Hoi An

The last leg of our travels began in Hoi An, a perfectly preserved ancient seaport that, unlike most cities in central Vietnam, was almost completely spared from bombing during the American War, due to the cooperation of both sides. The town was recently declared a Unesco World Heritage site and many of the historic buildings are open to the public. All motor vehicles have been banned from the town center which lies on the banks of the Thu Bon River. At night, the town is lit by hundreds of brightly colored paper lanterns, strung across the narrow, unpaved streets and hanging in the openings of store fronts and houses. It was a very romantic setting to while away the last few days of our honeymoon.

Hoi An is also famous for its legions of tailors and cobblers whose storefronts line the streets of the old town center. Renowned as master copiers, the tailors of Hoi An can take a picture from a magazine and turn out an exact replica in a couple of days at a fraction of the price that you would pay for such a service in the states. Our hotel referred us to their favorite shop and we headed down to check out the operation.

The long and narrow store was lined from floor to ceiling with the raw fabrics in every imaginable color and pattern. Manequins were adorned with samples of the tailors' work, lifted directly from the pages of current fashion magazines. Sales girls roamed the floor, offering suggestions and samples from their vast library of catalogue and magazine clippings. We went in expecting to have a quick look and maybe pick up a shirt or two, and left with an order in place for a dress and shirt for Tara and three piece suit for me. Over the next few days, we would return to the store for fittings and alterations, often surrounded by two or three tailors who analyzed every seam and fold of the suit, reworking it through several rounds of revisions until it was up to their standards of perfection. My suit and Tara's dress both turned out beautifully, and we have been trying to rationalize making return visits to Hoi An every few years to stock up on a new wardrobe.

We got an unexpected surprise our last day in Hoi An, when we went to check out of our hotel, and realized that we had reserved it for another day. Happy to stick around, we took advantage of our "extra" day by taking a bike ride to the nearby beach through a spectacular landscape of rice fields and palm fringed river bends. We ate lunch at a beach front sea food restaurant and enjoyed one final afternoon gazing out into the turquoise waters of the South China Sea before beginning the long journey home.