When we arrived in Hoi An, I had one thing on my mind - getting clothes made.I didn't know what kind of clothes I wanted (or indeed needed) but I knew that tailoring was Hoi An's specialty and I was determined not to miss out. The next three days were a bit of a blur; we roamed the streets being called into shops, feeling fabrics and looking through catalogues claiming the ability to create any item of clothing (or shoe) in around 24 hours for very low prices.

Perhaps due to the amount of shopping tourists tend to do in Hoi An, the accommodation is incredibly cheap.We stayed in a clean and friendly hotel near the center of the town. Our room had a comfortable bed, bathroom, TV, mini-bar, air-con and a balcony overlooking paddy fields for $15/night.This also included free internet which sadly never seemed to work properly and a pool which was too cold to use. The cheap price and high quality of the room encouraged us to stay three nights which allowed plenty of time to get a number of items made.

In the end, I commissioned a winter coat, a silky dressing gown, and a dress for an upcoming summer wedding.Antony was more conservative and only had a jacket made.This should have been fun but nothing is quite what it seems in Asia and the experience included haggling over the price, lining, stitching, buttons, etc.We also had to go back for several fittings and suggested several improvements before receiving the finished product.But with only an hour to spare before the taxi was going to take us to Da Nang Airport, we received the goods and were happy with the result.

The rest of our time was filled with aimless walking around the car-free town center.Of course don't allow yourselves to imagine a peaceful stroll; there are still plenty of bicycles and motorbikes to keep you alert.But perhaps my favorite aspect of Hoi An was the food.There are wonderful Vietnamese restaurants next to French Patisseries serving warm French bread and beautiful pastries for fabulously low prices.I could have gladly stayed a lifetime in Hoi An eating constantly, getting nice and fat and going to the tailors to get increasingly larger sized clothes made.

The only detour we made in the three days was a morning tour to My Son, a group of temples built in the 4th century by the Champa Kingdom. These temples sit in a backdrop of atmospheric, wet jungle which is truly beautiful.Sadly, the VC used site as a base in the American war (of course that is what it is called here) and the Americans bombed it so badly that very little is still intact.Whilst we couldn't enjoy the temples in their original state, the flora and fauna growing in and around the site gave it a very ancient appearance and we were left using ours imaginations to fill in the gaps.

Though I could have continued retailing, Antony was growing weary so we are off to Saigon to see what it has to offer!

Until next time,

Rachelle & Antony x

Authors Note: This blog was written despite the author suffering from mosquito bites on all of her fingers and four bites on her left thumb.