Tailors galore in Hoi An

We got on our bus for the 4 1/2 hour ride to Hoi An, the tailor capital of Vietnam. We took two motorbike taxis from where our bus dropped us of, who amazingly carried us and each had one of our suitcases on their laps which they barely could see over while they steered around traffic. Driving through Hoi An I could tell it would be a place we would like.
It was very peaceful already, but still a lot seemed to be happening for both locals and tourists. We settled into our hotel the Thanh Van, which was a cozy place with homey rooms and a small pool in the center of the hotel that had an open roof above it. We were ready for dinner so we hit the streets to check out what Hoi An had to offer. It is not hard to realize why Hoi An is named the tailor capital of Vietnam. Standing on one intersection on the street you can probably see 20+ tailor shops. Every other shop is a tailors all with mannequins in the windows with silky dresses or suits. They can even custom make shoes for you here! We ignored the tailors for now, and as it was raining ducked into one of the first cafes we saw. The place was swanky with all kinds of lanterns which stuck a nice ambiance and colorful walls and paintings. We tried a local Hoi An specialty, Cao Lau, which consisted of doughy flat noodles combined with croutons, bean sprouts, and greens topped off with pork slices. To bring some American flavor back to the meal we added some good fire-oven pizza to the table as well.
We wandered around the streets a bit after eating, and soon came to love the mood Hoi An set. The buildings all looked the same and were painted a yellow color and all had vines and flowers sweeping over their facades. The streets were brick and on many, no motor vehicles were allowed which made for plesant strolling. In addition to the magnitude of tailor shops, there were tons of unique handicraft shops, as well as art galleries. You didn’t pass a single restaurant that didn’t have some kind of ambiance about it. They all were either in nice outdoor courtyards, or filled with colors and sparkling lights and a menu with exciting dishes. It was very quiet, and from many of the buildings classical music played and filled the street. Walking further along, we came to a lit bridge with massive lanterns and all the restaurants on the other side of the river were glowing with lights. This was definitely a peaceful, family oriented place and we welcomed the relaxation it promised to bring.

The next day it was time to tackle the tailors! I was a bit nervous just because I had never had anything tailored and being in a place like this I knew the options would be limitless. I had plans to bargain hunt around but walked into probably the fanciest tailor shop in Hoi An and they immediately sucked me in. Although I would have loved to have tons of pretty dresses and outfits made, I was on a strict mission to get some good business attire since I had none in my present wardrobe. My consultant took me through rack after rack of fabrics and filled my lap with tons of thick books full of looks to chose from, as well as a computer to look through images. Hoi An tailors are copy masters, and you can pretty much show them any picture in a magazine and they can produce for you the same outfit. I’m terrible with decisions, so after much deliberation I settled on a 3 piece gray suit with pants, a skirt, and a jacket, and two silk blouses- one a rich purple, and another a bright pink. This all cost me about $200 which was a bit expensive, but a good price for the quantity and top quality of the stuff I was getting. After answering a million questions about the details of my clothes, half I didn’t know the answer to, and taking measurements my day at the tailors was over, and I was due for a first fitting the next morning. It was time for Felix to look get some work shirts, and he had specific colors in mind, so after browsing a few shops fabric selections, he settled 4 shirts for himself and 2 for his brother all only costing $15 each and ready in the next 4 hours!
We came home to take a dip in the hotel pool, and cleaned up to explore the area for another good dinner. We came to a place that we settled on for the crafty persuasiveness of the hostess, and a cooking expose was going on with the cook in the middle teaching about 20 adults about Vietnamese foods. We watched on and ordered some more local specialties to split, hoanh thanh (fried wonton), fresh shrimp spring rolls, white rose which is shrimp encased in rice paper and then steamed, as well as some fried noodles.

After this night things took a turn for the worst for Felix. He caught a really bad fever accompanied by a throat infection. We first assumed it would be a 24 hour bug that we are usually plagued with at some point or another when traveling, but 2 days later it still persisted. The rest of our time in Hoi An was not so eventful due to this. We stayed 2 more days to wait for my fancy suit to be completed, and I even added in another work shirt for $12. We strolled the streets when we could but mostly I stayed at the hotel looking after him. Once all of our garments were complete we headed on another overnight to Nha Trang, beach capital of Vietnam.