We were given brochures of things to do in Hoi An by our guest house and Edd gave me one that advertised art lessons in the old quarter. We called and they could offer me a lesson on lantern making which started in 40 minutes at 10.30am. I agreed and we went downstairs for some breakfast. 1 banana pancake and 1 omelette later, I left Edd at the guest house and made my way to the Lifestyle Centre.

It was a bit further than I'd expected (the maps you were given in these places left a lot to be desired), but arrived to find that they'd moved. I was given vague directions by a passer-by and continued further into the old quarter. After half an hour of cycling, stopping and asking and general panic, I sent Edd a message and asked him to call them, which he duly did. He messaged me back to say that it was too late (I was already 10 minutes late) and that he would meet me where ever I was to go shopping. As it turned out, I turned around and the Lifestyle Centre was behind me. I dumped my bike at the entrance and ran inside. The lady at the desk told me to go upstairs and I rushed up, sweaty and agitated.

There were 3 people sitting around a table with a teacher standing up telling them about the glue. I sat down next to a guy and apologised for having the wrong map. (I've noticed westerners apologise for everything and say thank you when nothing's been done). The lady walked around the table and provided me with the necessary tools for the class. She then continued with what she was saying and we selected a colour fabric (I changed my mind about 4 times) and glued strips to the skeletons we were provided. We couldn't make the skeletons apparently as you needed a special machine to make the top and bottom bits, only 2 families in the city had this machine and provided these sections to everyone else. I was a bit disappointed as I wanted to teach this skill to school children; in my experience purchasing skeletons for things was a costly exercise, I'd having to come up with a way to work around it in the future.

The lady that was teaching us walked around and assisted us from time to time, ensuring that we pulled the material tight over the lantern skeleton. At one point she stood next to me and asked about where I was staying and where I'd received the old brochure from; they'd apparently moved 5 weeks earlier and had redistributed their brochures, obviously missing my guest house. She did not apologise for this though, but rather told me I should have checked online. My reply was short but to the point, in all the travelling I'd ever done, I'd never had to double check that the brochure's map was in fact accurate.

We finished the lesson and Edd was waiting for me downstairs. The art teacher took us through to the back of the centre and introduced us to woman who had contracted polio when they were young and now found themselves disabled, other women had lost their legs in the war or stood on land mines; the centre gave them artistic tasks to do with their hands that they could sell in the centre. It was a fair-trade establishment so the profits went back to their makers, it was a great way to help these people get on with their lives.

Edd and I left and decided that we were going to shop in Hoi An and send a parcel by airmail to one of the Melbourne girls to keep for us until we arrived; it had been frustrating not being able to buy anything where ever we went as we'd have to carry it around in our backpacks. We were so fortunate that we'd met someone who was willing to help us out. We wanted to buy everything, but narrowed it down to a table runner with matching placemats, 2 pairs of silk trousers and a linen shirt. After wanting to buy everything, we'd managed to narrow it down to just a few bits and pieces; the parcel went by weight after all and we still had the clothes being made to add to it.

We went to the tailor and Edd tried his suit on for the first time. I tried on my dresses and the first one fitted perfectly, the second one needed a few alterations as well as Edd's jacket, pants and waistcoat. He then decided to have another suit made as the first one was amazing. We also decided to have 2 jumpsuits made for me and found designs that we loved. After selecting material, again, we left excited for our new garments.

We had dinner on the other side of the river (the island) and then made our way back to our room after 10pm. We'd had a busy day of lantern making, shopping and tailoring, it was time for bed.