Over the course of a 5 month trip, there are days that need to be scheduled in to do well…nothing. Moving from city to city, sight to sight and hotel to hotel is a bit exhausting (not that we don’t love the rush of every waking minute of it) so we decided to take the day Sunday at our new digs in Hoi An to relax by the quiet pool at the Southern Villas and did as much of nothing as we could. Being on antibiotics I suppose helped me to cope with the “do nothing” day a bit better as I came to grips with the fact that the world would still be there for us to see tomorrow.
As expected, on Monday the world was still spinning and with that we began the day where we left off, more pool lounging and then off to the town to explore on the bikes. Seems that many travelers opt for the motorbikes but we thought the $1 a day pricetag and slower pace of the cruisers offered us a better view of our surroundings not to mention a safer one.
After some lunch we walked the streets lined with tailors, shoe shops and pretty much any other type of clothing accessory store imaginable. Nicole spotted a dress she fancied….yes, fancied, at a storefront and so we asked about the price and fabrics available. For a whopping $20 she could have the dress made in 3 hours and that was all we needed to hear as Nicole picked her color and fabric from the lovely ladies of Morning Mist tailors and off we went.
The rains rolled in so we snagged some ponchos and rather comfortably in the cooler rainy surroundings made our way through the town for a bit before taking refuge at a coffee shop to people watch and caffeine up for the next few hours while we waited for Nicole’s dress.
While we waited, a couple from Australia staying at our hotel cruised by and told us they were about to grab a bit at an uber-cheap and really good local joint down the street so we accepted the invite and headed to Cafe 43. If you are in Hoi An, like good food and don’t like paying alot for food, then this is your place for every meal. I’m just sorry we didn’t know about it sooner. The tally for our party of 4, including 8 beers was $11 in total and so with fully tummy, and a bag full of leftovers, we thanked our new Aussie friends for the invite and nice conversation and headed back to pick up Nicole’s new custom threads.
Nicole’s fashionista bug took hold back at the tailor and ended with 2 new projects for the seamstress in the form of a very pretty black cocktail dress and super funky jacket for our Euro adventure in a few months.
We setup a date to pick up the new digs the next morning and were generously invited to coffee beforehand which included a fun motorbike escort! Check out our youtube channel for a lil footage I snagged.
After the coffee and nice conversation with the shop owners about life in Hoi An we biked it over to the shop for the final fitting.
Needless to say, Nicole looked amazing in her new dresses and super cool jacket. Some minor adjustments were made to the black dress and a half hour later brought to our doorstep back at the hotel in time for us to board our taxi to the airport. The process, excuse the pun, was seamless with the staff at Morning Mist and would be recommended to anyone in the Hoi An area looking for a refreshingly different approach to custom tailoring in Vietnam.
A good day and safe flight to Ho Chi Minh is where we find ourselves at the moment so keep it here yall! Thanks for readin!
-Adam
More from Asia
Intentionally and incrementally. Most families who live this way did not leap from conventional to adventurous overnight. They built remote work capacity, paid down debt, tested longer trips, and had increasingly honest conversations about what they actually want from their lives. The leap feels bigger from outside than from inside.
Different for every family. For some it is long-term travel. For others it is weekend adventures close to home. What connects them is intentionality about how time is spent and a preference for experiences over accumulation. The version that fits your family is the right one.
By finding stability within the adventure rather than treating them as opposites. Routines, rituals, and family rhythms travel with you. Familiar foods, bedtime routines, and predictable family dynamics provide stability even when the location changes. Kids need consistency in relationships more than consistency in geography.
That people are fundamentally similar across cultures in what they want for their families. That comfort zone is a smaller circle than it feels from inside. That the things worth having in life require effort and discomfort to get. And that time together doing hard interesting things is the most reliable source of family closeness.
By getting clear on why you made the choices you made and returning to that clarity when the outside noise gets loud. Most families living unconventionally describe an initial period of explaining themselves that gradually gives way to just living the life. The explaining becomes less necessary as the results become visible.
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