Shopping spree in my future?

I made it to Hoi An last night (Sunday) around 5pm. I met up with Rhian and Marina again and the three of us are staying in a triple at Grassland Hotel for $5 per person per night.

Hoi An is kind of known for shopping. There are tailors all over the place making custom clothes. There are three ways you can shop here: 1) Go to the clothing store and buy something off the rack, 2) Go to a tailor, show them a picture or pictures of what you like, and have them make it for you to your measurements, and 3) Custom design an item to your specifications: you pick the material, design, everything. Depending on what you're interested in, even custom items can be bought fairly cheaply and you can have them in 1-3 days time. For example, I can get a simple, cotton summer dress, custom made, for about $15-20. Rhian and Marina have been talking about all the things they'd like to buy here almost since I met them. I, on the other hand, figured I'd maybe buy one dress.

Last night after dinner we walked around to a couple of the shops to get an idea of designs, fabrics, and prices. I think I might be in trouble. :-) I'd still like to get that simple, summer dress, but now I'm thinking that I might also want to get a silk robe and another, fancier dress (that I'd have to ship home because I'd have no use for it now). If I didn't have two gorgeous suits at home already, I'd also probably want to get one of those. Today we'll walk around to the shops and do actual shopping and buying. I'm looking forward to it because I haven't really done any clothes shopping for myself yet except for a tank top I bought in Laos. Having clothes custom made seems like such a posh thing to do, and yet my bargain hunter sensibilities are on high alert to the deals that are to be had here! I'll keep you posted and hopefully I'll have some pictures to share soon of my new items.