Suits you sir!

---

And so we arrived in the beautiful little town of Hoi An on the banks of the river Thu Bon, a shopper's paradise according to Phat, our tour leader. It used to be a main merchant port, founded in the 15th century, with traders coming from all over the world, Japan, China, Holland, France and Portugal. Some even settled in the town and many of the houses and buildings reflect their builders' origins. Two distinct areas arose the Chinese and Japanese communities and the Japanese had a beautiful wooden bridge built across the little river that divided them. It is now known as, you'll never guess, the Japanese Bridge! Hoi An was given UNESCO world heritage status in 1999 to help protect this beautiful town. Unfortunately they can't do a lot to protect it from the annual floods that submerge some of the streets up to 3m causing serious damage!

After we had checked into our rooms Phat took us on an orientation tour of the town to point us towards the best places to get shoes, clothes, jewellery or glasses tailor made to whatever we wanted. I managed to get a quick order in at the shoe shop for some amazing boots - I chose some material (greeny-blue with shimmering dragonflies all over) and picked out a design, discussing a few changes I wanted and also the type of heel. The lady serving me couldn't believe someone tall like me would want to be taller when I picked out these killer heels, I laughed and told her I loved being tall. Then she drew around each of my feet and made about 25 other measurements for each foot and up my calf. I would have to go for a fitting the next evening - yay, finally some boots that don't flop around on my calves like wellies! This shop shop was set up with the help of the Blue Dragon childrens charity we had visited in Hanoi and some of the proceeds for each sale are donated back to the charity. Intrepid is so good at the whole 'responsible travel' side of their trips.

We were also taken to see an embroidery place where the young women were embroidering the most intricate copies of photos or pictures. Their work was up around the walls and some looked just like photos they were so detailed. We were then taken to see how the silk cloth process worked from the tiny worms munching on their mulberry leaves in little trays stacked in a meshed wired cabinet, to the large squidgey fat ones who had munched themselves into silk worm heaven. They then turned into cocoons with the silky strands all around them, some yellow and some orange. These were all kept in an open frame ready to be used to spin up into silk. We saw a lady hand-turning a wooden spinning contraption with the incredibly fine silk spun into threads straight from the cocoons floating in a little bowl of water. The lady explaining the process also showed how you can do it by hand on a little spindle too, this producing thicker, coarser threads. It was fascinating. She let us feel the different silk cloths and the difference in their quality was really obvious to the touch. Had to feel sorry for the poor little silk worms never getting to turn into beautiful moths. Of course we were then taken to see all the products made from the silk for us to buy.

We also took a walk around the produce market where we saw so many weird and wonderful vegetables and fruit, green jelly stuff, wriggling grubs, tiny little fish, loads of fresh herbs, trays piled high with all sorts of colourful noodles, spices and knobbly roots. The best time to have a look around here is earlier in the morning when all the resaurants and locals come to buy fresh produce for the day. Guess I won't get to see that then 😉

Our tour ended at the recommended clothing place and everyone got stuck into choosing materials, looking at designs, requesting all sorts of changes etc. It was really fun. We were measured in intricate detail and then our individual 'magic number' was calulated. This would be the price for whatever we had come up with in our flights of design fancy. I asked them to do a copy of the little tops the assistants were wearing but in my favourite greeny blue with some embroidery on the front and also a halter neck dress that I could have as a tunic thing over trousers too if wanted by deflouncing the skirt! There were so many different fabrics to choose from but the one I discovered in the piles was really 'me' so I was happy with my two designs. We would all have to go back for fittings at various times. I ended up having to go back twice for a few tucks and tweaks to be made to my garments before I took them away. I'm wearing my little top as I type this. My group says I'm starting to look more and more like the locals as we go along and I should set up a little shop. Might have to redye my hair black though. Blonde isn't exactly local looking, neither are freckles for that matter, maybe this plan won't get very far!

It was so hot compared to the temperatures in the North of the country. I had to sort myself out with a sun hat, unheard of for me, I hate the things normally. Then it was back to the pool for a dip in the wonderfully cooling pool and a cold beer. Jeez holidays are sooo exhausting 😉

We went out for another scrummy meal in the evening. I'm finding no problems being a vegetarian. There's plenty stuff for me to choose from. Something funny happened at this meal however. A couple of us had ordered a starter that from the description sounded like kind of spicey potato wedges with tomatoey salsa style dipping sauce. It was hilarious when we found chips and ketchup placed lovingly before us! And so back to the hotel for another dip in the pool before bed.

---