Kimono, Qipao, Ao dai... oh my!

The Western World has always had a fascination for the Chinese invention of silk... thus the establishment of trade along what became to be known as the Silk Road (will discuss that in detail later when I get around to my recent trip to Xinjiang).

The silk dresses that ladies throughout Asia wear are particularly striking and they have evolved from China's "Qipao," Japan has the Kimono and Vietnam has the Ao dai.

The Chinese Qipao was already well-known before 2008, however it became famous around the world during the Beijing Olympics when the ladies carrying the Olympic medals and flowers wore them at every ceremony...

Adayla, Tally and Ryann showed off their Qipaos in this year's Chinese New Year's letter...As for the Japanese kimono, I snapped this picture of a real Geisha in Kyoto, Japan wearing one...
and Morgan took this picture of Tally and me in November 2007 with a lady in Tokyo wearing a kimono.
Vietnam also has a Qipao derivative, called the Ao dai. But in contrast with the Qipao and the Kimono, the Ao dai is worn with silk pants underneath...Here in Hoi An, Vietnam, the girls bought little wallets with a very traditional Vietnamese image... a young lady wearing an Ao dai and rice paddy hat.
As we were walking around, we found a place selling Ao dai in the girls' sizes. We couldn't pass up the chance to dress up the girls and take some pictures around this most picturesque town...Once the saleslady founds some hats, we had a compete outfit "just like the wallet"Off we go to take some pictures around town...

WARNING: FamSpam, excessive pictures of the girls follow...

A lady passing by stopped to help us get their outfits just right...

Tragedy struck while taking waterside pictures when a gust of wind blew Tally's hat into the water. Fortunately some of the people who had gathered around to watch the girls helped retrieve the hat. I'm holding the hat rescuer's hand for balance...

Vietnamese kids wearing Western clothes and Western kids wearing Vietnamese clothes.

We never got this picture with everybody looking a the camera. There was just too much going on...

We took them out to eat in their Ao dai as well...

Great food, beautiful location in a wonderful town... life is good.

That's all. See you, gotta go... Next stop, Hanoi!