Hey guys!
Before I forget...Happy Birthday REALLY soon to Tamber, Opa, and Pammy! wish I could be there to help celebrate...hope its a great one!!
Hope the weather wherever you all are is better than its been here....cold, grey, drizzly....and me, without a fleecie. Thats right, I left it in Nha Trang, and have been kicking myself ever since. I definately think that played a role in my coming down with a nasty cold last week.
We left Hoi An yesterday, after a LONG week of bickering with the first tailor, named Emma, that we commissioned. Let me tell you, this was a lesson learned! I ordered a couple of items from her, and our first fitting went ok ~ there were alterations to be made, but everything looked like it was going to work out. And then....we meet up with her for our second fitting, and she hustles us onto the back of her bike, takes us back to our hotel 'so we can try on the clothes there' ....and then takes off, saying she'll be back in 3 hours to see how things went. Ummm....red flags and alarm bells go off.
Sure enough, when we get upstairs and unwrap the clothes, you can still see the chalk marks where alterations were MEANT to be done...nothing is taken in, she has fixed 2 pairs of pants (to perfection, mind you...) and nothing else. To make matters worse, she doesn't show up at 7pm, and then doesn't answer her phone for the next 2 days. This puts us in a bit of a bind, since the cloth market is closed for Tet (lunar new years) and so we have NO idea of where to find her!!!! Of course, because this is how it GOES, right about then is when I come down with a cold that knocks me flat on my back. Actually, this was probably a good thing ~ I dont' think it would have been a good scene if both Hannah and I were flipping out at the same time. The cold meds dulled my reaction and my level of caring about the problem, to be sure.
Eventually, after 3 days, the cloth market re-opens. So we grab two motos and head on down there, and she's the first person we see when we arrive. We had already decided to kill her with kindness....showing extreme emotion means losing face in Asia....and we were also kind of scared of her disappearing without a trace again! This is when we find out that she isn't actually a tailor....she has been commissioning the work. The tailors are called in to fit us again, and clothes are sent off for alterations. At this point, we begin to notice that the other women in the cloth shop don't seem to like her much, either. She is unduly aggressive and overbearing...how did we miss this before??
When Hannah points out to her a discrepancy in prices quoted, she flies off the handle (so much for worrying about losing face!!) and then walks away from her. It was ridiculously rude..and there was nothing we could do but laugh about it. She left me with one coat that needed to be let out, but no-one could figure out which tailor had sewn it. Eventually we walked down to the shop where I had seen the coat originally, and learned that Emma had overcharged me by $30usd. So..is that...commission?? What a scam artist.
Long story short...we got taken for a bit of a ride, but in the end, I figure that this is the sort of thing you can't really afford to get bent out of shape over. My coats are gorgeous ~ fully lined, full length wool coats ~ and I can't complain about even the inflated price. Where else can you buy a custom tailored wool coat for $50 or $60? (never mind it should have been $30 or $40....grrrr.)
The best part of this story ~ when we came back to the market to finally pick up our clothes, Emma was out front smoking...and when she saw us, she ran inside for her keys and then took off on her moto at top speed. What more admission of guilt do you need??? So funny.
Yesterday I shipped two boxes of clothes home to Oakville. So, Mom and Dad, keep an eye out for 'em!! A combined weight of 27kg ended up costing about 1,300,000dong (15,000dong=$1usd), although she tried to charge one of the boxes with AIRmail prices. That means the first price she quoted me was about 3x that amount. You really have to watch out here!!
I guess the end result is, I'm really happy with all my clothes. They made gorgeous pyjamas, robes, dresses, and pants...not to mention the coats. I'll never need to buy a winter coat again. Now that all the mayhem is in the past, it definately seems worthwhile.
We hired a car and driver to take us to Danang yesterday afternoon, stopping at the Marble Mountains and China Beach on the way. Total cost ~ $15. The Marble Mountains are huge marble outcroppings that used to be islands....literally made of marble, and now riddled with caves and dotted with lookouts, temples, and pagodas. Each of the 5 mountains are named after a natural element....water, metal/gold, earth, fire, air. We climbed one of them which afforded a crazy view of the South China Sea in one direction, and the town in the other. Caves held Buddhist and Hindu shrines, complete with statures and burning incense. So much of the Chinese influence was evident within the caves...from the styles of the statues to the intense colours of the pagodas. Definately worth visiting...and at the top, you can buy a fresh coconut to revive yourself!!! (well, I stuck with water. i havent' developed the taste for young coconut juice yet...)
China beach was less exciting, but interesting nonetheless, if only for the historical significance. The beachfront road is lined with hotels, and the waves were crashing in on the shore. To the north, huge mountains shrouded in mist loomed overhead, and there were hundreds of Vietnamese families enjoying the beach. Picnics, soccer games, dogs running into the freezing cold surf...it was cool. But NOT a place you want to hang out sans fleecy, let me tell you!!
Finally, Danang. No budget accomodation here....while $10/night got us a/c, hot water, mosquito nets, mini bar, HBO, and room service in Hoi An, the same setup cost us $20/night here.....double the price. I'm definately glad we're splitting the cost of the room ~ and that I leave for Hue tomorrow morning at 8am. I'm excited for my first train ride of my whole trip ~ I get to take the Reunification Express into Hue tomorrow! Its meant to be one of the most beautiful stretches of the entire rail line.
The Citadel and Forbidden Purple City are in Hue, as well as numerous royal pagodas and emporers tombs. From what I can tell, you can cruise up the Perfume River and take in some of the sights in an afternoon ~ something I'm definately looking forward to. Seems like the Chinese influence is stronger and more lasting the further north I go...which makes sense. I'm also dying to get to China...only a few more days until my Feb 14th epic train journey to Beijing!!!!
So between now and the 14th, I need to see the Citadel, tombs, DMZ, Hanoi, and Halong Bay ~ as well as get my train ticket sorted out for China. Looks like its gonna be a busy week. Hope to hear from some of you guys between now and then, would be a bright spot in all this crummy weather!!
Lots of love to all of you,
xoxo laura
ps. Braunwyn....please send me your website again if you think of it!!
xo lolo
