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Today was the day of picking up all the clothes/shoes and jewellery. As well as seeing the rest of the sites. On our first day we picked up a ticket that allows us to go and see 5 different sites within Hoi An old town. We'd already seen 3, today was the last two.
On our way to the clothes shops, we made a quick stop to check how my jewellery was doing - we had to go back at 6. I was very excited about picking it up as it was one of the only things I was having done. We went to the first place and Manisha tried her stuff on. Typically, the coat was a little snug for her - even though she had specfically said "please make it a little bit bigger". Her trousers were made totally wrong - they were far too short for her and so they had to start them again. We went next door for the shoes to see how they were doing and when Manisha tried to put them on - they wouldn't do up properly. Eventually, she got them on with a bit of help but she couldn't move her ankles. Not a good start with the shoes. To make matters worst, the woman who was selling them to us insisted that they would strech, and that there was no issue with the boots. After a bit of gentle persuasion, the shoe maker was called and he dealt with us. Manisha explained the issue and he said, that it was fine, he'd make them bigger.
After that we decided to catch the 10.15 performance of traditional music and dance. We walked to where we thought the performance was but typically, it wasn't there any more - it had moved to the handicrafts workshop - all the way back near to the market. The show was interesting, we saw a couple of traditional dances, heard a song about what I assumed was rowing, one of the guys in the band played a song (which sounded like a bird song) and a lady who was doing a very weird mime (not quite silent mime) to music - very odd. After the performance we went to have a look around at the crafts that they were making, was fairly interesting but thought that we'd spent enough money already on clothes, so decided against buying more stuff!
Later in the afternoon we went back to do some more trying on, Manisha coat and boots were still too tight - so both were sent back for a second attempt at getting them right. We then went to pick up our dresses - both of us were expecting them to be too tight, but no, something that actually fitted - with room to grow into! Shocking! I then ordered an another dress which was going to be ready later on that evening - I love the speed of things.
Had a bit of time to waste before we had our next fitting session, so finally got to go for cake! Had the most lush Mango Cheesecake at Cargo Club and sat enjoying the view of the river whilst Manisha enjoyed her chicken burger. Checked on the next item - Manisha's trousers from Yaly and they weren't quite ready. Again, with more time to waste we decided to visit our last site - the Chinese assembly hall. Was ok, fairly interesting but by now I was slightly board of temples (having done Thailand and Cambodia).
Went back to the shop with the coat and it was finally right. Also, the shoes - they fitted and looked great! I then got to pick up my ring, it was fresh of the shaper - metal still hot and I put it on! Burnt a little but it looked good!
Went back to pick up our last piece of the night, my dress, was lovely - needed to be taked out a little but it was fine, the tailor took it off and did it within 10minutes. Great service. We were talking to the girl who worked in the shop - she was telling us that she works from 8am till 9pm everyday, she doesn't live in Hoi An but on a little island near - she cycles to the ferry everyday to get her to work. She was a nice girl and it was interesting to hear about her life.
After picking up my new necklace we went for dinner at Green Moss - was a nice little restaurant near our hotel. Manisha tried the local speciality -veggie Cau Lac and I went for prawn noodles. In the restaurant we saw this tiny little baby- turned out it was the baby of the chef and she was only 5weeks old. The lady who ran the restuarant looked after the baby during the day, whilst its mum worked. Women in Vietnam seem to work so hard, they do everything from hard labour to working in the shop - yet as usual they have to be the ones to look after the family and cook meals, clean the houses etc. Typically, they get little help from their husbands, yet they get very little recognition for what they do. Guess where ever you are in the world, very little changes when it comes to womens roles in life.
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