Hoi An

Hoi An is a small little town in central Vietnam where tourists typically go to hang out at Cua Dai Beach or like us, go on serious shopping sprees! Majority of the shops that line the famous marketplace were very talented tailors who wanted our business. Since supply was higher than demand, there was a lot room to bargain...then bargain some more...and some more after that!

The process was relatively easy:

1. Sit down.
2. Decide what you want made either by bringing your own pictures or by going through their catalogues.
3. Pick your fabrics.
4. Get measured.
5. The tailor provides you with an estimate.
6. You say, "What?!!?"
   
7. Tailor asks what you want to pay.
8. Low ball them like no tomorrow.
9. Tailor says, "Noooo."
10. Threaten to leave.
11. Tailor tries to negotiate.
12. Low ball some more.
13. Tailor says, "What?!!?"
14. And repeat from point number 10 until both parties come to a realization that there's no more budging involved.

We got quite a bit made between the two of us...let's just say we had to buy another suitcase to bring everything home!

Hoi An amazingly enough hasn't converted into another touristy city yet despite the fact that it attracts tons of Australian and European tourists all year round. (We only crossed paths with one other Canadian couple from Calgary by the way!) It's a nice change to visit a small town that's truly authentic and not Americanized...yet! In about five years or so, we're sure a McDonald's or KFC will appear on a corner some where.


Speaking of restaurants, the cuisine here was just as authentic as the town was! Every meal was like a feast...it's really inexpensive to eat in Hoi An. Our meals that included 3-4 dishes of food and beer & fresh fruit shakes ranged any where between $6-$10CAD all together.

Our most memorable dinner was when we dined at a restaurant across the street from our hotel. Lots of storefronts in Hoi An are basically the first floor of the residents' homes...so basically, it's very common that the locals are running a restaurant with their own kitchen! It's quite amazing to witness the whole operation.

It just so happened that this one restaurant we went to became super busy so of course, the food took a really long time to prepare. The owner was so cute. Like so so cute. She felt super bad that everybody was starving so the first thing she did was she walked out of her kitchen with a tray full of shot glasses that were filled with homemade rice wine. Everybody cheered and clapped and she told everybody that she was really grateful that we were all dining in her home. As much as we appreciated the kind gesture, I took a quick whiff at it and it smelled like isopropyl rubbing alcohol...clearly, the most logical thing to do was to pass!

Then, the owner went from table to table explaining to us that she was going to sing for us! Again, in appreciation of our patience, she wanted to provide us with free entertainment. Seriously, North American restaurant owners should adapt to some of these gestures! hehe. First, she sang (in English) a verse from the theme song of her favourite movie Titanic. Next, she explained to us that she never went to school to learn any English and she sang that song based on pure memory. Impressive! Then, she sang a popular Vietnamese love song about a guy who cut some other guy`s grass and at the end, the girl chose the new guy. For a second there, I thought it was kinda weird that we were on our honeymoon!