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Published: February 19th 2007
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We boarded a morning bus bound from HCMC to the beach town of Mui Ne which turned out to be quite pleasant trip. However, once we arrived in Mui Ne finding a place to stay wasn't as enjoyable.
Finding Friends While Finding Accommodation
The beach road is close to 10km of restaurants, ritzy hotels and basic accommodation huts (which we were looking for). With the blazing afternoon sun we started out on foot (leaving our bags at the bus company office) to try and find a place to call home that was under $10.
With no luck at the first four places we popped in at, we succumbed to the moto drivers to take us to something "clean and cheap" with an agreed upon price of 5000 dong (cheap, but he'd be getting a commission from the hotel as his main pay). Our moto driver was a speed-demon and we raced down the road burning rubber. After viewing three places he took us to, we decided one was good enough and explained that we wanted our driver to take us back to the bus company office to collect our bags.
Again we sped away at top speed and
then he quickly veered left onto a small sandy track between hotels. Crashing was imminent and we franticly yelled at him
"Stop! STOP!" This was
not the way to the bus company. Something was obviously lost in translation, he must of heard,
"We'd like to scrape our bodies clean of skin and possibly get severe brain damage as we crash on the back of your bike." Returning to the paved road, we reluctantly got back on his bike only to be driven a hundred meters to another cluster of at least six moto drivers. They discussed in Vietnamese and then we were told by another driver that our driver had an "appointment" and he could no longer take us anywhere, but these other moto drivers could help us. How convenient. Fine then, we'll walk the rest of the way. We pulled out the 5000 dong we agreed upon and handed it over only to see the coin get violently thrown across the road and our driver speeding away. On the bright side, at least our ride ended up being free.
Back at the bus company office we bumped into another Canadian traveler and asked him about a good
place to stay. He pointed just meters down the road to where he was staying and we promptly headed off and discovered the best place yet. It was a smaller place with four bungalows and a few rooms, clean sandy beach, palm trees and cushioned beach chairs. Perfect.
Encounters with Rats
Jarrod and I were leaving the guesthouse in search of dinner when a rat suddenly fell from the tin roof above and started twitching on the ground in front of us. It was like a flashback to baby monkeys in Varanasi, India see
Life, Death and Everything in Between. We called the hotel manager a few meters away, thinking he could grab a shovel or something to smack it and kill it. He looked down at the rat, smiled at us and said, "BBQ? You want BBQ?" You have got to be kidding. His first thought was to
eat the rat rather than kill the rat! Only in Vietnam. As we shook our heads to politely decline BBQ rat it suddenly twitched to life and jumped back on his feet and scurried away. Later that night as we lay in bed we could hear what was unquestionably a rat chewing away at something
in our roof. Probably the same damn rat. Maybe we should have eaten it when we had the chance!
The Daily Routine: Getting Fit or Getting Fat?
In the mornings we've been getting fit going for jogs along the beach and swimming. Well, that was really only one morning, usually we just slept in and went for a walk and a quick dip afterwards. We've spent our days lounging around on the beach, reading, doing crosswords (can't find suduko!), and taking a swim to cool down every so often.
In the afternoons the wind picked up and kept the temperatures below scorching on the beach and cooled the air for bedtime. With consistent winds, Mui Ne is a hotspot for kite surfers and a big contingent has gravitated to the town. Afternoon entertainment was watching the kite surfers being picked up by the wind, carried some 20 feet up in the air and then crashing back into the water. Sometimes they would be in the air for a good five seconds or longer. We were tempted to give kite surfing a go, but lessons were pretty steep (ranging between $200 and $400 for 10 hours of instruction!)
Who Knows What Lays Ahead?
Exploring the unknowns of the Fairy Stream The most challenging part of the day was when we started to get hungry. Most of the hotels have restaurants, but ours was small and they only served drinks and a small selection of chips or cookies. So, we ended up wandering great distances, like a kilometer or two, in search of restaurants that weren't too expensive and had appetizing food.
One evening we had a delightful seafood feast that consisted of lobster, clams, seafood kabobs, grilled potatoes and steamed vegetables all washed down with Lindemans Bin 45 Cabernet Sauvignon. Total cost: $40US. We splurged and it was worth it! Super Yummy!
Superbowl Splendor
Our guesthouse is pretty basic and such, there was no TV, let alone satellite for ESPN to watch the Superbowl. Superbowl was on TV at 6am Monday morning, so Sunday night we upgraded accommodation to a brand new resort, open just three months, so we could watch. Well, Jarrod watched the Superbowl, I slept for most of it. The resort was superb, it rivaled the accommodation we stayed at in the Mayan Riviera, Mexico for our honeymoon. After roughing it for six months we were thrilled to get a bathroom with not just towels,
but shampoo, combs, toothbrushes, razor, body wash, lotion, shower caps and a sewing kit. We had robes to lounge around on our private balcony and the bed actually had a real duvet cover. Did I mention there was a swimming pool, karaoke rooms, pool tables and a work out room? We figured that it was a pretty decent bargain at $38. We stayed only one night, but it was very tempting to stay much, much longer.
White Water River Exploration
One afternoon we rented bicycles headed a bit farther down the beach until we came to a bridge over water: Fairy Stream. Ok, I admit, there wasn't a river nor white water rapids. We walked up stream in a few inches of warm water passing by some amazing red and white rock formations. Some spots had fine black sand eroding down from the hillside and against the red sand it reminded us of tiger ice cream. Vietnamese kids navigated the way for some tourists to kind hearted to say, "Go Away!" (a guide is totally unnecessary, how hard it is to follow water?) and a few locals used the stream as their road home, but overall was pretty quiet
Waterfall Cooldown
At the end of the stream and peaceful.
Next Stop: Nha Trang!
Travelers Tips:
We really enjoyed both places we stayed at.
Budget accommodation on the beach: Xuan Uyen Bungalows at kilometer 13.3 $12/night.
Midrange accommodation: Sunny Beach Resort $38/night (but prices may increase once they are fully open, currently in 'soft' opening) Just a few hotels down from Xuan Uyen.
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