Itinerary

A taste of Vietnam, without the jet-lag!

For the past 22 years, I have been leading groups of sewing enthusiasts on an exciting fabric and food tour of Vietnam…..but no one needs their passport!

Cabramatta is the answer and you can experience all the highlights in just a single day. So let’s start…..

10am – Ah! It must be coffee time.

We always meet at the coffee shop! This is a must and a great way to gather and start the day and of course it is in sight of our first fabric shop.

D & N Coffee is a small coffee outlet with a nice grouping of tables, chairs and faded BLUE umbrellas on the pavement and it’s a great place to sit and look at the impressive entrance gates to ‘Freedom Plaza’. At 1/50A Park Road it’s almost on the corner of Park and Arthur Streets. 

Hung Thanh

As with all the shops that you will visit, fabric spills out onto the street and into the side alley. The greatest bargains of the day are always out the front and start from as little as $3 to $4 per metre.

I always find Hung Thanh great for stretch fashion knits and at $4 to $5 per metre I add to my stash every visit. Knits are always in the alley, along with an excellent selection of novelty print polar fleece. Inside you will find poly/satins and organzas, crepe-de-chine and suitings.

It’s time to walk a little. Come out of Hung Thanh and turn to the right and then right again at Hughes Street to visit three more shops. 

Tuong Hung

At 5 Hughes Street you will find another ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ with the same low prices and huge stocks of cottons, stretch-wovens, corduroy, fleecys and knits and inside is the place to go if you have dancing costumes on your ‘to do’ list. Lycra and sequins, fluro, iridescent and holographic – it’s all there.

Thai Thui Shop & Thanh Thai Shop

Continue down Hughes Street (towards the railway line) and you will quickly come across Thai Thui and Thanh Thai. They offer an ever-changing mix of inexpensive textiles. After a visit to these two "cheap and cheery" shops, retrace your steps, to the coffee shop and continue to walk through the 'Welcome Gate' and into Freedom Plaza.

This pedestrian mall is bordered by video, music, food and clothing shops but the interesting places to keep your eyes open for are the street vendors. Illegal in any other part of Sydney they seem right at home in Cabramatta (and they are). Little parcels of freshly cooked rice wrapped in banana leaves and take-away containers filled with a myriad of home-cooked soups and glutinous desserts or neat little lunch packs, all look interesting, different and tempting. But don’t eat yet! There’s more to come…

Walk the short block to the end of Freedom Plaza and turn to the right into John Street. Continue along the right side of the street until you reach –

Du Thanh Fabrics

This shop specializes in curtain and home decorating fabrics with a huge selection of sheers and laces. But it is also the best place in town for zips; regular, invisible, open-end and continuous. 

At this point my tummy usually says “lunch time”. So I turn my group right around and head back to Freedom Plaza. The BKK Supermarket sign is where we are heading, on the left side of the plaza, and behind this very misleading signage is an interesting food court.

There are small shops selling every type of Vietnamese dish, fresh fruits and deserts. If this is your first adventure to Cabramatta, have a good look around, at all the options. There will be lots of dishes that you may not have seen before and loads of things to try. Be brave …. have a go. You’ll be surprised at the combinations of fabulous new tastes although the bright colours of the desserts may not be what you’re used to!

However, if a big lunch is not for you simply stay on John Street and try an iced glass of sugar cane juice or a great variety of fruit. Rambutans, star fruit, mangosteens and chestnuts are displayed amongst the more recognizable strawberries, pineapples and mandarins. I recommend you try them all.

Refreshed and regrouped we head back along John Street, the way we have already travelled.

Stop at the end of the first block, cross the road and work the other side. Two fabric shops to go.

My Hung

The two shops on this side of John Street are long and thin. Quality fabrics are packed to the rafters and you need to think thin to work your way through the aisles. But it is well worth it.

My Hung sells a selection of day wear, lycras, Chinese silk brocades, dance and aerobic wear and an extensive collection of broderie anglais collars, lace inserts, frog closures, laces, braids, fringing, beaded fringing, elastics, buttons and general haby.

My Hung has expanded to open fabric shops in Hurstville, Parramatta, and Penrith and if you can’t find what you are looking for or have a colour to match just ask the experienced staff as there is often something in storage or hidden behind all the other fabrics and believe me, the owners know every piece of cloth.

Van Hung Fabrics

The last fabric stop in Cabramatta is a bridal and evening-wear specialist and hosts a superb array of fabrics and all the trims, haby and accessories for brides and all the members of the bridal party. They also have a comprehensive list of dressmakers for those with little time or those daunted by the whole bridal extravaganza.

WOW! What a day and what a tour. A taste of South-East Asia, without leaving home.

It doesn’t get any better than that….ENJOY.