Hoi An - Yin and Yang

The same way my mother taught me to eat my vegetables first and save the best for last, I'll start with my worst experience in Hoi An. I really have only myself to blame for having such high expectations (or any expectations whatsoever) of what the tailoring would be like. I trustingly took recommendations from yet another of our helpful hosts to go to Bebe and 09 (clothing tailors and shoe makers respectively). She said she had heard plenty of good feedback about these two places and that they were reasonably priced but not too cheap, and (as I heard many times within the next few days of our stay) 'very good quality'. Now I think I must mention that most of the time I don't spend a lot of money on clothes - by that I mean individual items, not generally, hahaha! I find it very hard to justify (for many reasons that aren't important for this post). As a result, I found the tailored clothing was actually quite expensive. More about that in a few lines or so.

First, for those of you who won't know: here is how it works. You look at catalogues (hundreds on offer) and choose the styles you like. All the while, the assistant encourages you to buy more. You then choose the fabric you like. They measure you up, you come back for fitting the next day, they make adjustments and voila! It's done.

Now, I am happy with the clothes I had made. I just have this niggle about the fact that the sewing itself was so simple and I paid $50+ US dollars for something I think my Mum could have made (she is a good sewer by the way)! Apart from the fact that I wouldn't have part with that amount of money for a similar dress in New Zealand, I was left feeling disappointed. You may be wondering why I even paid that much in the first place, well this is where I blame the situation itself. Looking at a catalogue full of models in beautiful dresses lulls you into a dream-like vision of yourself looking fabulous in those very same dresses. It is not like trying something on in cramped changing room in front of a mirror that makes you look like yourself plus five pies a day, oh no, it is so much easier to shop when you don't actually have to try it on. I just thought to myself, oh this will be perfect, a style I love and a fabric I love - what could go wrong! Oh the drama. Well, not much did go wrong. One of the necklines is slightly wonky, I don't think the garments will be in the same perfect shape after being washed and I'm left with a feeling of stupidity at my spending. The most important thing is that I am over it now. There is a similar (and more devastating) story with the shoe tailoring, but at the risk of more whining, I'll save that for 'off the record'.

Now that I've eaten my vegetables... Hoi An was lovely to wander around, the streets are wide and the buildings are quaint and colourful. One of the joys here is that some streets are vehicle free, apart from bicycles, and you can stroll with little hassle in and around the shops. We were lucky enough to arrive on one of Hoi An's festival nights and the town was bursting with colour and life. Cherry red, candy pink and buttercup yellow paper lanterns are for sale all along the riverside and fabric lanterns line the streets. Vietnamese singing and games add to the festive scene and of course, Adam captured every moment! Photos coming as always.

The cooking class at Morning Glory definitely lived up to expectations! Ms Vy, the writer of her own Morning Glory cookbook and the owner of the cafe (and three others) was charming, funny and informative. While taking us through traditional Vietnamese cooking methods and dishes she spoke about the philosophies of balance and health remedies in their food. Just quickly, before I've written a small chapter, we cooked shrimp parcels wrapped in cabbage leaf and cabbage soup (tastier than it sounds), shrimp and pork rice paper rolls with herbs and fish sauce (yum yum!) and five spice chicken with mango salad (sooooo good!). Before we actually did the cooking we went on a tour through the markets and were taught how to select the right produce for Vietnamese cooking.

Phew, I've avoided doing this post because I knew it would be so long!