Hoi An day 2
Trip Start
Nov 21, 2007
1
9
12
Trip End
Ongoing
Hoi An, Vietnam
Saturday, December 15, 2007
We surfed the net till 12 then off to town to Asia tailors. They told us the dress wasn't ready till 3pm so we went on to the other tailors: Thinh Cuong. I ordered chocolate brown shorts, 3/4 length red trousers with a flare, black cashmere work trousers (and if it's real cashmere I'll eat my hat), and a light blue Chanel style classic suit with pencil skirt. Might never get used but what harm. You can't go to Hoi An and not get tailored clothes.
We went on to the market area of town, which is really busy and full of people shouting "hellaw - bootifal hay" and "way ju frawm?" to probably every passer by. It's both funny and sad that they try to guilt you into buying. One woman said "You must help us. Please buy from me". She was about 8 1/2 months pregnant. I'm a total bitch so I just said no thanks. But I guess she'll have plenty buyers from all the Swedish and Americans so I didn't feel too bad. The sellers will do anything to get you to commit to buying. Once you are in and the base price agreed, they will hike it up to include anything that should have been included anyway.
We are complete celebrities here. Our hair extensions are driving people crazy. I want to take a video next time as it's hilarious. Our hair draws crowds. People just rally around us and start touching our hair and asking the same questions. Is it real? Where did you get it done? How much? How do you wash it? We reply almost perfectly in tune at this stage having had 3 weeks of attention. No it's plastic. Bangkok. 750Baht ($15). With great care.
I'd be telling lies if I said I didn't love the attention. But I can't stay and be an Asian celebrity as I need my westernised toilets and can't tolerate rats. Sorry Asia. Europe needs me more.
I bought a small T-shirt for my Godson and I had to bargain hard for it. I nearly bought the little coffee servers they have but I'm afraid that the quality might not be what I hoped so I'll leave it. They also have the most interesting graters. They are bamboo or wood and have small holes at the end. Looking at them you would never know what they are. I guessed some kind of fishing equipment. I was a little disappointed when I found out they were only graters. We went to another store away from the market and bought a silk scarf and some material wallets.
We strolled in to Asia tailors again at about 4.30pm. The top of my dress was hideously off the mark. I wondered did they use the measurements at all. The bottom half was perfect. So there was a lot of shouting between the assistants (possibly to attribute blame then after to figure out a solution). We agreed after a needle stabbing session that I would come back in the morning and it would magically be resolved. Somehow I didn't think so. But I live in hope.
After a few more trips down the streets looking at more shops we popped into Camel travel to confirm our sleeper bus for tommorrow evening. We were astounded to hear that they were full already. We had paid $50 for open tickets that we couldn't use on the luxury buses. The problem lay in that there is only one Hoi An - Nha Trang bus daily so it's full. We may have to use the seater bus but we did our best to pull some strings and they promised we are top of the cancellation list, which is all they can do. I don't want to come across as overly pedantic but the difference in a bedded sleeper bus and a seater bus for a 12 hour overnight journey in Vietnam is indescribeable. But of course we can't do anything as we are on a serious time limit and need to leave tommorrow or we don't have much time in Nha Trang.
We stopped on the way home and I bought a Lowe Alpine rucksack. I am definately going to need it with all of these clothes. I also got some soft drinks as they are cheaper than in the hotel. Unfortunately when we went to bed I opened the first can and put it on the bedside locker. Then I pulled down my very large mosquito net and climbed in to bed. By the time I had reached back out through the webbing to get my drink there were a few thousand ants drinking it. So not really impressed. I had grabbed the can before I knew what was happening so some of them ended up in my bed. Needless to say I spend a few hours massacring the poor guys then sitting up waiting for more to arrive. I didn't sleep very well but I learned a lesson about putting sweet drinks next to your bed.
