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Published: October 27th 2006
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So Hoi An is where everyone goes in Vietnam to get cheap tailor made clothes - apparently there are over 400 tailors within the town - there are even more tailor shops than souvenir shops, cafes or local shops... which is a bit of a shame really. Hoi An is a really unique historical town, but it does kind of seem like every second shop is a tailors catering solely to the tourists. And there are also so many tourists too!
I couldn't get over how many Australians there were everywhere, and not just backpackers either. That's what was so different compared to Laos. In Laos, apart from Luang Prabang, it is pretty unusual to see anyone outside of the age bracket of 20-40 who is lugging around a backpack. Whereas when I arrived in Hoi An, half the people on my bus seemed to have suitcases, and walking around the town, there seemed to be groups of retirees and western children everywhere... I later worked out that it must have been school holidays in Australia, which explained the large number of Austrlalian families everywhere with 2.2 children - including in the tailors...
So yes, I did get sucked
in a little bit - I had to get something made after all it was pretty cheap - but I found the whole experience pretty awful, with people fawning all over you, trying to guilt you into spending more money and lying to you about how beautiful you looked. One of the tailors I went to, every time I was there I always bumped into this same Australian family of four - they seemed to be getting a complete new wardrobe made for the mother, father, son and daughter. The kids looked like they were about 10, and I couldn't help but wonder what the whole experience was doing to them - of travelling in style through a country like Vietnam, and being able to choose exactly what clothes they would like to have tailor made for themselves... It was such a contrast to most of the local kids who I had seen of their age on my trip, many of whom weren't even lucky enough to be wearing a pair of shoes while playing soccer, as the only shoes they owned were slip-ons.
I did really feel like there was way too much of a western influence in
Hoi An. While there were some beautiful old buildings, and the town is a UNESCO world heritage listed site, as it is an old port from the 17th century that was lucky enough not to be affected by the Vietnam War, the old town area doesn't seem to have any authentic shops left, although I guess it is a great place for souvenir shopping! I guess I felt like being in Hoi An, I was overtaken by the materialistic side of me, and seeing so many other westerners who were just buying so much stuff, I almost felt like I was back home already.
And then I was stupid enough to get food poisoning, and spent the next couple of days watching BBC world and Australia network in my hotel room - which was a really, really bad idea. Hearing about all of the problems in the world was not the best way to spend the last week of my trip! So I ended up staying in Hoi An a bit too much longer than I expected, but after eating a dish of local "white roses" (shrimp wrapped in rice paper) - which looked a bit more brown than
pink - I had my last case of food poisoning on my trip.
When I recovered I went to see the ruins of My Son, the Cham's ancient city, which is supposed to be the equivalent of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, but doesn't compare in any way. The place was bombed in the Vietnam War, so maybe it was once very impressive, but most of the place is now little more than a pile of bricks. After some of my bad tour experiences in Vietnam I decided to take a motorbike taxi to the site for a little more money than joining a cheap tour group. This was definitely the right decision to make - I met some very unhappy people on a tour group there, and my motorbike driver was a very sweet guy who drove extremely carefully and told me lots of extra stuff about all of the places we passed along the way.
So rereading this now, I do sound a bit negative about my experiences in Hoi An. But I did have a fun time really, I probably just stuck around a bit too long there... the cafes there were really great, so I
would still recommend the place to anyone!
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