Mui Ne - Sun, Sand, and Paintings

---

After a long five hour bus ride with people sitting in the floor and on top of luggage and between the driver and the front seat, we arrived in Mui Ne, a 10km stretch of beach that was little used and undeveloped until the last 5 years when resort after resort after hotel have blocked the beach so that there is literally no public access. The main road running parallel to the beach is dotted with restaurants and the backs of resorts and hotels that are overpriced, even in low season, and they have left little room for the small guesthouse or bungalow in between. There is still cheap accommodation to be found though, and I got a private bungalow on the water for 20USD a night. I was near the end of the 10km stretch at Le Pelican, owned by a French man and his Vietnamese wife? partner? I wasn't sure. Anyway, he looked like he'd been living on the beach a long time. It was nice enough, but the water would occasionally stop working for short periods of time, and electricity demand far exceeds supply because sections of the street would completely black out for short periods of time every night. I thought the location was great, and it had a fridge, but oddly enough, no blankets. I got a towel after asking for one, and toilet paper after I finished the first roll and asked for another. There was no maid service, and breakfast wasn't included, but it did have satellite TV, hot water one time, and loads of geckos around to eat the mosquitoes. And one small mouse who died my last day there. He was in my bungalow the first night, but he was small and cute and NOT a rat, and he was on his way OUT of my room when I returned from a walk. There were two dogs in the main house, and I believe one of them maimed him and he later died in my small piece of yard.

I spent three nights here, got a tan on the beach, ate some great Indian food, and had two of the best meals of my life at a cafe called Joe's Art Cafe. It is owned by a man from Vermont and his lovely Vietnamese wife. Joe is an artist and he displays his own work and the work of others at his cafe, but the coffee and the burgers are the reason to go there. It is a great atmosphere, cheap, and I had the best burger I've ever had in my life at Joe's. And I make a pretty good burger myself. A bottled beer costs just over 1USD. I got a burger, home fries, salad and TWO beers for 6USD. Can't be beat. I ate there all three nights and had coffee there in the mornings.

Mui Ne has nice beaches, famous for kite surfing which I must say looks "bloody" hard as my bungalow neighbors said. I watched two Italian guys set theirs up, which takes a long time and is a lot of work, and then get it out on the water where it looks "bloody" difficult to navigate. You need a lot of upper body strength I think. Loads of people were doing it though and they were kind of a pain in the ass for those of us that just wanted to relax. You can also visit the famous sand dunes near Mui Ne, but I couldn't have cared less at this point about doing anything touristy. I just wanted to be left alone to relax on the beach, eat good food, read a good book, and not be hassled by motorbikes, which is impossible. They were everywhere, but not so overwhelming at Mui Ne.

Almost forgot. My paintings. That's how my problem started. I forgot them. When I first arrived, I found my room, then went to the nearest tour company (there are load there!) and bought a bus ticket to Saigon for 2 January. Then I asked where I could find TM Brothers Tour Company because my paintings were supposed to be delivered there. It was just 50 meters away! I walked down there, but no paintings. I asked if we could call. The man said sure. After a conversation in Vietnamese, he said nobody knew anything about them. I said, "Could we call again so I can speak to them?" We did, and I was assured that my paintings would arrive at TM Brothers Tour Company the next day around 2:00. All righty then. I was not hopeful. I asked him why they didn't deliver them to Dalat and he said he didn't know the name of my hotel there. My hotel had called him personally about five times, so I really was not hopeful. I thought he was just yanking my chain until I left Vietnam and left him alone.

The next day, I went to the beach in the morning, had some outstanding Indian food, went back to my room and showered, then wandered down to TM Brothers at 2:10. I'll be damned. The man there, who really was helpful, handed them to me while he was on the phone. The look on my face made him laugh. I couldn't believe it. After leaving them on a tour bus three days ago, they were now back in my hands. I don't think that would happen anywhere else in the world, but maybe it would.

I promptly went back to my room and packed them in my carry-on bag never to be taken out again until I got back to Shanghai.

The next day I got a bus to Saigon - a tourist bus, not a minibus with giant bags of cabbages and luggage and plastic chairs up front with the passengers - and arrived around 2:00 for my last night in Vietnam.

---

Photos

Mui Ne
View behind my small bungalow

Fishing boats
These were fishing boats going out for the day. The big one in the front pulls the others out to see, then goes back in the evening to pick them up.

Baby banana
I loved these!

Back yard
This was the back yard of the house I rented my bungalow from. This is where they served breakfast.

Smoky House Restaurant
I liked this place. It was big and open with just a few tables. The food was okay, but the beer was super cheap.