Shop till you drop
Published/Last edited or updated: 21st September, 2017
Visitors: load up on dong, as there are plenty of things that will catch your eyes when it comes to shopping in Hoi An. How can you resist a conical hat or a tailored shiny zoot suit? Hoi An has everything you never knew you wanted.
Like ethnic crafts, hilltribe motifs and natural materials? Check out Villagecraft Planet, east of the market at 37 Phan Boi Chau Street. Here you can find clothes, bags, cushion covers and other decorative items made from Hmong textiles, batik indigo, hemp and natural dyes.
It’ll be hard to resist purchasing one of Hoi An’s signature silk lanterns. Stroll the town at night or browse the night market across the river on An Hoi Islet and the colourful glow will tug at your heart strings. You can buy a few, or try making your own at a workshop offered by Lifestart Foundation, a not-for-profit charity that offers vocational training and assistance to the disadvantaged. The one and a half hour workshop, held at either 10:30-12:00 or 15:30-17:00, costs 330,000 dong per person, with a minimum of two people required to run it. It’s the same price for their Vietnamese painting class (09:00-1:30/14:00-15:30). Register in advance. At their shop you can also buy handmade jewellery, fantastic natural body products, loveable stuffed animals made from socks, cards, tea, Co Tu ethnic handicraft, prints, scarves and crafts.
There are several other worthy stores to spend for a good cause. Reaching Out is a beautifully laid out, expansive shop selling gifts handcrafted by artisans with different abilities, including those with physical impairments. Find silver jewellery, tableware, copperware and children’s clothing. Visit during working hours to observe the ... Travelfish members only (Full text is around 1,100 words.)
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Cindy Fan
Cindy Fan is a Canadian writer/photographer and author of So Many Miles, a website that chronicles the love of adventure, food and culture. After falling in love with sticky rice and Mekong sunsets, in 2011 she uprooted her life in Toronto to live la vida Laos. She’s travelled to over 40 countries and harbours a deep affection for Africa and Southeast Asia. In between jaunts around the world, she calls Laos and Vietnam home where you’ll find her traipsing through rice paddies, standing beside broken-down buses and in villages laughing with the locals.
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Merrily, merrily