Highs and lows

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Binh Chau to Phan Thiet

Now we know where all the dragonfruit are grown! We cycled along sandy barren fields and small villages built on the sand and scrub land, until, after a sugar cane juice recharge, we descended into a valley with a huge abundance of dragonfruit trees. We couldn't resist picking up 3 for 60 cents! The next use of the land was salt flats, marked out by levees with water evaporating in the sun. A relay of women with wheelbarrows shifted the salt to the roadside.

We arrived in Phan Thiet as the evening was drawing in. A nice downhill for tired legs brought us to a very grey and busy city. We were ready to drop and stopped at the first Nha Nghi we found. It was quiet and strangley had a bath in the bedroom! The highlight was a lift up to our room 😊

After searching the streets for goldilock's (*ahem Kathryn's) ideal restaurant (not too busy, not too quiet, an English menu but Vietnamese food, not too expensive etc) we stopped in a big, expensive, quiet, restaurant and enjoyed a little seafood along with our new favourite Chinese fried rice! Near to the restaurant closing we watched the resident rat trying to guess when it was the right time to scurry down the stairs for his supper!

Phan Thiet to Mui Ne

The morning showed us a different Phan Thiet, a beautiful river running out towards the sea, with rows of colourful fishing boats, bridges, a manicured park, French architecture, not to mention the wide extravangant boulevards in a country where no-one walks! After picking up some snacks we cycled on, only to discover when we stopped for lunch we had lost our wallet! Nightmare! Leaving Kathryn at the cafe with the bags, George raced back to re-trace his steps, after a couple of hours of franctic searching it came to no avail. The ladies at the cafe were very sympathetic and kept pouring Kathryn cups of tea while she waited! We reconciled ourselves to the loss of $250 dollars over lunch and gained another 5 dragonfuits from the family for our travels!

We continued on our way to Mui Ne, the kitesurfing mecca of Southeast Asia. The resort was very popular with the Russians to the extent that menu's were often written in Vietnamese and Russian only! After a lesson (a frustratingly backward lesson for Kathryn), we decided the congested sea was not the place to continue our learning.

The resort is suffering the same coastal erosion we had experienced at Thung Wa Laen in Thailand. Kites were being lauched from cafe terraces, and some were landing in palm trees and on parasols! The kite school had just dredged sand back up the beach to provide a bit of a bank. Instead of kitesurfing, we visited the nearby red sand dunes and cycled through a pictureque village before bumping into two friendly Canadian cycle tourists (Tyler and Courtney) outside Joe's bar. We joined forces and planned the next part of our trip up into the hills to Dalat. After the disappointment of Mui Ne, we looked forward to the cool highlands.

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Photos

Catholic church
There are many modern catholic churches we've seen along the way.

Another arty shot by George
This is George first ever camera!

Comments

[Sue/ Mum]

Wow
Fantastic blog. Made up for the long lapse. You both look fantastic and healthy. I am so jealous! The photo's are amazing. Lots of love, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx