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Published: August 6th 2006
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We had an uneventful flight from Hanoi to Hoi An. After the hustle and bustle of Hanoi, we were looking forward to a more relaxed town.
We stayed at the Green Field Hotel, which we were quite happy with. The hotel had a pool and our room had movie channels and a balcony. Unfortunately, the hotel was about a 15 minute walk from the center of town. In 65 degree weather no problem. But not so fun when in the low 90s and humid.
Shopping, shopping, shopping...
We had been looking forward to Hoi An for some time because of all the tailors in town. There are hundreds of them. Unfortunately, that makes it a bit tough to know where to go since some of the tailors are not very good. I read online a number of people saying to go "to a place you are comfortable with". What does that mean? We figured we would be comfortable with a place when they delivered good quality clothes. Fortunately, a couple from New Zealand we met were very happy with their tailor and convinced us. After checking out that tailor and the best known tailor in Hoi An (Yaly), we
decided to have a few things made at each place.
We ended up being happy with our clothes from both stores. We ended up purchasing vastly more than we had anticipated. Each time we went back for another fitting or to pick something up we found ourselves having some additional items made. From a price standpoint, it is almost like shopping at Wal-mart for Brooks Brothers clothes (a slight exaggeration, but the point holds).
The tailors were particularly good at making basic slacks, suits and button down shirts that both of us need for work. In total, we ended up getting 36 items between us. Needless to say, that is way more clothes than we brought over here on the trip!
Cooking class
In Hoi An we took another cooking class. We have now taken cooking classes in China, Thailand and Vietnam and are looking forward to putting our skills to the test once we get home. The cooking class staff had a good sense of humor and the location was right on the river. The best thing we made was rice paper used to make fresh spring rolls - but I have to admit, we'll likely
never make rice paper from scratch again! The class also included a walking tour of the market - we enjoyed seeing the women selling different vegetables and greens. We weren't so happy about the area where they were selling fish and meat. Mike tentatively asked if this was where the restaurants bought their food too: oh yes it was!
Relaxing at the beach
Just 4km from our hotel was the beach. We rented bikes to head there one afternoon. Both of us were quite impressed with the beach although the surf was quite a bit rougher than in Thailand. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon.
Shoe trouble
While shopping for clothes went off without a hitch, the same cannot be said about shoes. Hoi An also has numerous shops making and selling shoes. While I didn't find anything that really interested me, Laura found a couple pairs at one shop we visited. It should have been easy. Make the shoes one day, try them on the next day. Maybe minor alterations and they are done that evening. Instead, we showed up at 9:00pm (that's when we were told to be there) only for the shoes not
to be done. We were then told they would be ready at 9:00am the next day and would be delivered to our hotel. 9:00am the next day came and went. This became problematic as we were leaving for Cambodia. A little after 10:00am Laura had the hotel called and was told it would be 20 minutes. At 11:00am, still nothing. Another call said the person was "on their way". They must have taken a detour since the person was coming on a motor bike and still was not there for another 20 minutes. Upon her arrival, one of the heels of the shoes was not even the one Laura had asked for. Needless to say, we were not very happy as it ruined our last morning.
Leaving Vietnam
We loaded up our bags and got ready to head to Cambodia. The hotel staff was quite nice and even gave us a small gift for staying 5 nights with them.
After a lay-over in Ho Chi Minh City and a minor luggage scare, we made it to Siem Reap.
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