After a few days holed up in our hotel room, we finally felt like we could move on to Hoi An, our next destination. We took an overnight "bus" which actually ended up being nothing more than a large van. With Jonny's knee injury, he was able to secure a spot in the backseat where he was able to stretch his leg out for the entire 12-hour journey.

Upon our early 5am arrival in Hoi An, we found our hotel, had some delicious banana pancakes for breakfast and laid down for some much needed rest. When we got up, we went in search of a store named Peace: a clothing tailor recommended to us by some friends we met on our Mekong Delta trip. We knew that Hoi An was a great place to have inexpensive custom clothing made and we were excited!

We found the store and Jonny went to work immediately selcted fabrics and styles like a pro designer. He wanted a suit, a wool jacket, several dress shirts, a "breezy" shirt, pajayma pants and the list goes on and on. I, on the otherhand, was completely overwhelmed! There were so many choices for styles and fabrics, I was having a hard time deciding exactly what I wanted. I eventually decided on two pair of wool/cashmere dress pants, one skirt, three double-cuffed dress shirts and a traditional Vietnamese dress called a ao dai.

Sidenote: The ao dai dress is beautiful in its simplicity! It has two layers. First, a two-flap long silk gown that is designed to show off the woman's body: the neck is tight, the shoulder is tight and round, the waist is narrow and the flap is split a little higher up the side underneath the arms to expose a small patch of skin above the hips. Underneath the two-panel gown, low-waisted silk pants are worn.

After several hours in the store with four lovely, fun and helpful Vietnamese seamstresses, we were happy with our selections and were told to come back the following afternoon for our first fitting. We couldn't believe they could make everything overnight, but we were looking forward to seeing our designs come to life!

We then proceeded to a leather store to have some dress shoes made. We both selected two pairs of shoes. We didn't have quite the same experience here, but we were satisfied with our selections and were told to come back the following day for a fitting.

We went back to the seamstress the following day and couldn't believe our eyes! Our creations were all hanging there, waiting for us to try them on. It was like we had a little fairy godmother who waved a wand and the clothes apppeared! My clothes all fit perfectly and Jonny needed just a few minor adjustments which they completed in the same day. They even whipped up another pair of pants and two more shirts for me and another pair of pants and another shirt for Jonny.

Jonny was especially thrilled about his pants because he has such a hard time finding things to fit him. His suit fits him like a glove - he definitely had the Vietnamese seamstress ladies swooning! I couldn't tell if they were admiring him or their own handiwork, but I think it was probably a combination of the two. He looked great! :)

We shipped everything back to the States, so our treasured garments will be waiting for us when we get home. They will also keep our measurements on hand at the shop, so if we want something else at any time in the future, we can just send them an email and a photo of what we'd like them to make for us. So, I guess we can officially say that we have our very own tailor in Vietnam. What a fun experience! :)