Feb 25, 2011
Hoi An, was such a great place. I really wish I hadn't been so burned and out of it, and could have enjoyed it more. It was a quint little town, that anything you wanted made... you could get made. Shoes, clothes, Jewelery... and it was made well.
Day 2 in Hoi An, started with a tour of some over grown temples, that had been hit by a bomb during the war, but part of it was still there. As much as I truly wanted to go to this Temple, as I was told it was a great place for pictures.... I honestly could not move in the morning from the burns. Karen (roommate for the whole tour) put lotion on me before she left, and I laid in bed trying to catch a little bit off sleep, unlike the night before.
However around 10:30, I was feeling slightly human, so I went to see what was going on in reception, plus, I could check my e-mails from there. When I returned to my room, the room cleaners came and knocked on the door to change the towels and such, so I decided to walk into town to see what it was like. Pretty much the previous day I did nothing. (which was the smart choice overall)
First I went to the jewelry store... and really, they could make anything. I was quite tempted to buy a whole bunch of things there but i resisted my urges as I had picked up a thing or two along the way in Hochiminh City, plus I'm not that creative to come up with a unique design for a ring or necklace.
I continued walking, because I was feeling okay, when I went into a shop in the markets to find Matt a certain type of tie. That's where I met Kim.
Kim pretty much deserves her own entry, but I'll just keep it within this one...
Basically the shop I walked into didn't have the tie I wanted, but Kim claimed in very good English, she could make it for me... and swept me away to her shop deeper in the Market. What started off as me picking a type of fabric for one tie for Matt, turned into picking 4 fabrics for ties, fabrics for my awesome new suit, my new dress shirts, Matt's new dress shirts, a formal gown to wear to the next wedding, some shorts, and a fun little summery dress.... plus some other things probably. Later when I came back for my fitting, everything was so well made. I'm pretty sure the amount I spent in Kim's shop is only 1/4 or less of the cost of all the stuff I had personally tailored to my body, and Matt's measurements.
Kim, being such the great business woman, introduced me to her shoe making friends... and guess what happened there? Yup.... you got it, I picked out a few shoe designs from catalogues i liked, and then picked out the type of leather and colors to use, and ended up with perfectly fitted (to my swollen legs) black boots, flats, heels, sandals and a pair of kick-ass black and purple sneakers i designed that I know certain purple loving people would be jealous of. And, get this, the shoes fit both feet. No having to get a size bigger because my left foot is bigger than the right. So comfortable.
I might not have stuck to my daily budget that day, but the splurge, I think was completely and utterly worth it.
So yes, my day went from shopping for one tie, to having a great time cloths shopping.
The rest of the day was pretty relaxed, I went in the pool a few more times to reduce swelling, and I made it out to dinner with everyone, and almost was able to keep a decent walking pace up. Plus, the shoes and dresses that had alterations done, were ready and perfect when I got back to my hotel after dinner. Life is good in Hoi An. Very good.
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Uploaded and sent from an iPad that's exploring Southeast Asia. Please try not to mind the typos and spelling errors. Autocorrect does some funny things.
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What size shoes do you wear? ;)
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