Our first 3 days here all followed the same perfect pattern that we created for ourselves. Up and out for breakfast about 10.30ish (which truthfully was always a bit of a disappointment as it was not particularly cheap, and not value for money considering the tiny portions the Vietnamese seem to serve - probably because they seem to graze on countless small meals per day), which fuelled us with enough energy to complete the 1hr 30min walk to the holy grail (aka: the beach).
The journey was lengthened by my inability to pass the many bikini shops which lined the streets, without popping in to see if I could find myself the perfect one to treat myself to - much to Ollies annoyance - even though he wouldn’t admit it!!! Ha! After much searching - I unfortunutely couldn’t find one - I will have to wait until Nha Trang. On our shop hunt though, we did manage to haggle down the cheapest sun lotion we could find (£3 for a tiny bottle - it is much more expensive than England for some things here!) - in factor 30 Jane - you will be please to hear!! The walk to the beach didn’t just include shopping - we walked past stretches of beautiful tropical river, the sight of which would excite us by reminding us - we are actually in Vietnam, a tropical paradise - far far away from the worlds of Spain, India & China. Arriving at the beach about mid day (just about made it in time to avoid walking in the strongest sun, not that it felt like it - we finished bottle upon bottle of water on the walk to replenish all that we had sweated out!) we would sit on our shared towel and bake ourselves in the heat until we gave into our cravings of the cool waters, which had been fiercly crashing against the shore, beckoning us in the whole time we were there. The sea was refreshing - beautifully blue - the waters stayed shallow for quite some way, gently easing you in, you had to walk out pretty far before it was swimable, and it took some effort to make it out that far, having to first fight your way past the suprisingly strong waves that crashed onto the shore. The sea was not calm enough to swim properly in - but we enjoyed acting like children jumping around diving through the waves. After we had accidentaly swallowed a sufficient amount of sea water, we would return to our towel to dry in the sun - ah, this is the life!!! Dry, our next treat would be to enjoy a few snacks from the nearby food stalls, fried bread topped with pork meat & a spicy chilli sauce - finished with a coconut donut - both scrumptious - and much more affordable at 5,000D a pop (after they have tried to overcharge us and we have managed to coax the real price out of them). We eat our treats on the beach, still sat in the sun, which is now slowly lowering in the sky. The light begins to change, which tells us we are drawing close to the end of another perfect day.
Next the food stalls would all set up under the palm trees, ready to serve their evening customers, who were mainly Vietnamese, the local delicacy of Cao Lau (which we tried one night, pork, noodles which tasted like a distant relative of pasta, beansprouts, in a broth using a special local water, we didn’t love it - but were glad we tried it!!), telling us that it must be around 4.30pm, so we we would head back shortly after, usually grabbing some more fried bread & coconut donut treats for the journey. Getting back to our hotel around 6pm ish, we would quickly shower and head around the corner to Kimmy’s, which is where on our first night Ollie had decided on a tailor made suit for himself. After hours of being sat in the shop (it was very busy which meant we luckily ended up being looked after by the owner, Kimmy herself - who was extremely professional and straight away installed every confidence that she knew exactly what she was doing - we could trust her opinion.) on that first night, I had decided there wasn’t anything there for me, and we concentrated on finding Ollie the perfect look. Trawling through pages upon pages of pictures of designer suits, we agreed that we both liked the first one we picked out, and Armani classic!!! A 3 button suit I thought gave a more classic feel & a difference to the usual 2 button that people seem to choose these days - Ollie agreeing with me said that his Gramps always told his 3 buttons is the way to go - so 3 buttons it is!! Hoi An is famous for tailored suits, Ollie had planned to get a suit here when we were planning our trip - and he had already had it in mind that he wanted a light grey one - so he stuck with this. After considering others he liked the material we were first shown by a sales girl (which suprise suprise turned out to be the most expensive one!) was the one he wanted. Kimmy took all of his measurements and gave us a price for the suit - £90. Now we knew that we hadn’t gone to the cheapest place for the suit, Kimmys had a good reputation and is ranked highly on the net, the professional shop set up already told us that we were going to be paying a little more - but we hadn’t anticipated it to be this much!! Ollie considered other materials for cheaper prices, but we both agreed that we were still set on the more expensive material - Kimmy kindly dropped her price to £65, which I genuinely believe was her best offer - and we happily settled on the price. The suit was made overnight and was ready for us to try the next day, we returned each night at 6.30pm there on until we left for fittings (plus a day fittings too - taking it to a total of 5 fittings after the initial measure up - which I’m sure is more than anyone else has! Ha! Typical Ollie! We were told that this was down to him having nice broad shoulders, and slim waist - Ollie smiling at this point - but that he had a hunched back and crooked shoulders, one higher than the other - Ollie no longer smiling at this point! Ha!) When we finally collected the finished suit on our last day - it all fell into place - it looked perfect!! Well worth all the time and money! It really is fantastic!! Perfect colour - perfect fit - on my perfect boyfriend - very sexy!!! I was very proud of him - he looked so handsom!!
Back to our day to day routine, we would usually finish Ollies fittings about 7pm and then walk down to the old town for our evening meal. Now this place is the icing on the cake, with a cherry on top! Day and night, these tiny little roads were beautiful - and even though I have never been (unfortunutely - damn volcanic ash!) it looks just as I dreamed Italy would. Quaint little roads, lined with mild yellow rustic old builings, with the most beatiful flowers of every different colour growing from every direction, all of which led down to a little harbour housing a few little wodden row boats, and a bridge to cross to the other side. Be it in sunshine, the colours of this place would explode - be it at nightime, the soft lights would creating an enchanting place - either way it was so charismatic. I love this beautiful little place (say the word Hoi An to me - and this little beautiful little harbour is what I see - my favourite part!). We would enjoy our evening meals mostly on the other side of the harbour, unfortunutely as with the breakfast restaurants on a side street of our hotel, the prices were not cheap and the quantities were not great - but we did manage to find a really good place right at then end of the string of restaurants that was the cheapest - and gave us the most delicious curry - in excellent portions! We would treat ourselves to a beer or two each night, more because it is half the price of soft driks - but hey we aren’t complaining!! Then, feeling full and content - with a smile from ear to ear - we strolled back to our room to perhaps catch a film on TV to fall asleep to.
And that is our time in Hoi An - completely and utterly loved the place - we both did!!!