Suited and Booted

'You don't look very brown!' is a very British greeting to someone returning from abroad. Those five short words have the power to bring any jolly traveller back down to Earth with a bang. There are those amongst us who can return from foreign climes with golden, sun kissed skin and then there are others, of which I am one, whose skin tends to peel off in the air conditioning on the plane home. Nick, however, is one of those people whose complexion closely resembles a mahogany sideboard once he has spent any period in the sun and he was really keen to use the time we had left in Vietnam to top up on his tan. He wasn't very happy, therefore, when the train pulled into Da Nang Station and we saw people on the platform holding umbrellas and wearing coats.

Thankfully, as we made the half-an-hour taxi journey down to Hoi An, the rain subsided and by the time we had checked into our hotel the black clouds had been replaced by slightly greyer versions. Despite the locals all being dressed up for winter, we, as Brits, stubbornly refused to wear anything other than shorts and a t-shirt as we went to explore the town.

The narrow cobbled streets of Hoi An were a stark contrast to those we had left behind in Saigon. Long gone were the swarms of mopeds and high-rise buildings, they had been replaced by ambling tourists and arty cafés. Although it had once been a major port, Hoi An's importance dwindled in the early Twentieth Century and this meant much of its old world charm had been preserved. Now it has become a Mecca for those after a good tailor or delicious food.

It wasn't long before Nick and Steve's stomachs were telling us it was lunch time, so we made our way to the town's market and found a little stall that served up a local speciality, Cao Lau. As we sat enjoying our noodle dish we chatted to some locals, one of whom was very insistent that we visited her little tailoring shop. A few minutes later we were wandering through a maze of market stalls having agreed that we'd have a very quick look, just to be polite.

Some three hours later, we stumbled out of the shop, slightly bewildered and having, between us, purchased 2 three-piece suits, 3 blazers, a pair of shorts, a pair of trousers and even a pair of shoes. The woman's 'little shop' had actually turned out to be a vast labyrinth of multicoloured cloths where we were ambushed by half a dozen smiley ladies who convinced us to buy some custom made clothes from them. We weren't the only ones - every now and again more unsuspecting backpackers were dragged in from the street and charmed into looking through clothing catalogues to choose their own garments.

The whole process was, in fact, great fun. We were measured up, chose our materials and then haggled with our hosts for the best price, and although we left slightly drained of energy and cash - we were very satisfied with our afternoon's work.

The next few days we hired mopeds again. Even though I wasn't riding on Tracey (the bike I'd grown attached to in Thailand), my bike was fine and the green paddy fields and a long coastline provided a great backdrop for us to explore the surrounding area. Despite it remaining overcast, we enjoyed pootling around and visited a Buddhist temple, whilst Steve managed not to drink any petrol, which was a bonus.

Hoi An also provided us with an opportunity to catch up with a friend from back home. Jon and his girlfriend, Clare, were travelling through Vietnam in the opposite direction to us, but here in centre of the country our paths happened to cross. It was great to spend some time with them and it even gave me the chance to show the boys how to play tennis and pool.

Our last day in Hoi An was a real treat; we had spent the previous evening consuming some delicious grub at a local restaurant and noticed that the owner offered cookery classes, so we decided to sign up. The day consisted of three different elements: first of all, we were treated to an all you can eat breakfast (one of the reasons we signed up!) - our plates were soon brimming with local delights.

Next, we were each given a mountain bike and headed off with our guide on a tour of the local area to visit places that the restaurant sourced their products from. It was a great way to see the countryside as well as being a good insight into where our food comes from.

The final part of our day was the cookery lesson itself. We were taught by the owner of the restaurants, Ms Vy, who by the end of the afternoon I had developed somewhat of a schoolboy crush on. Ms Vy demonstrated how to cook four local specialities, including Cao Lau and a delicious dumpling known as the White Rose. We were impressed as we listened to how she had built up her old family place into a small group of thriving restaurants. Whilst modelling the techniques, she pointed out that it was the women in the town who ran all the businesses and made up for the lazy men. Our own attempts at the dishes were actually fairly decent, if I do say so myself, and they were certainly edible.

After forcing down a complimentary icecream we left to pick up our various garments from the tailors. Slightly apprehensive that our clothes may bear no resemblence to the ones we had chosen, we were delighted to see that they exceeded our expectations. I'd go as far as to say we all looked rather dapper in our new gear!

We finished our day by having a rather foolhardy dip in the hotel's freezing swimming pool and then said goodbye to Jon and Clare.

Our time in Hoi An hadn't been filled with sunshine, but had definitely been a highlight. We still had time for Nick to get some sun before he returned to England, surely the next week couldn't all be cloudy, could it?