Hoi An, Vietnam

It's a good thing we are leaving Hoi An, if we stayed here any loner we may have no money left for the rest of the trip! We got here March 2nd early in the morning from a very long, packed bus ride. We found ourselves a scary, cheap little room and caught up on the sleep we didn't get on the bus. We later went and found our grounds in the city. Hoi An is known for their tailor shops... they are everywhere! We didn't know much about his city other they can make suits for a good deal and they have nice beaches. The first day we walked by one of the tailor shops that had a sign with someones review that said "we had one or two items in mind when we came here, but my husband and I left with 64 items." We thought that was obsurd, how could someone possibly want that much? We were mistaken! Little did we know they can make ANYTHING you want. You could design shoes, boots, sandals, purses, wallets, any clothing item... if you know me you know this is a dream world for me! We passed a shop that designed shoes...Sparky was all over that. He designed a pair of nikes for $20 and I made some sandals for $10 and we went back three hours later and had new shoes and an addiction to this fun process. The prices are so reasonable! That evening Mark got fitted for a suit. They ended up talking me into one as well. We both left after designing three piece suits. After grabbing dinner that night we were walking around looking at all the shops... sure enough we left after designing a few pair of shoes. We wanted to use the craziest material they had..Sparkys ended up cool.. one of mine a miserable fail, but the other pair were awesome.
The next day we got to know the city a little better. It is a small charming little city located along side a river. We visited the Japanese covered bridge which is in fact a very small bridge but is Hoi Ans emblem. We then visited a chinese assembly hall, which is basically a comunity center and worship area for the chinese population that live here. It was beautiful, the detail in the design is amazing. After the assembly hall we wandered to a merchant house. A merchant house is a home on the river that is passed through generations and they trade silk, tea, and rice in which they have grown wealthy. They still live in the upstairs but we were allowed to tour the downstairs. We also visited the history and cultural museum and saw a traditional performance. In the show they did their taditional dancing and singing. It was very interesting.
We had originally planned on leaving the next day, but Sparky had an idea to build some packer shoes and they wouldn't be done until the next day and we still hadn't visited the beach there so we decided to stay another day... we are in no rush, just living the dream! We spent the rest of the day designing a few more things and checking out the market. We also had to check the fitting for the suits and other items we had ordered. I swear the stores just suck you in!
The next morning we rented bicycles and biked to the beach. The beach was beautiful, but the water a bit more chilly then we had encountered in the other places we visited. We spent the day lying on the beach and taking in the views. Later we biked home, got dinner, and walked around the city. It is so pretty here at night because most of the stores and restaurants have different colored fabric laterns they use outside instead of lights which make for an awesome scene at night. We had to make our way to the post office yet again to ship some stuff to South Korea, the last spot on our Asian Invasion. Our backpacks can not hold any more stuff! Mark ended up making six items and I made twelve items. It was a blast! It is so nice here, but it is time we continue to journey north to Hue. Over and out!