Hoi An = the land of SHOPPING

And so, Laura was very very happy here.

The End.

We were put in the chairs in the front of the sleeping bus, which are a foot shorter than all the other beds, and is extra tricky when you are at least a foot taller than everyone else on the bus. Crunch time. We did get some sleep though, which was good, and we were helped at the service stations by our Vietnamese Mum who couldn't speak English but wanted to feed us up, even when breakfast was beef noodle soup and we really weren't feeling that at 6am. Then we were rushed off the bus, and onto the side of the highway, and pointed: Hoi An, that way.

Nowhere near a town, or signs of life, we should have realised this is never really the case in Asia, and lo and behold a man came out of the ether underneath the bridge and helped us down the slope to his house and motorbike. We now have two very full, large backpacks and a reasonable sized suitcase for all our soon-to-be purchases in Hoi An.

'One motorbike, yes?'

Errrr...no love, I don't think so.

'Ha, ha, ha, okay two motorbike.'

So onto the back of two motorbikes we go, both still wearing our huge rucksacks, and in danger of over balancing at every turn, and the suitcase in front of Sean's driver between him and the handles, where he could only just reach his little arms around it to steer.

And this isn't the strangest things we've seen carried on motorbikes:
- Livestock, chickens, ducks and eggs, in baskets hanging off the sides
- Passenger carrying a ladder
- 6 children, one of them driving
- Entire shops hanging off the side, at least two times the width of the actual bike
- Bird in a bird cage, being carried by the driver
- Piles of baskets about 8-10ft high, so a good 6foot above the driver's head
- Flower displays
- Hay bales, complete with passengers riding on top
- Propane tanks
- Mattresses
- Plastic garden chairs, many of them

So we were not the strangest thing on the road at all.

We had five days in Hoi An, which is plenty of time to get clothes tailored, as Hoi An is the tailoring capital of Asia, if not the world. If any of these shop owners went onto Dragon's Den, or onto The Apprentice, they would be shot down immediately for not finding a hole in the market for something unique. There are only 4 businesses in Hoi An; Tailors, Cobblers, Hotels and Restaurants. No one has anything else. How they manage to fit all the sewing machines into this tiny town I don't know, but every other shop here is a tailor, and everyone wants you to buy. And buy we did.

I think we bought from 5 different tailors and 2 different cobblers. Each one measured specifically for us, and the attention we were given has definitely inflated our egos. I don't think I can ever go into H&M again; 'What do you mean you can't change this for me?!' Tailoring is definitely the way forward. And for $150 for a 50% cashmere suit, who can resist?!

Inventory of purchases:

2 Men's Suits
1 Ladies Suit
2 extra skirts
3 extra trousers
3 work dresses
1 waistcoat
2 winter coats
1 fur lined self-designed jumper
14 men's shirts
4 ladies' shirts
2 ladies jeans
4 ties
2 men's shoes - leather
1 ladies shoes- leather
1 ladies boots - leather
2 leather bags, custom designed

All in all, a very enjoyable time in Hanoi. Needless to say our extra suitcase doesn't close and our bags are full to bursting. We are more or less fully kitted out for the -9 degree weather South Korea is currently experiencing.

Feeling like we hadn't quite spent enough money, we went on a daytrip to a local village with a cute old guy called Mr. Phong. He took us to his home and he told us all about the history of Vietnam, some of which we knew, some we didn't. He told us how families were divided over their political beliefs, and he fought for the South Vietnamese but his uncle and cousins were fighting for the Viet Cong, so they were on the other side. There is a war memorial in his village as well, but only those fighting against the Americans are allowed their names on, so all the South Vietnamese, who the communists say were fighting 'for' the Americans, aren't represented anywhere, which is a bit sad, though Mr. Phong didn't seem to mind too much. He also told us about the 're-education' camps that the S.V. were put into when the V.C. won. And he said that no-one knew how long they might be there for, 1 week or 7 years. He said he was only there 1 year, so he was lucky, and when they asked 'Do you like Communism?', he answered; 'Yes yes we love Communism' but he didn't really, in his head thinking 'No, no!' He was pretty funny with his stories. A lot of people he knew, and his family now live abroad though because of the communists, and that's sad, and you can only get to a position of power if you are a member of the Communist party, but they have really strict rules about your heritage as to whether you are allowed in. He said none of his family can be part of the Communist party, even if they are communist, because he is an official South Vietnamese. He find this hilarious. But his daughter, who is a teacher, can never be Principal of a school, because she is not C.P member, and never can be.

We met some really nice people in Hoi An, and I can't count the amount of saleswomen who touched, dressed, or jumped into the changing room with Sean! Dan (a girl) was his personal assistant at Kimmy's, the suit shop and she loved dressing him up and smoothing out the clothes wrinkles. There were a couple of tiny Vietnamese ladies who made his shirts and my jeans who kept hugging us both. We really felt for them, their shop location was awful, in the centre of the market, behind the stalls, so you couldn't see it, and they had to canvass customers from outside, and as we know well, being so many tailors there, no one wants any more clothes! But we are so glad we found them as they were the cheapest (less than $15 for a tailored, double-cuff shirt) and they were so cute and fun! And rather than being sent off to all the poor Chinese children in the workhouse, their husbands made the clothes!!

While we were waiting for our huge orders to be made, and between our numerous fittings, we did a cooking course in a little restaurant. We got to choose our own dishes, so we made spring rolls, pho (traditional Vietnamese noodle soup), sautéed noodles and veg, and grilled fish in banana leaf. We were also joined by a couple of lovely Israeli girls, so we learnt a lot about Israel and started planning our next tour (Sean calls it: 'The War Zone Tour' hahaha). They are doing our route backwards and ending in India so we had some hints and tips for them. The food was lovely, especially the spring rolls, so any visitors to SK can expect some home-cooked delights now!