First, I went into District 1 for my health check in order to get a work permit (not really part of the fun in my day). The doctor's appointment was a bit unusual, but fine and I'm glad it's over with.
On my way to checking out a couple of "Western" grocery stores I stopped to have pho for lunch... mmmm... can't get enough pho! ...And spent a bit more time in District 1 before hopping on a xe om (motorbike taxi) to head home.
The xo om driver got ridiculously lost bringing me home from District 1 (a 10 minute commute) and it ended up taking me close to an hour to make it home. I ended up directing him (apparently, even though I didn't know where the heck we were at that point, I still had a better sense of direction)... and can't wait to be able to zip around on my own! When we made it to my place, he was laughing that it was so close and pointing back the way we had been. Uhh, yeah. He also tried to charge me more because he got lost!
Soon after returning home, Phuong (library assistant) came to see the apartment and then we went out fabric shopping for an ao dai for myself. We visited many fabric shops and it was a lot of fun, although overwhelming!
[Side note: You will often find an entire street consisting of the same kind of shops. For example, this afternoon we went to the street with all of the fabric stores. We also passed a street with all stores carrying Western-style wedding dresses. When I first arrived in Vietnam and was in the taxi heading to the hotel we drove down the street with stores selling safe boxes. There is (what I call) Helmet Shop Street, Flower Shop Street, Eye Glasses Shop Street, etc... they keep the businesses all near each other! Of course, you will find a stray helmet store here or there but for the most part, if you want a selection, you had better go to the street for the item you're looking for. I hope to find "Toaster Shop Street" soon.]
Back on track...
Phuong is so sweet. We definitely have different tastes in fabrics but I ended up with a beautiful 'traditional' fabric that we both like a lot and it should be perfect for holidays and big celebrations. I will hold out on further details until it is ready in a few weeks and I'll post pictures! ...This link will take you to a website that shows some modern ao dai.
Click here for a Wikipedia article about ao dai.
Phuong said that all students in public schools wear a white ao dai everyday. Teachers also wear ao dai but can wear any color. The girls in my hotel wore blue ao dai as their uniforms. Both a bride and groom wear very fancy ao dai when getting married (and they can be any color). They also have special hats for this occasion. Click here for some pictures of wedding ao dai. Phuong and I went into a beautiful shop with ao dai for weddings... so beautiful!
After buying the fabric we went to a tailor (recommended to me by a friend from home and the place seems great - they specialize in tailor-made ao dai!). I can hardly wait for my fitting to see my ao dai! It'll be special to have one. :)
I took Phuong out for ice cream at Bud's, near my place, as a thank you for spending the time to help me out and driving me all over. Of course, it started raining while we were there, so we quickly got back to the apartment and waited for the rain to let up so she could head home. Phuong leaves on a bus late tonight for Dalat - her aunt and many cousins live there and she will go for one week before school begins. Her bus leaves at 11:00pm and she plans to arrive around 6:00 or 7:00am. She says that it is a beautiful city in the mountains. I definitely want to visit Dalat at some point... I have heard others talk about it as well and it sounds great... cooler than HCMC too!
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