Your dress madam?

Well, we are going on our third day in Hoi An and our official clothing item count, is drum roll please........ 36! One of these items is a pair of shoes that I (Larissa) ordered today. They cost me $13 and they are leather and beautiful red and white. They will sew any shoes you want and even embroider any logo you want. Puma, Nike etc. I would also like to update you on Jason's shopping attitude. He is now the proud owner of MORE tailored clothes than me! That is right. Jason beat me by about 5 items. All it took was one tailor with a "can-do" attitude (Jason's words) and Jason went crazy.

His biggest purchases were two suits. They fit him PERFECTLY. Apparently you can also order clothes from this tailor from the states and have it shipped. So, we had her take our measurements and we may just do that in the future.

Today we saw some of the more famous sights of Hoi An. Yesterday we had planned on doing such and rented a motorbike to ride to a nearby ruins, but somehow ended up in Da Nang which is where we came in on the train the other day. So we just decided that we would call it a joy ride and stick to walking around the old town district. But TODAY..... Well, the famous Hoi An sights are on a ticket scheme. As in, you buy a ticket and it allows you to visit 5 of the famous sights that you want without paying another entrance fee. We only looked into two today. The Ceramic museum and the Quang Trang (?) Old House. The ceramic museum was just a bunch of broken pottery and the old house was exactly what it sounds like. The ceramic museum was in an old house too. It was very beautiful with wood carvings everywhere and a courtyard with a fountain in it. We enjoyed the house more than the ceramics. It had a nice wooden balcony that we could look down on the street from. Here is a view from the balcony:


We also stopped by the market today. We didn't pick anything out to eat but Jason took some pictures. Here is a particular fetching one, I thought:

We also happened to wander into a beautiful handicraft gallery. There is a beautiful art style that they make here. It is embroidery. They take pictures of daily life in Vietnam and then they take silk threads and embroider them onto fabric. The whole fabric square is taken up the thread. It looks very realistic. There were a bunch of girls sitting there carefully creating masterpieces. We found out that we could email them a picture and they could make it for us and then ship it to us. It takes about 1 month for one girl to make one project. Dependent on the size of course. Then the host took us into a back room and we got to see a woman weaving silk. She was using an old fashioned loom and making beautiful natural silk. She took us to a room farther back and we saw two woman making a floor mat. They weave the reeds into a multicolored sleeping mat. It didn't look too comfortable. Then the host took us upstairs where the silk worms are kept. WOW! They have silk worms of all different ages and there were big mats with tons of silk worms eating mulberry leaves. Then they took us to a screen with tons of silk worm cocoons entwined in it. After the moth comes out, they take the cocoon and put it in boiling water. From this, they spin the silk. You may be able to understand better by seeing this picture.

Right next to where I am sitting are the cocoons in the boiling water. There is a contraption that that woman in the background is spinning. When it spins, it unwinds the silk from the cocoons and puts it on a big spool. It was quite interesting to see this all in person!

It is fun to be able to eat out 3 meals a day! Jason and I even get to order drinks every time! Today Jason got a pineapple shake and I often get mango juice or soda from a bottle. We were worried that, as vegetarians, we wouldn't have enough food choices here but we have been pleased to find that every restaurant we have been to has had a big vegetarian menu. Tonight we ate at a new place and had great pasta. It was different tasting but after noodles and vegetables all the time, it was just what we needed!

We wondered down a new street tonight and were amazed to find a beautiful upscale district. We looked wonderingly around and low and behold, there was a wonderful little pastry and dessert shop inside a huge restaurant. It was the kind of dessert shop that I ate at with Andrea in Walla Walla recently. The desserts were mini sized but decorated to a tee. Jason got a passionfruit/chocolate mousse cake and I got a chocolate mousse cup. They were a wonderful change of pace and Jason and I noted to each other that it felt really great being able to eat thins kind of thing without thinking you were hugely splurging. Together, our desserts cost under three dollars. With Andrea, each dessert cost over five dollars.

On this same street, we came across another handicraft shop where all the crafts in the store are made by people with disabilites. We didn't buy anything tonight but tomorrow morning we will go buy some silk sleeping bags. They are only about 8 dollars. I think REI charges like.... $50? Correct me if I am wrong Adam. Apparently the person who weaves the bags is mute and deaf. It is great to see a place like that so that the people with disabilities don't end up on the street like so many do.

We aren't able to view our blog so we aren't able to respond to your comments. We are able to read them now though because we changed the settings so they are sent to us via email. So keep commenting. It happened once we got to Vietnam basically so we are assuming the government doesn't allow blogs? I can't view anyone elses blog either.

Today at around 6pm, we are going back to Saigon. By bus. This hellish experience will last approximately 21 hours. Since it is holiday time, everything on the train is full and the plane is too expensive. We are going to buy some books for the long ride to tide us over. At least the bus has air conditioning. I hope it has leg room. Well, pray for us and we will talk to you all again when we get to Saigon.