Friday, January 28, 2011

Vietnam- Part II

Our trip to the airport was an early one, a short flight but long enough for a nap.  The flight left at 6:45am arriving in Da Nang, Vietnam around 8. Our destination was Hoi An ultimately we decided to take a metered taxi into the city...bad idea. It cost about 17 dollars for a 30 minute ride...lol. At home that's a great deal but in Vietnam thats a whole lot of money. The drive to the hotel was alongside a developing beach side community fit with casinos, condos, a Greg Norman golf course, and several 5 star beach hotels.
We arrived at our hotel and checked in right away. The hotel was a brand new boutique hotel about a 10 minute walk from the city center. The boutique hotels in South East Asia are a great deal they are the median between hostels and hotels. Also they have all the bells and whistles of the pricey hotels including free breakfast for $15-$20/ per person.
One of the big reasons for coming to Hoi An was to get some tailoring. The ancient little town is known for great tailoring for cheap. Our first stop was to take a look at some recommended shops and get some quotes. After about three hours of looking and inquiring we decided on the first shop we went into called A Dong Silk. We felt their qualitity and customer service were a perfect match for our needs. It would have been easy to settle for a taloired suit for under $50 however you get what you pay for. I ended up getting two suits and a tie for $170. Latanya got three suits with pants and skirts as well as two shirts for $400. Latanya also got some custom made sandals, the sales person traced her foot on a piece of notebook paper and in 24 hours she had three pairs of sandals.
The next couple of days were spent doing about four fittings and a lot of strolling around. The small town of Hoi An was quaint and rustic. It was really charming. The people were very friendly and welcoming.
We had some amazing food like, Cha Mia, Banh Bao, Banh Vac, Hoanh and Cao Lau. All the food we have had in Vietnam has been just great. So after all our fittings and adjustments our suits were finished the day before we left. All together five suits and two shirts took a total of two nights and two days. Our shop did such a fantastic job. We definately would recommed them. Like I said before you can easily find a cheaper place but for the piece of mind, the quality and the service was impecable. We have added a bag each along with our backpacks now. Well our next stop is Honoi. It will be our last destination in Vietnam. 

1 comment:

ValeriesWorld said...

I love reading about your travels, thoroughly enjoy them.