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Published: August 4th 2006
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Sand Formations
Along the Fairy Stream in Mũi Né. These formations must shift and change shape at every rain storm. Time to leave the Mekong Delta - it has been a truly fascinating experience. We have observed a way of life so different from our own, and very different even from the rest of Việt Nam.
Our next stop in Việt Nam are the beaches of Mũi Né and Nha Trang, but these are too far away from the Delta to make a direct hop possible. Thus it is with a smidgen of trepidation that Alex and I decide to pause for one night in Sài Gòn (hereafter HCMC). We have read, and heard, some interesting stories about this city. "The craziest city in Asia". "Crawling with motorcycle-riding bag-snatchers". "Impossible to cross a road without losing a limb". Luckily it turns out that none of the above were (entirely) true...Our bus from Vĩnh Long dropped us off in Chợ Lớn, a somewhat rough-and-ready district west of the centre. Perhaps over-influenced by the scaremongering we guarded our bags ferociously as we got off - the
xe ôm drivers were indeed quite eager to pick up our bags and cart them off goodness knows where...Luckily Sài Gòn is the first city since Bangkok with a licensed meter-taxi system so we were able
to get into one to get to our intended guesthouse in the Phạm Ngũ Lão area, further east.
Much to our temporary irritation our first
two choices were full, but we found a small but very pleasant place just 'round the corner. Hot shower, cable TV - all we needed...That evening we didn't do much (Sài Gòn is not the kind of place you wander 'round after dark...), but had a lovely dinner at a restaurant employing former street kids, and then a yummy Đà Lạt strawberry ice cream (elle - quelle surprise) and pineapple
sinh to (lui) at a venerable
kem (ice cream) institution. We whiled away the rest of the evening watching bits of an absolutely
dreadful movie (
Alexander, starring - gag - Colin Farrell in a miniskirt, in case you were wondering...). What a waste of cable TV...
The following morning we caught a bus (Alex and I baptised it "The Banana Pancake Bus" because it's favoured by backpackers) to Mũi Né, a small, relatively undeveloped beach resort some four hours' drive to the east of Sài Gòn. As we turned off the pant-wetting Route 1, a sign read "Hà Nội 1700km, Mũi Né 20km"
Red Sand Dunes of Mũi Né
These dunes are quite solid, more like sandstone than ordinary dunes... - we've a long way to go. We plan to spend 3 nights here, not doing very much apart from vegetating on sun loungers. The beach was not ideal for swimming, partly because Mũi Né faces south and gets a faceful of the south-westerly monsoon, and partly because of the large quantities of evil-looking white foam washing up on the sand. As you will find out in a future entry, locals in South-East Asia are not amazingly environmentally conscious and won't think twice about chucking rubbish over their shoulders.
Thus we relaxed for a while, feasting on barbecued prawns, tuna fish and cold Saigon Beer (we have both developed quite a taste for beer in the past seven weeks...). On our third day we went on a short Jeep trip to the sand dunes that surround Mũi Né: the first stop was the so-called "Fairy Stream", a little brook that runs through the dunes to the sea. Bizarre pink, red and orange sand formations line the brook, making for a fantastic landscape. As we waded upstream (the water was never more than 20cm deep), clouds rapidly moved into the previously azure sky and all of a sudden the heavens
View from the dunes
Looking toward the south-east over the South China Sea. opened. We had not taken any rain gear and got thoroughly soaked ! Before continuing we had to stop by our hotel to change clothes...the rain stopped a little while later, and we proceeded to have a closer look at the dunes themselves. While wondering around between the sand peaks we came across a large tour group of Vietnamese, the leader of which brandished a large megaphone which he used to herd his clients like sheep. Occasionally he would use a special "Siren" feature to ensure that everyone (not just his group but
everybody in a 3-mile radius) knew
exactly where we was. We couldn't quite believe the racket, nor that anyone would allow themselves to be treated in such an ovine manner...oh well, different cultures.
At the sand dunes a popular activity is to sled down on a flimsy piece of plastic rented out to you by one of a veritable horde of small children. The sand was a little wet and we saw a few visitors slide down a few metres before slowing to a stop, so we decided to have some fun running down the dunes instead. And fun it was ! We felt like children
White Sand Dunes
This second group of dunes is a little way away. A very impressive landscape and not one we were expecting in Việt Nam ! rolling down a hill.
The following morning we hopped on another bus to Nha Trang, a large port town another four hours away. Nha Trang is famous for its offshore islands and SCUBA diving. We weren't really intending to dive, given that we'll be spending two months under the water in a fortnight's time...We went on a snorkelling trip though around the islands, which was quite colourful: lots of coral, butterflyfish, boxfish, batfish...We also spent a nice afternoon at the Louisiane Brewery, a very posh beach club on Nha Trang beach that offers tasty ice-creams and pastries (we partook, naturally) and also brews its own beer. To my great disappointment the latest batch of wheat beer - my favourite - was not ready yet...
The next hop, that from Nha Trang to Hội An, was a bit of a problem. By bus or train it takes about eleven hours, and there are no direct flights between the two towns. After quite a bit of umm-ing and ah-ing we opted for a night bus (leaving Nha Trang at 7pm, arriving Hội An 6am the next day) - at least we would be unconscious so wouldn't notice the god-awful driving
Gaaaaangwaaaay
Mind that camera...whizzing past at high speed after using the dunes as a runway. Lots of fun ! ! It turned out to be not
too bad, and we managed to sleep for most of the journey. Amazingly, the driver opted
not to play his karaoke system at full volume (quite a feat, believe us) and even dimmed the lights. How thoughtful.
We pulled into Hội An to see the sunrise, and with Alex still only
moderately grumpy (I have her permission to write this). Hội An should be a real highlight of Việt Nam - an old Chinese-Japanese trading town with a large amount of well-preserved wooden shophouses and narrow streets. More to come on Hội An.
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