As I had rather foolishly promised the tour manager and director a shopping expedition, I felt obliged to go ahead with it. The result was an absorbing day spent buying sandals and dresses, bargaining and enjoying some humour with local market traders. We came away from the main shopping streets into the market, where we found material shops, dress makers and shoe shops. Silk was purchased, along with a couple of dresses and two or possibly three pairs of shoes, after a while one loses count of the number of shoe shops you visit. We did manage a walk alongside the river for nearly a mile walking out of the town which was quite pleasant.
A shoemaker promised to make Rosemarie a pair of sandals to fit her , by late in the afternoon so after lunch and a swim we headed back to see her again. Unfortunately the shoes did not fit and we refused to buy them, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth on behalf of the store owner and it took a considerable amount of courage to say no and to walk away. On the way out we stopped at anothe fabric store and bought two more metres of fabric. A small consolation for the tour director, but as the fabric was only three pounds a metre who could complain?
A quiet evening saying goodbye to Hoi An and an pleasant meal. We even managed to visit two more old houses on the way back to our hotel, so we fitted a little history into the day as well.