Tuesday 19 June
The breakfast here is really good - buffet style, with cereals, juices, fruits, yoghurts, meats, including bacon! and eggs cooked to order. This meal should set us up for the rest of the day.
We catch the hotel shuttle bus into Hoi An town at 10.30 am. We like Hoi An; it's a small town rather than a city and there are only a few motorbikes on the streets. As mentioned previously, Hoi An is a centre for having clothes made-to-measure in a very short time, and we've been given a couple of business cards from fellow travellers of recommended tailors/seamstresses.
We stop for a cappuccino (and black tea for Reg), then consult our map - our tailors' shops are at the far end, rather than in the centre of the town. A man is mending shoes on the pavement, and people go by on bicycles or mopeds often carrying heavy loads of building materials, huge wads of banana leaves, or even a billowing mass of multi-coloured, muiti-shaped balloons. How does the cyclist see where she is going? Women in the familiar conical straw hats carry 2 baskets of fruit or other wares, at either end of a pole which they balance on their shoulders.
We can't help noticing that we are part of a society of "have's" in this world. We have enough of everything; most of these people eke out a living in the best way they can. As we walk past the open- fronted shops, everyone pleads with us to "come and see". It's hard to do shopping in this way when you are used to the Western way of shopping, of things being at a fixed price and no-one harrassing you as you browse around. Here though, competition is fierce; there are lots of shops selling similar wares - bags, jewellery, trinkets - and everyone wants you to buy from them, not from next door.
We find the first tailor and tell the lady she's been recommended to us. I see some material I like and we negotiate a price, though I'm not much good at bargaining; the price for a cotton dress, made to my design and fully-lined, including my chosen material, seems fair to me. There's quite a lot of material involved, and I think this is a good price. The woman measures me up; she tries of course to persuade me to order more than one item, and to get Reg to order a suit. Reg declines good-humouredly. I knew she wouldn't get very far in that quarter.
The shop doesn't have the colour of material I want for trousers (purple, of course) so we leave those. I have to return for my dress fitting tomorrow. We are aware that the clothes are made elsewhere, by many busy seamstresses/tailors. The whole ethos of the dressmaking culture here is to have the item(s) ready for a fitting the next day. It doesn't matter whether you order one dress or 20 - it/they will be ready for you to try the following day. Even if you ordered 100 - there are enough skilled people waiting in the wings to fulfil your order.
We go to the 2nd tailor/seamstress recommended to us - she's just around the corner from the first shop. She has the right material for my trousers and I order 2 pairs. She measures up from a pair of trousers I've brought with me that fit me well. I find it hard to buy trousers to fit at home because of my big knees - well, big legs in general!!
This seamstress can't persuade Reg to have a suit made either. As usual, we have to return for a fitting tomorrow. I think Reg is resigned to spending a few mornings this week in Hoi An town.
In the afternoon we rest and potter down to the beach and I swim in a clear, warm sea, while Reg enjoys his music on the lounger. Reg says he might go swimming tomorrow! He is a strong swimmer but hasn't been in the sea for years, as he only likes swimming in warm waters!
We walk to the nearby local village in the evening and have freshly-caught fish for dinner, A simple meal, but delicious.
The breakfast here is really good - buffet style, with cereals, juices, fruits, yoghurts, meats, including bacon! and eggs cooked to order. This meal should set us up for the rest of the day.
We catch the hotel shuttle bus into Hoi An town at 10.30 am. We like Hoi An; it's a small town rather than a city and there are only a few motorbikes on the streets. As mentioned previously, Hoi An is a centre for having clothes made-to-measure in a very short time, and we've been given a couple of business cards from fellow travellers of recommended tailors/seamstresses.
We stop for a cappuccino (and black tea for Reg), then consult our map - our tailors' shops are at the far end, rather than in the centre of the town. A man is mending shoes on the pavement, and people go by on bicycles or mopeds often carrying heavy loads of building materials, huge wads of banana leaves, or even a billowing mass of multi-coloured, muiti-shaped balloons. How does the cyclist see where she is going? Women in the familiar conical straw hats carry 2 baskets of fruit or other wares, at either end of a pole which they balance on their shoulders.
We can't help noticing that we are part of a society of "have's" in this world. We have enough of everything; most of these people eke out a living in the best way they can. As we walk past the open- fronted shops, everyone pleads with us to "come and see". It's hard to do shopping in this way when you are used to the Western way of shopping, of things being at a fixed price and no-one harrassing you as you browse around. Here though, competition is fierce; there are lots of shops selling similar wares - bags, jewellery, trinkets - and everyone wants you to buy from them, not from next door.
We find the first tailor and tell the lady she's been recommended to us. I see some material I like and we negotiate a price, though I'm not much good at bargaining; the price for a cotton dress, made to my design and fully-lined, including my chosen material, seems fair to me. There's quite a lot of material involved, and I think this is a good price. The woman measures me up; she tries of course to persuade me to order more than one item, and to get Reg to order a suit. Reg declines good-humouredly. I knew she wouldn't get very far in that quarter.
The shop doesn't have the colour of material I want for trousers (purple, of course) so we leave those. I have to return for my dress fitting tomorrow. We are aware that the clothes are made elsewhere, by many busy seamstresses/tailors. The whole ethos of the dressmaking culture here is to have the item(s) ready for a fitting the next day. It doesn't matter whether you order one dress or 20 - it/they will be ready for you to try the following day. Even if you ordered 100 - there are enough skilled people waiting in the wings to fulfil your order.
We go to the 2nd tailor/seamstress recommended to us - she's just around the corner from the first shop. She has the right material for my trousers and I order 2 pairs. She measures up from a pair of trousers I've brought with me that fit me well. I find it hard to buy trousers to fit at home because of my big knees - well, big legs in general!!
This seamstress can't persuade Reg to have a suit made either. As usual, we have to return for a fitting tomorrow. I think Reg is resigned to spending a few mornings this week in Hoi An town.
In the afternoon we rest and potter down to the beach and I swim in a clear, warm sea, while Reg enjoys his music on the lounger. Reg says he might go swimming tomorrow! He is a strong swimmer but hasn't been in the sea for years, as he only likes swimming in warm waters!
We walk to the nearby local village in the evening and have freshly-caught fish for dinner, A simple meal, but delicious.
No comments:
Post a Comment