Hoi An, Vietnam

We arrived in Danang by 8 o'clock the next morning and found our hotel taxi to transport the four of us to Hoi An. Hoi An is about an hour van ride or so outside Danang and we had a pleasant drive along the beach into town. We were even able to convince our driver to make a quick pit stop for photos of China Beach, the beach Americans first landed on upon arriving in Vietnam for the war.


Once in Hoi An we checked into our hotel. We had decided to splurge for a few days while in town and treated ourselves to the Ancient House Resort complete with a beautiful pool, canopy beds, beatuiful gardens and five-star treatment. All of this for just a few extra $$s a night. Checking in to the Ancient House was a breath of fresh air after the madness of HCMC and we quickly headed for the pool where we would stay for the rest of the day.


The next day we went out for some sight seeing around the town. Hoi An is a vacation spot for many local Vietnamese and has maintained a quaint, beachtown feel. Beautiful french-inspired buildings have been maintained and the old part of the city is barred off from cars making it a perfect place for strolling and shopping. During the Vietnam/American War it was determined by both sides that it would not be touched and thus the "Ancient City" has been preserved.

Hoi An is also famous for its many clothing shops catering to tourists looking for tailor-made clothing. In fact, we met an Australian traveler named Hayden who comes to Hoi An for a week about every other year just to get suits fitted and made for him at a discount price. We had already heard about the legendary deals to be brokered for clothing and we were excited for some new digs. Within minutes of venturing onto the town streets we were approached by a woman on a moto requesting that we come to her clothing shop. Clearly there was no need to be concerned that we would have a hard time finding a tailor. We would discover as the day went on that there were hundreds of clothing shops all offering the latest styles and for 'cheap cheap'. We spent the better part of a the day going in and out of shops inspecting materials, stitch work and prices. To be honest, neither of us are well versed in our stiches or our fabrics but we were able to discern a few quality indicators and get an idea of what we were looking for.


By the afternoon, we selected a store and went in to do some business. We both planned to have suits made so we picked out some Italian cashmere-wool fabric and our tailors got to measuring us. After a couple of months of traveling with little physical activity, this last part was a lot less fun than it might have been. We were still excited, however, about the wardrobe additions and were shocked when our tailors told us we could return later that afternoon (literally a a few hours) for a fitting. We made plans to return the next day and went off for more shopping.


Most of our time in Hoi An was spent sightseeing around town (The Japanese Friendship Bridge, many pagodas), hanging out poolside, and visiting a small group of custom tailors we had selected to make a few items. We would eventually have a total of four suits, five dress shirts, and a formal dress made that we shipped home on our last day in Hoi An (thanks JR). We had a another good night out with Oisin and Aislin at the Cargo Club as well as Tam Tam before we headed off for Hanoi.
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