Our sleeper train was about six hours late arriving into Hoi An. Emily was so anxious to say the least because if Vietnam is the holy land of shopping.....Hoi An is heaven on earth.....and that means six less hours she had to shop. Hoi An is actually a really awesome little town, very clean, laid back, great little restaurants, and felt really safe at night. It's full of shops and tailors where you can get your own clothes, shoes, coats, purses, etc....designed and made for a fraction of what it would cost in the states. Definitely a highlight among all our stops, and probably Emily's favorite overall.
One of the first tailors we visited had a silk farm upstairs. They showed us the entire process of how they raise silk worms, harvest the silk, and begin using it to make their different colored fabrics and items they sell in their store. We took a break to have diner at an amazing Vietnamese/Italian restaurant, which gave us enough energy to continue shopping until almost 11:00 that night. We met with our group (now becoming our good friends) at a little wine bar so everyone could swap shopping stories...that's when Emily found a tailor across the street called Mr. Xe's. Mr. Xe is a little Viatnamese man (well....their all little) who is as queer as a four dollar bill and takes his profession VERY seriously. It's like if the soup Nazi from Seinfeld had been played by a small, gay, Asian man. Anyway, Emily and a few of the other girls spent a good three hours in there with Mr. Xe's design team, going through magazines, getting measured, picking out materials...having a ball. I went across the street to see how she was doing....next thing I know I'm being measured for a suit....it all happened so fast, I still don't quite understand it. A really fun experience though.
The next day, since Emily wanted to continue her conquest of Hoi An, and being the good wife that she is, knowing I probably wouldn't want to shop all day (aka: "slow her down"), we decided she would do her thing with the girls and I would do a bicycle tour of the local Hoi An villages with the rest of our group. The tour was great as we got to visit a fishing village, see how fish sauce was made, stop at numerous road side huts for true Vietnamese food, sugar cane juice, rice wine samples, and just see the beautiful countryside. Our guide for the day took us back to his place for a bbq on the river. Emily had a blast as well with the girls, a fun-filled day of literally pointing at pictures in magazines and knowing they would be tailor made and ready to go later that night. When we met back up at Mr. Xe's later that evening she was still going strong and I think was honestly trying to figure out how we could stay in Hoi An for the rest of our trip. She even suggested I continue on with the group and I come back through and pick her up in week.....but she was kidding....I think.
Pics from Jon's day in Hoi An
Fish heads.....the men in the village spend all night on the boat fishing, the women spend the whole day preparing the fish to be preserved and sold...tearing of the fish heads by hand, one by one, is part of the process.
One night's catch
Making fish sauce....much like making wine
A bamboo bridge we crossed on our bicycle tour....doesn't look like much but felt like a matter of life or death.
I honestly can't describe how beautiful the green it in this country.
Pics from Em's Day in Hoi An
The one the ONLY Mr. Xe!!
One of the finished products
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