Alan and I started the day at 8am. I was pretty tired waking up, as my night sleep wasn't that great. The room was really cold with the ac and ceiling fan pumping. I was especially cold because stephanie was doing the tuck and roll with the blanket and I was sharing the bed with her. She was too fast asleep for me to wake her up so I just put on more clothes. Tonight I will be smarter by asking for an extra blanket.
So back to the morning, alan and I woke up to go running. We started running by the river and into the an hoi islet, where we ran into the village. We then ran into the old city of hoi an, where we quickly realized walking was more the way to do it. That part of town was pretty neat with lots of old style buildings and lots of art shops. It inspired alan and I to want to purchase a painting to bring back home, in addition to the tailored suits we were making....yeah not so sure about the painting.
We then walked back to some of the same tailor shops as last night to figure out which one we wanted to use. Not going to lie, it was more that alan was accompanying me. He was quite happy to pay the premium price at yaly, meanwhile I was being picky and frugal. I used the sample cloth I got the previous night to see how much other tailors would charge for a three piece suit (jacket, skirt, pants) with the same material. It seemed like most tailors said the sample cloth I had wasn't the best quality and would charge me less than the place we went to last night. I became very skeptical of these tailors. In the end, alan and I decided to double check with the trusty internet.
Around 10am, we went back to the hotel where steph was waiting for us. We were apparently missing breakfast since it ended at 9:45am, but we still went to see what was left (which wasn't too much). During breakfast we decided on the day's itinerary. Alan and I would spend 2 more hours finding a tailor and get fitted for a suit while steph went to check out the old city. At 1pm we would meet up for lunch, then beach.
Hopefully you realize by now that hoi an is flooded with tailor shop after tailor shop. Blocks and blocks of them. It's hard to decide which is a good one. So from doing research b'lan was supposed to be a good one, so we decided to go check it out. Like yaly, it was well organized with a lot of selections. Unlike Yaly, they wanted our business and gave us good service. Their prices were a bit more expensive than others, but they seem to pay attention to details and there were repeat australian customers ordering more clothing. So we decided to go with them. For a woman's suit with blazer, pants and skirt it was $145 and for a men's suit jacket and 2 pairs of pants it was $160. Alan and I also got shirts made for $13 each.
Everything is custom-made so you have to come prepared to show them what you want. I went through the online jcrew website with them and tailored it to my liking. So ladies and gents, make sure you come prepared with photos of what you want before going to a tailor in hoi an (their magazines are really old). They will make anything from suits to dresses. We do our first fitting tomorrow afternoon, so I'll provide a better evaluation then.
After alan and I were done with our measurements, steph joined us for lunch. We originally tried to go to a place called 96 by the river since it was recommended by someone working at the B'lan, but it was closed between 2-3pm. So we went next door and for $14 we got many small vietnamese tapas and steph got to feed a kitten. Steph's love for cats is pretty precious. She would always save some leftovers for stray cats. It's a bit ironic, but she feels more sorry for the cats than the poor children.
The Cua Dai beach was our next destination. There were several motor bikes trying to solicit our business, some wanted to charge us $3 per bike, but we knew the deal. It was supposed to be $1 to the beach. Eventually we got that price. Off to the beach we went.
Alan's bike was the slowest out of the three. We think it's because of his big beer belly or his driver was too old. He had the thick old foggie glasses. The ride to the beach really enjoyable. I highly recommend people traveling south east asia via tuk tuk or motor bikes.
When we arrived we realized there's a deal between the drivers and the restaurant owners. They get kickbacks from the places they drop us off at, assuming we will purchase food/drinks. For $3 we got 3 tiger beers, 3 beach beds, an umbrella, and someone watching over our belongings when we're in the water. Pretty good deal.
The beach was nice, but not beautiful like zanzibar. The water was very green and the sand was dark. I know, we are starting to be picky with our beaches. Alan got shafted with a crappy beach chair, while steph and I got a comfy cushion chairs. So, alan decided to go swimming and I joined him. The water was perfect temperature. Refreshing, but not cold. So nice!
When we got out of the water, a mean dark cloud started to cast a shadow over the beach. What made it even more scary was that we were expecting a typhoon and started to see lightning, and hear thunder...things also started to blow away. So, the sensible thing was to leave. After a quick call, our drivers came to get us.
The ride back was a bit scary at first, then it turned magical. We were almost certain it was going to pour on us with the sky quickly turning dark. The sky looked unbelievable. Nothing I have ever seen before. Where the sun was setting, it was a bright deep red orange color, then it faded to purple and lightened up to blue....and every now and the sky broke up with the white lighting. Very picturesque, with no way to capture the picture on the motor bike.
We beat the rain (alan's bike was the slowest again) and went back to our hotel to shower before going out to dinner. We tried to find a restaurant recommended by the lonely planet, but after some searching we realized it was not open. So, we resorted to a more touristy spot by the river. The food there was a bit disappointing for steph and alan, but my beef pho was delicious. After being full, we walked by the bars to check out the lounges. We decided tomorrow night we will do our own pub crawl. One drink at every place. Tonight we had to save ourselves for tomorrow pick up at 6am to My Son, the temples of vietnam.
So an early night it was. We went back and slept pretty early in preparation for the early morning wake up. While alan was using the bathroom to wash up to go to bed, we heard horrendous noises that sounded like he was throwing up. I was like, oh no he must of gotten sick from dinner and steph was like - is he bulimic. Eventually I asked alan if he was ok, his response was "I was just burping.". It was gross.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment