HoiAn Day 1: tailors and friends

[10.02.2014]

After a late wake up (feeling the fatigue from two straight active days) we headed out to find the tailors that were recommended by our hotel, on the way we were accosted by another Vietnamese woman who insisted that we come and visit her families shop and that it would be cheaper than the recommended one (the hotel gets a commission for referring on). We decided to play along and were pleasantly surprised when we each were looked after by an individual tailor and that the prices for the amount of things we were having made (several pieces in my case) were reasonable considering the fabrics and amount. We were there for about 1.5hrs talking designs and fabric choices. We were to have our first fitting the next afternoon. 

They recommended a shoe place that would do us a good deal. So we headed over there and had a chat to the ladies and I decided to have three pairs made (ballet flats, closed toe wedge and a wedge sling back) all from the leathers and heels of our choice. Nicola had a pair of shoes remade and her leather bag as well. Again a fitting the next afternoon to make sure everything was right.

We then headed back to the hotel and rested for a bit as we were meeting one of Nicola's friends from KOTO here for dinner. After a quick bike ride to the reasturant (two pillions is an interesting experience) called Seedlings we were seating upstairs on the balcony. Now at this point I must point out that the winds had picked up and it was actually cold, I'm glad I had my scarf and jacket on for dinner. We ate and talked about experiences in hospitality and what we had observed while we had been traveling (the ridiculously picky customers that don't realise that it's a family reasturant and not a 5 star establishment). Turns out that this guy had had a small issue with starting his new job as the manager for the resort was on annual leave and needed to be there to approve the contract so he was in a state of limbo between jobs as he had wound up his work at KOTO, but it did mean that he got to spend time with his family. 

After dinner Nicola and I wandered the markets, we got a few pieces of jewelry (some earrings for me and skull/happy Buddha beads for Nicola). We then headed back over the bridge and had a wander and we found a book shop that also sold fabric movie poster art made by artists (art Nuevo, minimalist ect). There were a few studio ghibli ones that I really liked and I will consider buying as well as there being a trilogy of back to the future posters that I think one person in particular will love. We then headed back to the hotel and had an early night, hence the delay in this post.