Hoi An is a city of lanterns and a city for artists – or at least creative minds. If you can dream up a creation, it can likely be made there. Custom tailors, cobblers, leather workers, jewelry makers, painters- they have it all. Sketch what you want or find something in a catalog and they can copy it exactly. It’s fascinating… and cheap.
Perhaps what Hoi An is best known for is its custom tailors. People from all over the world come to Hoi An for custom suits and when Kirk visited here previously (18 years ago) a entire custom suit could be made for $50. Though the prices have now increased, you can still find a perfectly form fitting creation for $70-$120. And ladies, you can get a dress made not just for your body type, but fitting exactly to your body for $25-$100 depending on the type of fabric and intricate details wanted. It’s no clearance rack, but for the fit and quality and timing, it’s shockingly cheap. The stores have your pieces ready for a fitting less than 24 hours after you order them. Even as a pretty extreme bargain shopper, I couldn’t resist the lure of these handmade goods!
Prior to arriving in Hoi An, we spent some time reading blogs about the best tailors and cobblers in town. We hoped it would help us narrow down our selection from the several hundred shops from which to choose. Unfortunately, several of the best reviewed shops were also the highest priced shops, so for some of our pieces we ended up settling for shops that we hoped would be great. As it turns out, you should probably stick to the best…
The first thing we got made was a suit for Kirk. Kirk isn’t a big suit wearer, but we figured he will need an interview suit for when we get back, and where better to have it made than from the same company who made a suit for him 18 years ago, A Dong Silk :). Fortunately for Kirk, this highly recommended company, who has since expanded to have several stores around town, still has a pretty special price for suits – one the of the cheapest we were quoted – $70 for a custom made jacket and pants (the prices got higher as the fabric got nicer, but even the lowest tier was pretty wonderful!) We picked out the style of the suit on Pinterest, the color from their fabric rolls, the lining from their swatches, and they began their measurements.
We were in and out in less than 30 minutes and asked to return the next day. The next afternoon we showed up and everything was ready for the first fitting…
Fitting number one. The jacket and pants fit perfectly. Kirk only asked that they widen the bottom of the pant leg a bit to fall better over shoes (don’t judge by those shoes though, they are the generic pair everyone tries on and they were a bit small for Kirk!)
In less than 48 hours total, the finished product :). I can’t tell you how wonderful the service and staff at A Dong Silk are. They are experts in their field, and make the process so easy! (Which is good, because Kirk doesn’t enjoy shopping!) Unfortunately the starting price for their dresses are $75 (more than a suit!) so I didn’t even consider tailoring here for myself. We highly recommend them though!
This picture is not the best at showing the grays, but the lining we picked is striped 😍
The next place we went was Buffalo Leather. I’m a sucker for affordable, long lasting products, and since I had so much trouble finding boots that fit over my calves, we decided this could be a good investment. Buffalo had high reviews, and had given us mid range prices on their products, so we went for it. I gave them a picture of the boots I wanted and picked out the leather from a stack nearby. They gave me a choice of soles and asked about what type of heel I wanted, how high I wanted the boot to come, and how much cushion I wanted. They then traced my foot on a piece of paper and took measurements around the toes, the middle of my foot, and my calf.
Getting measured
This is general picture of the boots I wanted, though I picked a slightly different color and height. 24 hours after getting the measurements the boots were ready for a fitting! I found a couple of places in which the shoe was ill fitting (the part around the ankle was a little wide, my heel was slipping, and it was a little tight on my big toe) but after a few adjustments we got the finished product…
I love these boots!
Also, it’s around 95 degrees here most days, so I just brought my pants along instead of wearing them 😂. I had to make sure the boots fit over them! The ladies at the store thought it was hilarious and asked to take my picture too 😂. If you ever visit, let me know if I made the “customer wall”!
The suit and boots were our best experiences by far – very far. We took a chance and tried to get leather sandals and a purse made at one of the cheaper leather workers/cobblers and it didn’t go well. The products we were presented ended up not being real leather in some places and were already coming apart by the time we got our first glance at them. Thankfully they let us cancel and refunded our deposit (the shop worker wasn’t the actual leather worker/cobbler and I think he could see how bad it was). We felt bad for canceling, but we weren’t willing to pay for products already coming apart.
We had a similar experience at a tailor where we tried to order dresses for me. It went pretty terribly, so we ended up at another tailor who did a pretty good job. The final product wasn’t exactly what I wanted, and after 3 fittings, it’s still not a perfect fit, but for the price we paid I’m happy enough.
Here’s a somewhat blurry photo of me accessorizing my floral cotton wrap dress once we got back to the hotel room.
We were laughing at my standing on the stool 😂. The only mirror we had was a small one above the sink in the bathroom!
It’s really strange – it seemed several of the tailors really struggled with my body type/size, but I guess that shouldn’t be so surprising. You might be interested to know that while at home I am an 8-10 “medium” shirt size, here I am a size 3x-4x. From what I’ve seen, many Asian women just have much smaller frames than that majority of people back home. At 5’2″ I’ve been shocked by the number of people whose heads I could see over. That’s a new experience for sure :)!
If we go back, I think I’d get a dress made at Mr. Xe. We heard really good things about him and his prices on dresses are more reasonable than A Dong Silk (though A Dong’s prices on something like a wedding dress are also quite reasonable, it’s just the everyday wear that is a bit high). That ‘s also a suggestion if any of you are looking for a tailor in the area 🙂
A final thing I got made is a swimsuit. After some interesting measuring, the fit turned out surprisingly great – which could be a story all on it’s own, but it’s not the main story here by far.
The swimsuit 🙂
The woman who owns the swimsuit shop is probably best described as a bit of a spitfire. Running circles around you, stating her opinions bluntly, getting things done, and hustling to get the most money out of every swimsuit she could (and who could blame her). She worked hard to convince you of what she decided you needed, and sometimes it wasn’t bad advice, but sometimes you had to stubbornly stand your ground. After already having come in for a measuring and a fitting and encountering the woman described above, one day we arrived for my second fitting and found her laying on the floor, staring at her phone, with her arm over her head. She moved very little as we entered, slowly pointing to my swimsuit, ready to try on in the corner. I noticed she seemed different, but dismissed it as tiredness and went behind the curtain hung up in the back of the room and began investigating the swimsuit to see if they had changed what we had agreed on.
When I eventually started to try on the swimsuit, I overheard as the woman began talking to Kirk. She was talking quietly, but I heard her say, “He hit me.” I didn’t know it at the time, but she was pointing towards her husband who had just dropped off a different swimsuit that was ready to be tried on. It was strange because when I first heard her say this, I initially found myself a bit defensive. I’d already felt a bit swindled by this shop (and was putting on a swimsuit that still wasn’t close to what we had agreed on) and my mind initially jumped to the conclusion that this was another ploy as to why it still wasn’t ready. That thought was thankfully quickly dismissed (it’s amazing how our personal situation and feelings can blind so much of our view to the world!) as I continued changing clothes and tried to listen to Kirk asking her questions.
“What happened?”
The sound was muffled, but my mind slowly put together all the pieces – her laying on the ground, not moving much – she was hurting. By the time I walked out in my suit, there was a large visible bruise on her forehead, though the part of her head she was holding was a bit farther back, hidden by her hair. She explained to Kirk that her husband had hit her several times because he didn’t like something she did – we realized that this incident had actually just happened, not long before our arrival.
We ended up talking with her for some time – she had moved with him to the city away from family and friends and she and the man had a small girl together (who came in from preschool while we were talking with her). She was the shop owner (he actually worked for her), this was her only income, and she didn’t have any connections around town. She said she didn’t talk to anyone else about it and that this was not a first time occurrence, though she seemed to be more afraid this time than in situations she described in the past. The conversation ended when he came back. Kirk and I both felt pretty furious towards him, but kept our cool in hopes of him not realizing what she had just told us – we didn’t want him to take it out on her further.
We spent the rest of the afternoon researching resources for domestic violence in Vietnam. Would you believe – a 2015 study found that 58% of married women in Vietnam have been victims of domestic violence (58 percent!), yet we were unable to locate any type of shelter or resources to even tell this woman about. There are organizations in the area working to educate the public about domestic violence, but there are very few resources for anyone who might be wanting to get out of that situation (or atleast no webpages that could be found/translated to English by google).
It was particularly strange for me to try to sort out all I was learning because based on what we’ve seen, women seem to have a very strong role in society in Vietnam. In the museums there are pictures of women who led Vietnamese troops years and years ago (long before women were fighting alongside men in the US). Women can be seen throughout Vietnam working alongside men in equal numbers farming, doing road work, running shops, and working as city “garbage men” (I’ve never seen a female garbage “person” in the states, though I’m sure they exist somewhere). And that’s not to say that having a strong role in society means abuse doesn’t happen – the US is a patriarchal society and men are still abused, though the numbers are lower – 1 in 4 women compared to 1 in 7 men (though contemplate those numbers for a minute as well – they too are high), but something about what we were seeing in the Vietnamese public and hearing about this abuse in Vietnamese private lives just wasn’t computing in my western brain.
Confused, I did some research. I learned that Vietnam was actually a matriarchal society until the Chinese took them over (around 43 A.D.) and ruled over them for 1000 years (remember me mentioning in the last blog how badly the Vietnamese wanted independence? They really have been ruled over a lot!). Prior to the Chinese taking over there are stories of strong women led armies who kept the Chinese out for a long time. Families took the name of the mother and women made decisions for the family. Following the Chinese take over there are stories of the Chinese taunting the Vietnamese men, saying how weak they are compared to Vietnamese women. Here we are over 1000 years later, and the effects of all of this (both the effects of a once matriarchal society and the effects of a patriarchal society coming in) are heavily evident. History teaches us so much!
Anyway, back to the original story –
We went back to check on the swimsuit shop woman the next day and she acted like nothing had happened. I don’t know if it was due to fear of him or acceptance of life as it is (since statistically over half the women she encounters are having a similar experience), but I was reminded of working at a domestic violence shelter in college when someone once said something to the effect of, “it’s easier to stay and know what’s going to happen, than to step out into the unknown and face change.”
I don’t know that that’s what had happened with her, but man, do I think that’s true of a lot of situations in life. Traveling brings so many good reminders.
As for the rest of our time in Hoi An, when we weren’t traveling store to store for yet another fitting, we hopped on the bikes provided by our hotel and took ourselves to the beach. The nearest beach was filled with restaurants set up for tourists, and for the price of a meal or a drink ($1-2) you could plop yourself in their lounge chairs under an umbrella and stay all day. It was lovely.
Upon arriving at the beach you first walk up on these woven boats. The story goes that when the French were in power, they paced a tax on boat ownership. Wanting to outsmart being taxed, local people began weaving large baskets to be used as boats, but that could easily be disguised when tax time came around. They wove them from palm leaves and sealed them with natural balms (like coconut oil). After the Vietnam war, people from the south tried to escape to the Philippines in these boats, but many died trying.
My favorite food on the beach – Mango Salad with chicken (and I had them add noodles 😍). Finely sliced green mango with onion, fresh herbs, carrots, lettuce, peanuts, cucumber, a light vinegar based sweet sauce, and garlic – it tastes so fresh! Kirk had a pretty delicious fresh fish 🙂
I cannot tell you the amount of ridiculous pictures we’ve seen being taken 😂. This picture is a mild version of the lengths that people are willing to go to to take a good picture for their friend or significant other. These days life is more about social media than enjoying the moment, and we’ve seen more evidence of that in various parts of Asia than anywhere else so far. It’s hilarious, shocking, a bit obnoxious, and sometimes I’m embarrassingly guilty of it myself (though certainly not to the extreme)!
I mentioned at the beginning that Hoi An is known as the city of lanterns. As you walk down the street, it’s quite a magical place. Above you hang brightly colored balls, lining the path. Beside you are tapestries of light in every color imaginable. You can purchase silk, fabric, wooden, or paper lanterns to take along for your journey home, all of them perfectly packable, able to disassemble and reassemble with very little effort.
“Tapestries of light” – cloth lanterns for sale at the night market.
Lanterns on the bridge crossing over the river that runs through the middle of the “old city” part of town.
Street lanterns by day
Street lanterns by night
Those are the everyday lights, but on the full moon of each month they have a festival in which they turn off all fluorescent lights in the city and float brightly colored paper lanterns down the river in the middle of town (this actually contributes to a ton of litter than ends up on the bottom of the river 😬, but it is beautiful). Though traditionally these floating lanterns were a type of ancestor worship or symbols of well wishes and happiness, it’s now more of a tourist trap than anything, though some locals do still participate. For $1 you can purchase a paper lantern, write a wish on the inside of it, and send it floating down the river.
We happened to be there for a festival and though we didn’t buy a lantern (because we didn’t want to add to the paper on the bottom of the river), we tried to snap a few pictures. I don’t have a fancy camera, but maybe this will give you an idea of what it’s like.
Ladies selling paper lanterns next to the river.
Lanterns in the river, their colors reflecting off the water top.
The fluorescent lights weren’t yet off when I took these, but I think you can get an idea of how many lanterns are in the water in the distance! Kirk and I had a fun time guessing which ones wouldn’t make it. There are plenty of boats in the water knocking them around, so you can see as some catch fire or topple over from the large row boats hitting them.
And finally, a few pictures from around town. 
The river and wooden boats by day. At night you can rent these to take a journey between the floating lanterns. Though the festival lends to the largest amount of lanterns in the water, they are for sale and seen floating in the river every evening.
Local art by the river.
In the tourist district. To the right is a common touristy attraction – tour by cyclos. We often passed large groups of these tall tricycles with a chair on the front as they learned about the city. These cyclos are also often a form of transportation. They sit on street corners like taxis, and you can hire them to take you anywhere around town.
Eating at a restaurant in front of the river. The ladies walking by in front of our table are in traditional Vietnamese clothes called Ao Dai. Though most people now usually only wear them for special occasions, you certainly still see them are you wander around town as certain jobs require them as the uniform (teachers, for example, have to wear them). They are form fitting and beautiful, often made from silk or chiffon. From the front they look like a floor length dress, but on the sides are long slits that come up to your waist. Underneath loose silky pants are worn, which, when contrasted well, create a bright color pop from the sides as you walk.
Also, the hats on the ladies in the above picture are worn by everyone – locals and tourists alike. They protect from the sun well, especially when working in the field. As so many paintings and pictures of Vietnam convey, the fields are where you see them most.
Lastly, this is a caterpillar who joined us for breakfast one morning.
I thought he looked like a tiny dragon (or at least like the costumes they use here to represent dragons) 😊
Next blog, Dalat. Dalat held our most terrifying experience yet, so stay tuned for that!
The Yonderers 