Boots, shoes, jackets, trousers, dresses...
I've been scampering around Hoi An like a kid in a sweet shop (or a woman in a town where clothes and shoes are tailor made, in abundance and dirt cheap). The magnetic lure of such a place could be fatal. It is not helped by the fact that Hoi An is a really beautiful little town: Narrow streets lined with crumbling French villas and Chinese Silk Merchants' houses, with thick, dark wooden balconies; little lantern adorned river-front restaurants twinkling appealingly and offering Hoi An culinary treats; A beautiful palm-treed, white sand beach just up the road... It would be easy to get stuck here.
Yesterday we hired bikes and pottered around the Old Town poking about in Pagodas, some of the old houses open to the public and little art galleries before returning to our friendly tailors and shoe makers to inspect our purchases.
Today we went to the beach and finally collected our booty, which is now strewn about all over the room. We are wondering how we are ever going to fit it all in our bags and how much we will get charged for being over weight. Time to leave I think.
So tonight we gather up some more Irish girls and some British boys and check out a few Hoi An 'hotspots' and then bright and early tomorrow I'm off to Hue and what I am told is the far from enchanting North. People I meet coming up from the South are, like us, full of praise for the beauty of the country and the friendliness of its people. Those coming down from the North, however, have a very different story to tell and are generally disenchanted with the place. It gets better for them and worse for us. But I remain optimistic. Watch this space...