TAILOR-MADE IN HOI AN

DAY 50: Hoi An

Most people that come to Hoi An take advantage of its tailoring tradition and get clothes made to fit at a snip of the price you'd pay back home, so that was high on our agenda today.

After dropping off our laundry at reception (they made me write down every item in our 8kg load of washing) and booking some tours and travel, we headed out in search of a tailor. There are literally hundreds on offer in Hoi An, many on the same street - it's the Saville Row of Vietnam - and with many making similar garments from similar cloth, it was hard to choose. But we headed for our hotel's recommendation and used Trang Tri. The hotel is probably on commission, but I guess they all are and the tailor we chose had about four outlets down the same street so they were pretty big players.

Where to start? So many patterns in so many fabrics. Jen had a good idea of what she wanted and had brought some pictures of an outfit with her, but also chose a lovely jacket that was on display. After a brief explanation to the assistant, she chose the materials for both garments and got measured up. Kelly opted for a couple of dresses and I was handed a couple of Next catalogues (one from 2005!) to draw inspiration from. I knew I wanted a couple of slim fit shirts but somehow ended up getting two suits as well. Couldn't afford not to at these prices and besides, Jen is getting me one for Christmas. Two suits, two shirts all tailored: £145. The two women were very helpful and everything will be ready tomorrow morning, so it'll be an anxious wait for our fitting.

We then decided to have a walk around the Old Town part of Hoi An which is so much quieter than anywhere we'd visited so far in Vietnam. And the buildings are full of character, mainly due to the dampening walls caused by the frequent flooding of the river. Many of the historical houses are museums but people still live in them. One house we visited has flooded every year by up to a quarter in height and it appears to be getting higher each year.

We spent a couple of hours back at the hotel deliberating what to do at the end of our time in 'Nam - whether to spend some time at the beaches or to try and fit in a trip to the Mekong Delta. Still undecided we headed out for a quick bite as we had to be up ridiculously early in the morning for a trip we'd booked.

Hoi An's Old Town transforms at night into a quaint, but vibrant, centre of restaurants, bars and street entertainment and it looked beautiful - the character of the place had magnified. We wandered over the bridge and found a restaurant overlooking the main town across the river to enjoy some dinner to round off the day.