Full Moon

I am all shopped out! Yesterday was our 2nd full day in Hoi An and it was on our own. I had lots of fittings scheduled throughout the day at 2 different shops. It was exhausting going back and forth to town, especially when you had to wait around for stuff. Things were also complicated by power outages in the town, which slowed production down. Now, it seems like I got a lot, but it was pennies compared to what some of my friends got. The best is this morning as I got ready and put on an extremely light weight top I refuse to part with, I thought to myself, "I should have made some of these tops." It's a good thing we are leaving today or more damage might have been done! Maybe we can blame it on the full moon. :)

Amazingly, I managed to fit it all in my suitcase and it was still at weight (20.8 kg)!

So, Hoi An is basically 1 huge tailor shop. There are tons of shops, 1 right after the other. It's almost sensory overload with all the choices. We first went to Yaly which was recommended by the guide books and my cousin. We then walked around to another shop, where a specific dress caught a friend's eye. This place was on the same road as Yaly, but in my opinion way better! That shop was Nguyet Thut @ 140 Tran Phu St. Her fit was much better and she had lots of great displays to help with ideas for clothes. I highly recommend her.

We ended up staying in Hoi An longer than most folks do b/c the city has a lantern festival every month on the date of the full moon. For 2 hours, they shut the old town off to moped and bike traffic (cars were already not allowed in that area), the street lights are turned of, all the shops turn out their lights except for lanterns and candles, and place their shrines and incense outside. At 7pm, folks light lanterns and place them in the river and as they do so, they make a wish. It was so nice and peaceful. I didn't make a wish b/c I was focused on getting some good pictures of the lanterns in the river.

Last night we ate along the river at Mango Room. It was comparable to a meal you get in a US city. The night before we ate at the Cargo Club next door. It was good, but not as good as the Mango Room.

In between fittings, I had a massage at the hotel. It was a combination of swedish, thai, vietnamese and something else. They had me lie down on a cushioned mat and the woman proceeded to move my body around, sit on my legs, push down on certain parts, and a little swedish rubbing. It was painful at times, but I did feel relaxed afterwards.

The best was while I was sitting at the pool for a bit. The pool is warm, there's no getting around that. At one point a hotel employee wheeled 4 large blocks of ice over by the pool. He then proceeded to throw the blocks of ice into the pool. Interesting way to cool the pool down.

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