We had to move hotel today to the Vinh Hung 3 Hotel. It's because we got to Hoi An 2 days earlier than we were supposed to and the hotel that's part of the tour didn't have room for us. The rooms are really nice as the hotel was recently refurbished - just a weird smell though. We did the move at 12 - didn't get up and out early because of the rain again!!

4 of our group went on a tour today but we didn't bother because of the rain. Instead, me, Therese, Dan and Sue (Irish couple) decided to just go for a wander in the rain and get some lunch. Absolutely throwing it down. Went to the Cargo Club again. It's good food and cheap enough!

After lazing around in there for a bit, we set off to find a tailors called A Dong Silk that is highly recommended on Tripadvisor. There are so many tailors here, every other shop is one. It's difficult to know who are good though.
We stopped off at Yaly Couture on the way which is another tailor that is recommended on Tripadvisor and by our tour leader. They've got a few shops and it's a little bit more upmarket than the other places around. They have lots of catalogues to look through with cut outs from magazines etc, and they even have Next Directory! I was quite set on getting a suit from Vietnam before we came away as I'd heard about these quality cheap suits we'd be able to get. But the prices were from $125 (£80) for the cheapest material, to about $330 (£200) for the expensive material. I didn't really want to pay that much and it's really hard to find a suit anyway - I prefer to just see one in the flesh and then decide if I like it. Here, you have to find a suit style and then choose your material. But how do you know that material will look good as a suit...
Couldn't be bothered with it all. Therese saw a dress she liked but wanted to have a look around first.

On the way to find the other tailors, Sue went to buy some pant things. It was interesting and funny watching her barter.
(Sue is Irish, so it sounds better if you read this with an Irish accent!)
Sue asked "how much for one pair?"
"50,000 for one pair" said the old woman.
"How much for 2?"
"100,000"
"Oh. Well will you do a discount if I get 2?"
"100,000"
".......Will you do them for 60,000?"
"No"
"70,000?"
"No"
"80,000?"
"No"
"90,000?"
"No"
"OK, OK, 100,000!"
It was literally as quick as that. Dan and Sue are as bad as me at bartering - so funny though. Sue still got 2 pairs of the pants for £3.30!!

We walked right through all the market and along this road and got to where the shop was supposed to be but couldn't find it. Asked in a hotel and the address on Tripadvisor was wrong!! We were soaked too. I bought myself a thick, long, waterproof poncho - even had to barter for that! Therese already had an umbrella so she was fine.
So we set off back to the main area to have a look at any other tailors.

We stumbled across another of the Yaly Couture shops and went for a look in there... 3 hours later, Therese bought a dress, a small jacket and a coat, and I bought a 3 piece suit with a shirt and tie, a coat and some shoes...!!

We got sat down again looking through catalogues. Therese found a Breakfast At Tiffany's style dress and chose a nice purple material.
It's a bit sad, but I found a suit that David Beckham was wearing. I went for that style and matched the colour. Problem was the better grey colour was in a more expensive material. It's part wool and part cashmere, made in Italy for Valentino suits...to be honest it could be polyester with a touch of cotton, made in China for all I know!!
So we chose our materials and our lining and then it was time for measuring. They take measurements everywhere and we had a more senior woman who was double checking everything for us. Therese had about four people around her taking measurements.

The girl looking after us was called "Amy" and all you can hear all the time is her shouting my name "Lee, come come", Showing me materials etc. Then she took me to look at shoes. I wasn't interested in shoes. But then, for $70, maybe I was... I resisted and went to pay the deposit and sign a few things.
Then I went back to sit down, near the shoes. There was a nice pair, in a style I wouldn't normally go for, but thought they could look pretty good with the new suit. I tried to do a bit of bartering but she said it's fixed price. I tried a little harder and she went off to her manager, but said they can't do discount. I said I didn't want the shoes. Then I said I'll take the shoes if you give me a tie. She went off again but still no. Therese liked them too so I just went for them. 10 minutes later, the tailor guy came to measure my feet.
He took all kinds of measurements! Made to measure shoes...look at me.

Therese saw some nice ankle boots for me too - a smart casual pair. I tried bartering again - I asked if I got another pair of shoes would I get a free tie...they agreed! Unfortunately, they didn't have the same leather anymore. Amy was trying to convince me that another leather was good, but it wasn't wrinkly like the one on display and it wouldn't have looked as good. She's going to see if they can get the leather.

Whilst I was getting my shoes sorted, Therese had seen a a small velvet jacket. It fit pretty well, so she could buy that one, or for $5 more get a made to measure one. I told her to go for the made to measure - might as well! Added to the order!

And that's it. At 2.30pm tomorrow, we come back for our first fitting.

We walked out to get our rain jackets...then Therese spotted a coat. A woman came over and whipped the coat off the model and Therese tried it on. Whilst she was trying that I tried on a paddington bear style one. We both really liked them...back for more measurements!!
Added to the order!

6.50pm it was by the time we got out! 3 hours we were in there.

Got back to the hotel a little late, just after 7pm, so told our group we'd meet them at the restaurant. We quickly got changed and met at banana leaf cafe. Not easy to get to, considering the river had overflowed up the street! We had to walk along a crate and 5 chairs to get into the restaurant! It was really cheap food. Can't remember exact prices but about £2 per main meal. I had beef curry and Therese had tuna steak wrapped in banana leaf - both were lovely.

After that we went to Q Bar - proper expensive so went to Before N Now again. But this time we managed to get the huge "bed" at the back of the bar. Perfect for 8 of us.
I was laid back on a bed, in a bar, in Vietnam, watching Man Utd beat Wolves, drinking 60p a bottle beer - sweet! It's good beer too, in about 400ml bottles. Watched the game and had a few beers, then had a laugh watching this weird guy (who was handing out fliers for the Beach Club) making gay gestures towards Dan.

We were all falling asleep on that bed, so we called it a night and went back to the hotel at around 12.30am.

Also, we just wanted to say thank you to everyone for the messages! We love reading them!!