6th
Michael Jackson’s Tailor
We got in to Hanoi super early on the train and ate sidewalk pho while we watched the city wake up. We decided to fly to Denang - 30 miles north of Hoi An, rather than take another 16 hour train. We had heard from more than a few people about the weather being bad down south and we were greeted with a torrential downpour - greeeaaat. Less than a week before our arrival, there was 2 feet of water in downtown Hoi An. But our purpose for being there had nothing to do with the weather…
Hoi An is not known for its French-colonial-in-slow-decay architecture, nor it’s quaint little streets, nor it’s friendly people, nor it’s array of excellent and cheap restaurants. It’s not for its tailors and cheap custom clothing. And McWangster is to cheap couture as Michael Jackson is to 7 year old boys. It rain nonstop for the first two days we were there. We trudged around in full rain gear, darting from store to store. But on the third day, the heavens cleared and we had sun for the 4 more days that we were there. We rented a scooter and went to the locals beach - no one there, no touristy crap, great food, and bath tub water - yay!
OK. Back to the clothes. The interweb had told us that one of the best tailors in town is Mr. Xe (Mista Shay) so we found his shop amongst the custard-colored buildings in the center of town. Mr. Xe is more desinger than tailor: about 4’8”, constantly shoeless, runs a very tight ship, and is a super flambouyant queen. But that little man is like a midget diva magician! The suits we had made fit like a glove and the shirts needed no revisions - su-weet! And at $125 for a suit, $15 per shirt, who could resist?!
While we were waiting for the Mr. Xe clothes to be ready, Wang and I could hardly control ourselves. $20 custom shoes, $20 custom dresses, $4 custom ties, the list goes on. And all within that impulse-buy range. Danger Robinson! We knew we needed to get the hell outta Dodge as soon as Mr. Xe was finished or we were going to go freakin’ bizerk!
Sidenote 1: One thing we noticed in Hoi An is that if there’s one good thing that communism/socialsim has done for this country it’s equality in the workplace. Women work on construction crews, collect your garbage, and run most businesses. And the work ethic is astounding. Everyone works at least a 12 hr day, 7 days a week. No sweat. No complaints. Do it with a smile. It’s amazing seeing how happy people who have little and work so hard can be. It makes you look at how trivial the sources of most of our everyday stress and anxiety are.
Sidenote 2: The population density here is also crazy. 85 million in 130k sq. miles. California is 65 million in 180k sq. miles. This whole coutry is like Los Angeles - one big subarb. Every street has store-connected-to-store all the way down. Every plot of land is used, whether it’s a house, a rice paddie, a business.
We finally shipped a big box back to the states that contained the new clothes and various gifts and junk we have collected along the way so far in Asia. And then we got on a plan bound for Ho Chi Minh City and on the Phu Qouc Island….
