In Stitches: Hoi An

Perhaps, subconsciously, I knew that this was going to be my favourite place in Vietnam. And that would be my excuse for once again flying to it. :-). Actually, initially I had intended to do the 16 hour train journey from Hanoi, since it would be an overnight train and thus not cost me my precious remaining time which I wished to maximize seeing places rather than sat on ridiculously long bus rides. However, when realising that the cost of the train was $40 US, and the Vietnam airlines website, which I had checked just for a lark, had a flight from Hanoi to Danang (Hoi An does not have its own airport, but this one is 30 minutes away by car) for $35..the temptation of saving both time AND money was more than enough to have me clicking 'confirm booking' without a second thought.

And thankfully so; after meeting Matt in Hanoi he had decided to ditch on his Ha Long bay trip to join me in Hoi An, but unfortunately for him that flight had sold out. So he took the train. And we had mutually eaten something that gave us a separate destination: gastroenteritis-land. However whilst I, having secured us great lodgings, was able to suffer in comfort, dear ol' Matt was stuck with those train toilets, cursing me and my $35 flight the whole way ;-). Thankfully my issue was sorted out at the clinic the next day and I could go off and enjoy my time in this pretty little town!

So, the small practical bit out of the way first; that being, yes, if one wants to fly here, book the flight to Danang. from here taxis will service the route to Hoi An, and the price, well, once again will depend on the number in your party. Try to find people to share with...hahaha..I always find this to be quite funny advice, as finding people to share with is not always a viable option - its not like you can rock up at your local 7-11 and purchase them. As the only people who could have potentially shared with me decided to keep to their own little group, I parted with a whopping 260,000 Dong for the trip - they between 6 paid 290,000 and I can't quite believe one of them was about to complain over it! so yeah, once again, if you're doing the solo traveler thing, have the cash prepared. They won't take a credit card, but there is a cashpoint at the Danang airport.

That said, I did find agreeance with Lonely Planet on the point that Hoi An has some of the best value accomodation going in Vietnam. Not necessarily the cheapest, but still incredible value for the price. So I booked Matt and I into a place called Thanh Binh III, which was just a few minutes away from the Riverfront action, but nice and quiet. We each paid $17/night - not the advertised rate but for once solo travelers get a break! hurrah! for this price though, I had an incredibly large room and a bed big enough for about 4 people, bathtub, hot water, my own terrace with palm trees, breakfast, swimming pool and free internet. For some comparison, in Saigon I had to pay $16 for a simple twin room with none of the above amenities. One thing to note though - I found this out later on, and therefore might have gone a bit cheaper, is that many hotels have a second, or third version, and the higher the number, the more amenities, and the more expensive.

The other reason I was glad I ended up flying was it gave me an extra evening in Hoi An, and after grabbing some great cheap food at the central market stalls, I met Irene from Switzerland who was absolutely lovely and we had a great evening going to the Cargo club for tea and sweets and being 'stylish', getting ready for Matt's arrival! haha. She also decided to join me for the cooking course.

We went with Red Bridge, which is far and away the msot expensive option, but included much more than learning a couple Vietnamese dishes in the back of a restaurant. I would definitely recommend splurging for this, as we got a tour of the market, along with an education of what is used for what. Then they took us by boat down the river, taking the sights before arriving at 'the school', where we got another tour of their herb garden, before we learned how to make 4 dishes, with a hilarious chef before sitting down to lunch to enjoy our spoils. They also threw in steamed ocean fish and had no issue taking out onions for me as well. And if one wants, you can stay and hang out by the pool afterwards. however, it wasn't exactly swimmy weather to I headed back on the boat with the others. Great group for that, including more solo travelers Lisa from Australia who was doing a buzz tour of Vietnam and Terry from USA - who works half the year as a lifeguard and goes off on adventures for the other half. He was definitely the most adventurous of us in terms of trying food and will eat pretty much anything on offer abroad - monkey brains anyone?

And finally we arrive at the reason for my title; one thing that either brings a lot of visitors to Hoi An, or captures them after they've arrived is Tailor Made clothes. You needn't be in Hoi An more than a few seconds to take notice of the many shops abounding offering anything from winter coats to suits and dresses, or even a copy of your favourite shoes. In the beginning I was taking the piss a bit on Irene, but soon found myself equally hooked and trying to remember which appointments were at which shops, and even one time ended up in a shop frantically searching their catalogue for a 'must-have' skirt i'd seen the day before..only to realise, I'd seen it somewhere else before sneaking out sheepishly (!). I had about 7 different things made in about 7 different places, and there are 2 of them i'd recommend: One is Impressions boutique, which has a few branches throughout the city, but I had luck at the one on 166 Tran Phu Street. For me the fact they were constantly busy and one of the few who didn't try to solicit your business when you walked past was a good indicator. And the one who had the skirt I was after and did an excellent job of it was 'Hai Pho' at 663 Hai Ba Trung str. They will usually make most things inside a day, but allow a bit more time for fittings and tweaking, if need be.

Then you could wear your new outfits and go be 'stylish' - something Matt and Irene and I continued to do, and on the last night Matt and I hit up a place called 'White Marble' on Le Loi Street. The reason I chose it was, that funny chef who taught our cooking course also worked there. This is a good choice if you want to have a nice night out, and suiting for Matt's last night in Hoi An. The food was excellent, if in small portions (its one of THOSE places) and the upstairs has sofas and affords a view of the shops below. It's also a wine bar. For those in search of cheaper eats, they can be found at the central market, but watch the ice and green veggies...the doctor figured this was what catapulted me back into a state of gastroenteritis. There are also numerous great restaurants along the river, in Hoi An you are also spoiled for food choice!

In one of the restaurants, we were approached by a man called 'Mr. Trung' who will do tours of his fishing and pottery village for $10 US per person, including a homemade lunch by his wife, served in his home. Matt and I were meant to do this, and after Matt left on an earlier flight and I had to reschedule by one day, I was still charged the same amount, nothing extra. It was good value and I definitely recommend it.