Sand is overrated!

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until our South to North of Nam trip is over 😞

We arrived in Mui Ne after a semi comfortable trip from HCMC - back seats again, and already causing trouble with a local because of where he put his bag (where my feet were meant to go!), so Bianca said a few things and dumped it on top of his legs pretty much, ends up it wasn't his!! well he agreed...but we've worked this out...they agree on anything, because they don't know what we've said to them. We'll keep that in mind! Also met a guy who is living in Mui Ne now and is a kite surfing instructer. Mark's eyes lit up! But it ended up being too expensive for him to do it.

The minute we found an alright, cheap guesthouse we headed straight down to the travel office. We were hoping to leave the next morning, so we wanted to get all our sightseeing done! Turns our we were really lucky...we got there at around 1pm and the next tour via a jeep would go out at 2.30pm. So we booked into that and had some lunch across the road from there that we had been recommended. Really, really cheap and pretty good food and watermelon juice!!!

Decided to walk back to our guesthouse along the beach because all the hotels are built right on them. It wasn't far...but things always seem further away when you have to walk on sand! Got a little bit of sand all over us...and it was just starting.

Just back in time for our jeep. We set off for a busy afternoon of place after place. We first were taken to Fairy Stream, which I had later worked out was the Pink Stream that I wanted to see. Not quite pink...I'd call it clay red. A bit of a strange feeling walking in a stream which is ankle deep, with silty sand under your feet, and very dirty looking water...Don't know if this stuff is safe either... Anyhow, after the apparent 25 metre walk we decided that it wasn't great. Our driver then took us to look at the fishing port, where apart from seeing a cool little port, I also found a friend there - a little girl who was mesmirised by my bracelets that i bought in cambodia and how the dye from them had stained my wrists.

We then made our way to the white sand dunes. Pretty impressive, minus the hike along the sand!!! Bianca was going to stay put in one spot, but I managed to convince her to move on just a little bit more. We were buggered. it was hot, the sand was soft and the dunes were steep. Mark and I opted to pay $1.50 for the two of us to get some slides for the dunes. A lot of effort but well worth the fun. You'll see by the photos of Mark's rides why we call him 'lady boy' now. He was in a bit of pain... I had fun! But...sand bloody everywhere!!! I don't think I enjoy sand, nor does our camera. But I like the dunes :-)

We made a quick detour past the small Red Chasm (as the big one was closed???). I don't think they realise that it isn't really much of a tourist sight-see spot...it is really only a gully where there is extra erosion...

Sunset at the red sand dunes. Not as impressive as the white, but the sunset made it worth it. Again, we didn't favour the walking on the sand.

We finally got back to our hotel after waiting for cows to cross the road many times and opted for the same place for dinner. The food was slow, but nice and Bianca was a bit freaked out by the rat that she saw...apparently the size of a small dog that could take a leg off. I found it funny to rub my foot on her foot, until a cicada thing started to fly around...I stopped laughing...

With our luck it had also decided to bucket down while we were there so we had to walk back in the rain, after booking our open tour bus ticket to Dalat. It doesn't take long to flood in areas here. It was a horrible slippery walk back and I kept losing my thong as it got stuck in some mud/sand/sewage stuff. Yummy. Another early bus for tomorrow and lots of fun re-packing!

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