Clothes and shoes can be hard to buy in Vietnam for the adult westerner. A friend of mine wanted to buy a suit jacket in a “big size”. He tried finding one in the nearest city of Dong Hoi with no luck, and also tried looking in Hue, to no avail. He then went to Hanoi to acquire one and thought it may be better to try phoning around beforehand to investigate what the best options were. He rang H&M, an international clothing retail store, and they said they had big sizes. He jumped in a cab and hightailed it across town to take a look. When he got there, they actually didn’t have anything that even remotely came anywhere close to fitting him. He tried a few more places and eventually gave up after he called an outlet called Adam Store on Truc Bac Lake and asked, “do you have big sized clothes?”. The shop assistant replied saying “sorry, but we only have clothes that fit people weighing up to 80kg”, and that my friend “sounded much heavier than that”.
I have heard about many instances in Dong Hoi City where Western women have been refused entry into boutique clothing stores, with the sales staff saying “no, no, no, you very big, we only have small size, no foreigner, no foreigner”. It’s a bit embarrassing, but the Vietnamese obviously don’t seem to think so. When I meet a Vietnamese person for the first time, more often than not, they will ask my name, where I’m from, my age, marital status, and then after telling them I’m married, they will ask how many children I have. Lastly, if it hadn’t already been asked, they almost always ask how much I weigh followed by patting my belly. This is followed by looks of disbelief when I inform them that I weigh over 100kg and an onslaught of jokes about lucky money and happy buddha.
Phong Nha, despite being small town, has a handful of clothing outlets with “big sizes”. Wild Phong Nha sells long pants, jackets, lightweight tops and trekking shoes in Western sizes and is owned by Mr. Bamboo, who is a local cave guide and learned his trade from running adventure tours in Da Lat.
Another great place in town to buy clothes is Phuc Dat Shop. Phuc Dat specialises in unique Phong Nha orientated t-shirts, hats and fleeces and other handmade souvenirs. There is the local market too, but it can be an odd shopping experience where you may find what you’re looking for or you may find yourself bewildered. Be sure to bargain with the merchants at the market and try before you buy.
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