Time for a Vacation in Mue Ni

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Back to HCMC and Madame Cuc

After Hoi An we flew back to HCMC, and back to Madame Cuc’s hotel. We planned to head out to the Mekong Delta, to see the floating villages and markets and to experience the traditional countryside. Once we got to HCMC, though, we were just tired. And, it was hot there and there had been heavy rains and flooding in the days before our arrival. We had our free spring rolls and noodle soup from the hotel and checked into our room. A large group had checked into Madame Cuc’s and, apparently, filled up all ninety of her rooms before we arrived around 9:00pm. They put us in a strange guesthouse across the street and down and alley and told us we could change rooms in the morning. After dropping our bags in our room we headed out to the backpacker district, and went back to our little street bar where we had such a good time our last night in HCMC a few weeks ago. We found two seats and sat next to our friend, Mr. Quay, who was much less talkative and much less drunk than last time, and also less fun. We spent some time talking to a young university student who was nice. He explained some religious symbolism to us as it was the Buddha’s birthday. He explained about the past Buddha, the present Buddha, and the future Buddha. He also explained about the problems the city and the government have with infrastructure and how long it takes to fix roads, build bridges, and create a subway. But, I was tired and Eric was just not “feeling it.” We had such a great night the last time we were there, but it is often hard to recreate an experience like that.

In the morning, we woke and went back across the street to Madame Cuc’s hotel for breakfast. After knocking back a baguette and two Vietnamese drip coffees, I told Eric I had no interest in arranging a trip to the Mekong Delta. He replied “I hoped you would say that.” Instead, we agreed to take a bus the following day to Mui Ne, a beach area about a five hour bus ride east of HCMC. As we checked email and did some errands online I felt hot and sticky. I felt like I had gotten a few bug bites and my legs were itchy. I left Eric in the lobby of Madame Cuc’s to find a hotel in Mui Ne and went back to our room to shower. After my shower I walked into the hotel room, which was one of the cleanest we have stayed in, and even without my glasses saw there was a giant roach scampering across the floor. I threw my glasses on and wondered what to do about it. The fact that I saw it clearly without my glasses on tells you something about the size. Usually, Eric takes care of this sort of thing. Although I try not to throw a typical girly fit when I see a bug, I am not as independent as people might assume with this sort of stuff. I picked up a glass on a table to put over the bug and cage it, but the glass was not big enough. I knew before I even tried that there was no way I would get that bug under the glass in the first shot and I did not want to miss and have it attack me (okay, I am rational enough to believe it won’t attack me). Then, I found a glass plate (not sure why there was one in the room). As I continuously crossed the room by stepping over the bed to figure out the best angle to trap the bug, the bug made its way under the refrigerator. I could not find it. I decided to put it out of my mind and started to get dressed. Mind you, I was running around the room and even screaming like a girl a little while buck naked trying to chase my new friend. Finally, the bugger reappeared and I tried to catch him under the plate. The plate landed on his legs and pinned him, but I could still see him. I was hoping if he was under the plate it would be mind over matter and I could ignore his existence. But, he was not going anywhere so I quickly finished dressing and went back over to meet Eric. He came back and “took care of it,” in the Buddhist way. He used the plate to escort the bug out of the room and down the outdoor hallway. My hero. I decided it was probably a good thing to take a break out near the South China Sea rather than hit the moist and bug-filled Delta.

A Vacation from the M.P.

Again, for those of you who are concerned that Eric and I are going too fast and that we need to slow down, we totally agree with you! You may think that quitting your job and traveling the world is exotic and glamorous, but it is hard work (see Hanoi entry re Japan Rail Pass and the above encounter with a bug the size of a golf ball). We are headed to Thailand after Vietnam for two weeks of R&R, but we could not wait. So, we boarded the bus to Mue Ni and a little after lunch we arrived at our guest house. We checked into a little bamboo bungalow that faced the garden, but had views of the South China Sea and the pool. Mue Ni has faced enormous problems with beach erosion, so at high tide there was no beach in front of our guesthouse. Instead, the waves crash against the brick and stone retaining walls. At first I was a bit disappointed, and I looked down the beach to the east and west and saw it did not get much better until way down the beach. We would need to take two motos to get there, so I settled for our little bungalow for $23 a night.
The decision worked out pretty well. The guesthouse was not very full and there were rarely more than five people in the pool area at once, including us. There were lounge chairs under a big thatched roof umbrella facing the water. It meant that we could spent the day with a view of the sea, listening to the waves crash, watching the local fishing boats and sampans float by, and not be bothered by touts selling goods or even sticky sand. It was quite pleasant. We were about a foot from the crystal clear pool and not far from our room. We spent the entire five days never really leaving the area surrounding the guesthouse. We had grand plans to rent bicycles or motos, maybe tour the fishing village, or check out the large red sand dunes nearby. In the end, we were happy to do absolutely nothing. We went our to our chairs around 9am, went across the street for some beef pho for lunch, returned to our chairs, cooled down in the ac of our room around 4 or 5pm, and then headed out to dinner in the evening. It was quite tiring.

And, another note about pho. I read that the pho noodle soup is different throughout the country, and I have certainly seen that. I am still dreaming about Madame Pho in Hoi An, who I realized has ruined me for all future pho. The pho we had in Mue Ni was good, but was not the same as Madame Pho. Less seasonings came with it, and we had to ask for some fresh diced chili to spice it up. The south’s version of pho includes bamboo shoots, fried onions, and lots of fresh onions - which are really the only thing I do not eat. We had pho each day, mostly because it was cheaper than other dishes, and it was pretty good. But, oh Madame Pho, you evil pho temptress - I cannot wait to return to Hoi An.

We do Have Limits

I have become use to many things that are not standard in the West. I have grown accustomed to geckos in my hotel room. I am used to seeing some of the biggest roaches I have ever seen (see above), spiders too. Ants no longer bother me, even when on a table at a restaurant. Mosquitoes and other flying insects I just bat away. There was a huge lizard outside of our room in Mui Ne - no problem. While walking in a park in HCMC a pretty large lizard ran between my legs as I took a step. He was cool because his head was blue. He was running from one blue painted wall to another and looked like he was blending in with the wall. I am used to dogs in restaurants, playing, sleeping, and waiting for scraps of food. Little frogs crossing my path are totally adorable. But, I met my match in Mui Ne.
So, during our third night in Mui Ne we decided to leave the immediate confines of our guesthouse and venture a distance away. We took a look through Lonely Planet and saw a place for Vietnamese BBQ about a 15 minute walk east. We felt like we were hitting the end the developed area of the beach when we hit a big resort with the “Hollywood Night Club” and a tennis court. At that point, the sidewalk ended and we were walking in the street with honking motos whirling by. A few more meters and we hit Saigon Café, our destination. Saigon Café was a typical small restaurant with plastic seating and a thatched roof. In the front was a monkey, just hanging around. It was the first monkey I had seen and I wished we brought our camera. Then, we saw the monkey was on a leash and attached to the bumper of a jeep. So, it was a pet. No big deal. We chose a table under a fan with a view of the monkey to provide entertainment for our meal. We started looking through the menu and I checked one of the first two things I always check on a menu - beer and water. Large water was only VD 8,000 which was cheaper than the other restaurants, so that was a good deal. As I perused the drink list more I saw something out of the corner of my eye. To my right two large rats ran past the table. I could not believe what I saw. Eric asked, “Were those just rats?” I confirmed when they hooked to the left and ran behind Eric along the wall (or, perhaps that was rat number 3 and 4). Eric asked if I wanted to leave and we promptly stood up and walked carefully out. As we rehashed what we just saw, I thought, maybe they were pets. Eric’s niece and nephew used to have a rat as a pet. But, then why were they not on a leash like the monkey. And, they were big, with long tails. Now, I cannot assume that rats do not abound in other restaurants I have eaten in during this trip. The largest rats I saw before Mui Ne were outside of a fancy restaurant in Bethesda, Maryland. It is probably more likely that there are rats in the kitchen in places in Washington, D.C., than here. What surprised me was how blatantly these rats were running around and the waitress either did not see them or it did not bother her. Yuck. So, we headed back towards our hotel and ate at our trusty lunch spot across the street, where the only wildlife were the moths and the two dogs sleeping at our feet.

Six Russian Boobies

One morning, when the tide was still fairly high, Eric exclaimed “I could have gone without seeing that.” Two Russian women were swimming in the water, coming from the resort next to ours. One was topless. This was wrong for at least two reasons. Imagine an older woman, at least in her sixties, looking very Russian and white, swimming topless. Yep, got the image? Next, Asia, and in particular Buddhist countries, do not approve nude sunbathing. It specifically states in the guidebooks not to offend your host by doing exactly what she was doing. It is just not acceptable, even if it were Pam Anderson out there. The next day, we saw the same thing. Later that day we saw the two women, with their husbands walking on the main road towards dinner. I will note she was not wearing a bra then either. What is wrong with this woman? Later that afternoon when the tide was out, I got the view. This time, she was waddling her way out to the higher water level, which took some time. This was bad naked. Big time. On our third full day, Eric’s view was almost fully obstructed. The Russian woman had talked her two friends into joining her in the topless swimming, so Eric turned to me and said “I just saw six Russian boobies.” Did I mention how great the view was from our bungalow, for only $23? The nudity was at no extra charge!

Vietnamese Quiet

I have mentioned numerous times about the level of noise caused by traffic, motos, and honking horns. The level of noise that is acceptable to the Vietnamese is not unique - we saw it in Cambodia too. The acceptable noise level also includes music, which is generally played very loud. Eric and I have coined the noise level “Vietnamese Quiet.” When in Hoi An, we walked past a wedding one afternoon. The music was so loud it could be heard blocks away. There was no way a single person could speak at the wedding. We saw something similar at a wedding in Phnom Penh. We wondered if there was some level of pride in how loud the music was played at a particular event. Whenever we walked past a loud wedding or event, or even a loud bar, we would look at each other and say “Vietnamese Quiet.” Our bus ride back to HCMC was no different.

We also noticed that repetitive music does not seem to bother the Vietnamese. At our hotel in Hoi An, the most annoying elevator music was playing outside the hotel, outside of our window in our first room, and over the pool area. During our third day, the tape, which was only about two hours long to begin with, was stuck on a song. The song played over and over again. We were so happy to change rooms or I would have gone certifiably crazy. One night at our guesthouse in Mui Ne the music they were playing was fairly loud, but the same Vietnamese pop song played over and over again. It caused Eric to start humming next time it played.

Now, back to the bus ride. We sat in the second row of the bus. It was the first time we sat near the front of one of the buses, and now I know why they usually sit the tourists in the rear. The honking of the horn was so loud in the front of the bus. I am not sure if this horn was louder than most - it was deep and long, like a baritone horn. It was a long ride, and our driver loved the horn. I tried using my iPod but could not avoid the sound. We stopped a rest stop about half way, which was nice because there were no annoying and aggressive touts like in Cambodia, and we were left to wander around. We had some ice cream. It was pleasant to stretch our legs. The bus host (the guy who takes the tickets, hands out water, and gives us our seats) also did some shopping at the stop, buying several DVDs. He wanted to test them all on the way back. The first DVD was a girl band - four young, beautiful Vietnamese women dancing rather suggestively to very, very loud music. Then, it turned into several women surrounded by back-up dancers signing 80s music, including “The Final Countdown” and “Relax.” I actually asked the host to turn it down some because the speaker was right over my head and I knew we had a good close to two hours more on that bus. He turned off the music for awhile, but eventually about an hour from HCMC another DVD went in, and the host played it Vietnamese Quiet - as loud as possible. That, plus the honking, was too much. At one point, I realized the vibrations from the horn were coming through my feet and it was actually stressing me out. It was the most on edge I have felt in quite some time. I realized it was better if I lifted my off the floor, avoiding the vibration. I buried myself into loud music on my iPod and counted down. It was amazing. I love the country and love the people, but the Vietnamese really need to outlaw honking! I think I could handle the loud music if it weren’t for the horn.

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Photos

Some Things Are Universal
Like brothers and sisters fighting.

A Great Invention
The hammock.

Creatures of Habit
This was the view from my beach chair for 5 days straight.