Hoi An

Hoi An is a city of tailors. Every other building is stacked full of cloth, silk and assorted fabrics. Everything is incredibly cheap, from $10 for a silk shirt (tailor made of course, an extra $3 to have it embroidered) to $30 for a full length winter overcoat to $70 for a 100% wool suit in any style you like. We've spent far to much money.

It all feels a bit bizarre, you have so much competition -you can't walk down the street without 10 calls of "you buy something?" but doesn't register as expensive. There's a real separation between westerners and Vietnamese here. Oh, and they're really, really pissed with the use of agent orange in the American war by the way - we've seen huge barren hills due to it, and lots of really nasty birth defects. (Sorry. This blog isn't supposed to be an anti-American rant, its just we haven't been in a country yet that hasn't suffered bombing intervention. That's power.). At least the south of Vientam is friendlier than the north, even if every encounter with the locals seems to be mercantile in nature (aka the "walking ATM syndrome").

On to Nha Trang, where I've promised Lizzie a diving course.