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Published: June 14th 2013
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In the morning we grabbed another Sinh Tourist Open Bus for the apparent five hour journey from Hue to Hoi Ann. The journey in fact only took us three hours so the hotel pick up we had requested was unfortunately not going to work. We were booked in at a hotel called Sunflower which had been recommended by the Scots aboard our boat in Ha Long Bay. When we alighted the bus there were two other clearly English girls looking around trying to work out where we were. Upon discovering they too were awaiting pick up for Sunflower Hotel we decided to split a taxi, grabbing one away from the touts at the bus drop off who were keen on giving us and our bags a lift on the back of a motorbike.
Our immediate impression of the Hotel was probably the same for both of us. Namely, that we had finally booked into a backpacker party hostel. Arriving at 11.30 am there were many hungover faces lounging by the pool which is what I confess we decided upon doing that afternoon. The girls we met on the bus headed straight for the beach, but we were both wanting to
go in search of a tailor having heard great things about suit making in the vicinity.
We had heard great things of Hoi Ann from various friends who had visited but I must say that we were initially underwhelmed. Deciding that its charms must lie in the Old Quarter that we had left aside for the next day, we held back our decision as to our favourite Vietnamese town for now.
After a dip in the pool and a burger with the most delicious passion fruit smoothie, we headed out in search of quality tailoring. The internet and the Hotel gave us a list of places to avoid, and we soon stumbled on a suit shop which had been given four stars by Tripadvisor. After a ponder over fabrics and designs and deciding that we definitely did wish to pay the extra for a funky silk lining, we were measured and told to return the next afternoon to try on our respective suits. I went for a black dress suit with a green silk lining, and Andrew a very thinly pinstriped black suit with a blue paisley lining. Hoping our 50% deposit would be money well spent, we
headed down to the market in search of presents for Andrew's Aunt and Uncle and co. in Melbourne.
The next morning we had a rather lazy lie in and as a result missed out on the promised omelettes and pancakes at the buffet breakfast and were left only with some bread, juice and a very basic vanilla sponge slice and some mixed vegetables. I will admit I had a plateful of fried tomatoes which suited me just fine.
Top of the agenda for the day was to visit the Old Quarter. We managed to hop on the free hotel shuttle which dropped us half way along the road and then after some overly optimistic wandering and map reading on my part meaning we stumbled upon a Vietnamese Wedding (rather a bizarre green puffy dress being worn by the bride and a horrendously poppy version of the marriage waltz being blared across a tent) we made it to the Japanese Bridge. Here we purchased entry into the old town which comes by way of an admission ticket allowing you to visit five attractions. Andrew having assessed the Guidebook decided we would visit the Bridge, the House of Phung Hung
and the Fujian Assembly Hall. We also visited an old house where we were invited to ring the 200 year old gong and bang an ancient drum and chime a gong by a little old man. The Fujian Assembly Hall was stunning with immaculate trimmed bonsai trees and an ornamental garden as well as a temple to Buddha to the back lined with four large golden statues of Buddhist gods. The House we visited was a little disappointing as the main body of it had been tuned into a shop to lure in the tourists. After admiring the 200 year old rafters and declining to purchase a tablecloth, we left rather quickly. We whiled away another afternoon by the pool before going to check out our suits. They were/are fantastic! I have since noticed that the lining in my jacket isn't quite as well stitched as initially appeared, but Andrew's is amazing with silk interior pocket and beautifully hemmed trousers. My suit dress has solved most of the problems I have ever encountered when trying on clothes and is an added incentive to keep off the weight I have so far lost on this trip. Looks like I will have
to give away more of my baking. I am sure no-one will complain!
We had hoped to head to the beach following picking up our suits but as we were going to be short on time, we decided that we would spend our last few hours lazing by the pool and reading our newly acquired books.
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