunk to the Hoi An economy!

Mark and I decided to hire motorbikes to ride around for a bit....unfortunately we rode for 5 mins and took them back. Thailand was great, over here it's a death wish. No idea on any of the 'rules' of the road...we gave up!

2nd December 2007:

Mark and I were interested in seeing more than just tailors so we took a day trip to My Son. Quite nice this place but much the same as some places we have seen. Nice surroundings, but I was a bit disappointed with the ruins as I compared it to Cambodia. Mark really enjoyed it though. One of the temples had massive craters from where it was bombed in the war. Pretty huge and pretty scary!

After visiting the ruins we set off to the boat pier/construction site/sand dredging area/lakeside/river bank...whatever you want to call it. We opted to take the boat back to Hoi An instead of the bus. It was really really nice. So relaxing, and so quiet! We stopped off at a small island near Hoi An on the way. They had been hit by last fortnights floods quite bad. They are a metre above the lake and they were 2 metres under water...you could see the water line and some places still continued to sell water ruined goods...

We ended up back at Hoi An pier 2 hours early, so mark and I walked around there for a bit and watched the sunset. Nice place, if it weren't for the tailors I think people would appreciate it more. I could easily go back just for the town itself.

We hit the tailors again this arvo. I wasn't happy with my shoes which were made, so I ordered 2 pair from another shop...I'm spending more than I should...It's great!!!

3rd December 2007:

More and more and more shops. After speaking to Josh for his FIFTH birthday (!!!!) we all went our separate ways to pick up clothes we had all ordered. My dresses and pants turned out great and Mark's suits and tops included so we ordered more and more! Finally after many many issues my two pair of shoes along with my 5 other pairs finally were made, I loved them so much that I got 3 more pair made...in just an hour and a half!!! We did nothing but shopping all day and by the time everything was ready mark and I were rushing at the post office to send everything off.....all 20kg of it!!!

We did get a chance for some bike riding around town though....that i had fun with! even bianca got on one...so it was good fun to do the 'Hoi An thing'. Saw the Japanese covered bridge and bought many pairs of earrings! :-)

I like this place, but I can most certainly say that if you are on a budget...avoid it!

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