Vietnam: Hoi An - Coats, Dresses and Shoes - Holy Cow!

I am so lazy and for that, I apologize.  Here's the third and final post about our Vietnamese escapades, then I'll move on to Jill's time in Korea.  Since Winter Camp finished, I've had two weeks off with no plans, thus little about which to blog...  I teach next week and then have two more weeks off for Spring Break before the new semester / school year starts.  The amount of time I get off is almost embarrassing to admit.  Almost.  Anyway, back to Vietnam:

After a very reluctant goodbye to Su, we boarded a van to take us to the train station.  We had some time to kill before our train left so we walked around looking for a suitable (read:  warm) restaurant.  We walked into a place that had literally just opened a few days before.  It felt cold and we were reluctant to stay when a European couple eating there assured us it was good and safe.  They had eaten there for lunch the day before and when they hadn't gotten sick from the food, they kept coming back.  This night was their third trip back to the same restaurant.  I was appreciative for the advice but I was a little baffled that they were being pretty adventurous in visiting Vietnam, but refused to eat anywhere but this one restaurant.  To each their own, I guess...  The restaurant turned out to be pretty legit except for one thing.  They seemed to have a one song playlist of their favorite Kenny G song and they played it over and over and over again.  Jill gave serious thought to playing d.j. and changing the song since the laptop was sitting, unmanned, at the next table, but it never happened and we endured the saxophone stylings of Kenny G for a few songs more.   That song will never be the same...

We arrived back in Hanoi at about 5:30 the next morning and went back to Maren's room to shower, regroup and pack for our next adventure.  Around noon, we flew to Da Non, a city in the south that was important during the American War (as the Vietnamese call it).  Who were we kidding though?  We weren't in that part of the country to visit war related sites.  We were there to shop!  We didn't waste any time getting ourselves a taxi to Hoi An, a city about 20 minutes away that is known for its myriad of tailors and custom made clothing at cheap prices.  Since it's fairly difficult to find clothes here that properly fit me, aside from the occasional weird fitting sweatshirt with incorrect or amusing English phrasing and American style clothes from Forever 21, I was pretty excited to add a few pieces to my wardrobe.

A typical tailor shop...  many ideas from which to take inspiration

So, basically, our time in Hoi An consisted of walking through the streets and wandering into any shops that caught our eye.  Once you've walked into a shop and show a suitable amount of interest in a certain example piece or a fabric, the shop worker approaches you to talk about what you want to have made.  Once you agree on a price (most of the time, they start out at a higher price and you are expected to barter down), they take your measurements and choices in fabric, piping, stitching, etc., until you've worked out all of the details for whatever it is you're having made.  This is where it gets dangerous.  By the time you've a discussed your piece at length, you have an idea in your head as to what it will look like and how it will fit you.  Since it's being custom tailored to your body, you have every expectation for a perfect, flattering fit.  With this idealistic picture in your mind, you gladly plunk down the 45-50% deposit and agree on a time to come back when your garment will be finished, or at least ready for the initial fitting.  Some things we had more luck with than others...  For example, my coat was perfect the first time, but I attribute that to my request for extra room since I have a habit of wearing at least three layers at all times and I have little to no shape to my body.  I had pants made that took two fittings and a dress that took three and was down to the wire for when we had to leave town to catch our plane back to Hanoi.  Jill and Maren had similar experiences of triumph and frustration.  We discovered just how different our bodies are from Vietnamese bodies with their subtle mistakes in tailoring...

What is really crazy to me is how this whole process works from design to delivery;  The customer makes an order with the shop worker.  That shop worker takes extensive notes as to the details of the order.  They have several couriers that ride motorbikes between the shop and where the tailors actually work.  The garment is constructed off site somewhere, often overnight.  The next day, your garment is delivered back to the shop.  You try it on and the shop worker makes alteration marks (x's and dashes) on the garment with colored chalk.  No notes taken.  Then, the garment gets sent back to the actual tailor.  So, the customer has no direct contact with the person who is actually constructing and making alterations to the garment.  They never see first hand the form for which they are making this garment and rely solely on the measurements taken by the shop worker.  And, seemingly miraculously, many of the garments turn out well, albeit after several go between trips for alterations.  They've obviously got this business down to a science and almost a month later, it continues to baffle me.  Jill and I had leather boots made and I literally told the shop worker that they were a little loose.  That's it.  Just a little loose.  No measurements, no feeling where my foot was in the shoe.  The next day, I tried them on again and they were perfect.  I do not understand.

Hoi An - so colorful, in more ways than one...

When we weren't talking to tailors, we enjoyed the city.  There is a small body of water that runs through the town where you can hire old ladies to paddle you around in small canoes.  We figured the only way to do this right was if we wore rice hats at the same time.  Our time in Hoi An was the only time it rained during the whole trip, which, in my book, was super lucky.  I would have been miserable in Sapa if it had rained!  So, each day in Hoi An, it rained in varying degrees of intensity.  The day we took the boat ride, it was raining fairly hard.  My moccasins turned my feet brown from the water if that tells you anything...  Behold, our boat experience.

Our sea-faring captain.  She kept touching my shoulder and telling me I was beautiful.  She won my vote for best boat captain...

Jilly enjoying the boat ride... and the rain.

The whole group in our hats.  In another picture that was taken, the boat lady put her hand under my chin.  I do not know why.

We enjoyed some delightful meals in Hoi An as well.  Between being fatigued from our shopping excursions, braving the rain and being hungry, some pretty random things happened while we were eating.  We also shared some great conversations and funny stories.  I will treasure those meals for many moons.

Above: Two examples of our dining situations.
Left: Vietnamese coffee.  The coffee cup houses the sweetened and condensed milk and the coffee sits in the metal contraption above the cup.  The coffee slowly drips through holes in the metal deal until your coffee has brewed.  The whole process take about 10 minutes.  Amazing.
Right:  Jill ordered coconut juice.  I thought it would come out in a glass just like all of the other juices we had ordered over the course of the trip.  When the waitress came out carrying this huge coconut, I lost my cool.  I laughed really loud and for a long time, causing an unnecessary scene.  The wait staff seemed to get a kick out it though, so I guess no harm, no foul.  Maybe you had to be there...

Jill also spent a pretty good amount of time taking artsy shots of the various colors, people and random objects found on the streets of Hoi An.  Some examples of her fine work:

After lunch one day, a lady approached us and offered to take a picture with us if we paid her the rough equivalent of $0.10.  Jill was all about it and definitely got our money's worth, shooting about five pictures in rapid succession.  The lady threw in a complimentary rain poncho at the end, which was a good thing because Jill forgot her umbrella at the hotel the day it rained extra hard. 

Our picture and poncho pal

A little group photo action...

Funny story:  I had two button down shirts made at a shop.  I happened to have been wearing my favorite button down shirt that day and the lady thought it fit me well and offered to make my new shirts exact copies of the shirt I was wearing.  This sounded like a splendid idea to me so I gave her my shirt to take to the tailor.  She gave me the shirt I am sporting in the photo above to wear while my original shirt was otherwise occupied.  The shirt I gave them was white with a blue pinstripe.  The shirt I borrowed was white with blue and red pinstripes.  Throughout the day, I got several compliments on the shirt I borrowed from several random Vietnamese people.  Apparently, a red pinstripe really flatters me...

Obligatory jumping photo - our favorite pose!  It only took about six tries to get this right... and two different Vietnamese shop workers to take it...

Our favorite shop worker - we spent so much time in her shop waiting for alterations to be made that she started teaching Jill Vietnamese!

My favorite group photo from the whole trip!

Jill has started a custom of buying a painting from wherever her visits take her and Vietnam was no exception.  One night, we were wandering around the streets and we came upon this shop with many amazing pieces of art.  It turned out that it was owned by the cutest old man ever and all the paintings in the shop were done by him.  Maren talked to him and found out that he was a soldier in the American War with the Southern Vietnamese army.  We loved him and each bought a piece from him.  This proved to me how much more full an experience can be when you know the local language.  So cool!  By the time we left with our paintings in tow, the man was smiling from ear to ear at the sales he made in a matter of 15 minutes.  I guess we made each others' night.

Our artist pal and one of his beautiful creations

By the end of the three days we spent in Hoi An, we were all exhausted.  Evidence:

Maren and I fell asleep in exactly the same position - Jill stalked us.

Thus ended our Vietnamese adventure.  What a beautiful time we had.  It was so great to be able to share such an exciting and unexpected experience with Jill and Maren.  So many marvelous memories were made in such a short period, memories that I will cherish for a long, long time to come with two of the best travel pals for which a gal could hope!