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Published: February 8th 2011
Now Muine is lush. It’s a little strip of a town alongside an 11km beach which is host to some of (apparently) the best kite surfing in the world. This has it’s pros and cons:
On the plus side there is constant entertainment to be found in watching the kite surfers (and there isn’t a muscle they don’t use if you get my drift ladies…) battle it out against the huge waves and each other. I’d love to have given kite surfing a go, but I worked out that it’d be a more expensive sport to learn than skiing. And maybe I should stick to having just one stupidly expensive hobby, at least until I get a job again. Also there is a thriving trade in beautiful looking hotels and bars all along the beach., but without the usual hassle. It’s all really rather lovely.
The downsides are that it is a little expensive for the backpacking crew - there appears to be only two cheapish places down the kite surfing end of the beach, and ours was very nice for what it was ($15 for a double) but if you can find a way to afford $35 or even $50+ a night you’d be able to check into some really swanky looking places - with rumours of hot water and a/c… But then where would the fun be in that???
The other downside is the wind. Now, I know you wouldn’t be able to do all this kite surfing gubbins without it, but if someone could find a way to do all that whilst stopping me from being sandblasted every afternoon then I’d be most grateful! On the upside, I did have fantastically smooth skin. Oh! And a tan!!! Well kind of, there were strap marks and no burning QED must have been a tan!
Oh, and do your swimming in the morning when the ocean is nice and calm, after lunch there is enough force in the wave to remove a girls bikini, as discovered by Frankie…
A little weirdly Muine is packed with Russians, to the point where a lot of their road signs and posters seem to be in Rusiian. Maybe it’s a communist exchange program? Hate to make sweeping generalisations but Russians are some of the most god awful travellers you can meet. There seems to be a type of Russian that can afford to travel, and they seem to be very rude, very demanding and very up themselves. The women all dress like they’re auditioning to be a bond girl and the old men all smoke cigars and letch at the women. And they treat staff so badly - clicking their fingers at waiters and yelling at waitresses; because somehow it’s her fault that something gets lost in the translation between pigeon English and thick Russian accents. When travelling through Asia you have to accept that most people serving you will have learnt English off their own bat and that things won’t always be exactly right, but unless you are eating at a upmarket hotel, sometimes you just have to go with the flow. Basically - if your dinner is costing you less than $1 what are you really complaining about? And it really is best to go local. A Vietnamese will always know how to make a blindingly good Noodle soup, as an Thai will blow your socks off with some pad-thai cooked on a camping stove on the side of the street. It’s not surprising that if they’ve never been to France they are not going to know how to make French Toast (only make that mistake once) so don’t yell at them if it looks like battered bread.
Incidentally, French toast deep fried in garlic infused oil from the previous evening does not a nice breakfast make.
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Tricia Bewick
non-member comment
Wow Soph, you really are having the most fantastic time that I am beginning to wonder if you will ever want to come back to the UK, except for Christmas Day of course. Can't wait until we see you at the end of Feb in Kerala, a whole 9months worth of cuddles to catch up on!!!!! xxx