Hoi An!

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Today we spent traveling to Hoi An. We had a morning flight to Da Nang and then a 40 minute bus ride to Hoi An. After getting to Da Nang, we stopped at China Beach and had some lunch. We had a chance to put our feet in the ocean and hang out on the beach a bit before continuing to Hoi An. Hoi An is a very cute and much smaller city than HCMC. The town is replete with tailors, who can whip up just about anything from shoes to evening gowns in about 24 hours. The prices are ridiculously reasonable, so Lauren and I took a look at a few of the shops. I am having a strapless blue thai silk dress made for 50 bucks and a pair of leather boots made for 35. Pretty amazing that all of this can happen in 24 hours. I imagine like Santa's workshop with elves. I cannot imagine how these women can put this stuff together so quickly. 😊 It was pretty neat, I designed the dress and then picked out the fabric. After a few quick measurements and photos of me, we were done. I go back tomorrow afternoon for a final fitting and then pick up the dress before we leave Hoi An on Thursday morning. I am a bit nervous, because I have no idea how the dress/shoes are going to turn out, but regardles it is quite an experience. I think if the boots turn out well, I might even consider having another pair made before we leave Thursday morning. We went for a walk around one of the many markets and looked at some of the fruit. We've become pretty addicted to mangosteen and longhan. I'm going to be sad to not be able to eat it everyday once we get home. Tomorrow morning we are going on an early morning bike ride around the country side to see some of the local villages. After we will eat breakfast at the hotel and get ready for our cooking lesson! Yes Lauren and I are taking a cooking lesson to prepare a 5 course menu! We will get to go to the market and pick out fresh produce/meat and then learn to cook the local food. When we are done we get to eat the feast! After we are supposed to do our final fitting for our clothes, so hopefully we don't eat too much! I don't know how well we planned that one out! Later in the afternoon we are planning on biking down to the beach and relaxing. Thursday we will leave for Hue!

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