Hoi An: A 'Tailor Made' City

On our continued slow meander up the Vietnamese coast we arrived in old city of Hoi An, a living museum. The old part of the city, which is also a UNESCO world heritage site, is very charming and atmospheric. It hugs the riverside and is full of beautiful buildings that seem to be a mixture of French colonial and Chinese style architecture, very unique. Many of the buildings are painted an inviting shade of yellow which looks lovely with the green tropical plants and tables and chairs of the restaurants and cafes that spill out onto the sidewalks and patios. Many of the buildings were built in the early part of the 19th century and have the look of aged beauty. The city is full of great places to eat as well as plenty of its most famous type of business', the cloth shops and tailors.

Hoi An has become famous on the South East Asian travelers scene for being the place to have tailor made clothing done. With some 400 plus shops tailoring clothing it actually becomes difficult to know which one to use. We did a little research on the web to find out what people had to say about their favorites, it was interesting what sort of information we came across. Some people had had some great experiences here, some had there dreams of bespoke clothing turn to nightmares. Armed with our new information the fun began. We selected some ideas from the latest in designer fashions, found in magazines and catalogues, picked out our fabrics and set wheels (or rather sewing machines) in motion.

Once you give them your idea and pick your fabric the process begins with the measurements. They take so many measurements it almost seems absurd, but you remain still and do as your told while the tape measure swirls up, down, around, under and over every part of your body (wondering 'why do they need to measure that?'). Also, the place we went to, Yaly Couture, took 3 photographs of us; front side and back. The photographs were taken in a blue booth with a grid pattern on the walls and a measuring stick at the back, it all seemed rather high tech. Apparently the tailor is given the photographs so they can quickly look at your shape and size and reference it against the grid while they bring your fabric dreams to life.

We found that it took 3-4 fittings, on average for each of our main pieces of clothing to get them perfect, the shop was great, nothing was too small of a request and they would even point out corrections that should be made that we didn't notice. In the end we were very happy with the was things went, although our pockets certainly felt lighter.

We managed to spend about a week in Hoi An, but it wasn't all about the clothes, we did a few other fun things. We spent a day on a motorbike riding north on the coast to a place called Marble Mountain, an area of churches and temples that have been integrated with natural caves and surprisingly interesting. We also went to China Beach, a significant area for Rest & Relaxation for U.S. troops during the Vietnam war and a great spot for surfing. Sadly, the waves weren't big enough to surf when we were there but we sure had a nice time swimming in the warm waters.

After Hoi An we made our way up to the popular Vietnamese vacation area of Na Trang. Our time would be short here, just one night and a day of floating, swimming and eating courtesy of a boat trip. Our sunny warm day on the boat puttered around the nearby islands in the gorgeous blue-green waters around Na Trang.

Following Na Trang we spent a couple of nights in the not-so-exciting city of Hue. You know that when a giant flag pole is listed amongst the 'sites of the city' that it's probably not going to be that great. It was very humid there, making things uncomfortable for going around to the, uhhh, sites. While in Hue it wasn't entirely boring however, as we did manage to time a visit to a Buddhist monastery while the monks were chanting and praying during their morning prayers, which was a really special experience.

Leaving Hue, we travelled by overnight bus to Hanoi, capital of Vietnam. Following several really crap bus rides here in Vietnam, we splurged on tickets for a fancy new sleeper bus, a very smart decision. There was still a couple of irritating issues surrounding the bus, but the ride itself was fine. We arrived in Hanoi's Old Quarter at 6:30AM, the street markets already bustling away. Things looked like they would be pretty interesting here.

Some new photos of Hoi An have been posted in our Gallery.