the market in Tam Ky

6 January 2007

...After lunch was the market. Whee! It was fantastic for all the fabrics. Crazy prices, like 20,000VND ($1.10) per yard. I bough enough fabric for two dresses and two tops for about 250,000VND (about $15USD). And one dress is lined. It'll cost about $20 to have them made. How crazy is that?!

I ended up buying all with with polka dots fabric, except for some fake Hello Kitty fabric with a red background (though it did have some dots sprinkled around). Cute.

The tailor came over later in the evening and did all the measuring for our stuff. I'm getting two button-front tops, a housewife dress and a copy of my China dress [sent by Tommy's parents last fall]. I need to have her make a couple of dark ones like that, too. Just have to find the right fabric. Maybe at the end of the trip?

The market was crazy and the kids were the center of attention. They are one of the few (if not the ONLY) Western children they have ever seen. As Western adults, we got stared at, but the kids were mobbed. People have no problem coming up to them, pulling them close, pinching Audrey's nose, touching their faces, etc. And the staring! It just goes on and on. Poor Audrey grew more and more frustrated, but luckily Jo, Claire, Leah and Mrs. Hanh all took a bit of pity on her and Stuart and we just kind of circled the kids. It's really hard being the strange one, though. It's a fascination with our whiteness, which is seen as beautiful. It's a bit depressing because I think all skin color is beautiful, not just white. The women powder their faces and stay indoors, just to appear whiter.

Hopefully the fascination will taper down a bit over time, but who knows. For the kids' sake, I hope it does.