Sand, sand, almost everywhere!

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Things have picked up following the first day in Mui Ne.

We have found a good place to have pancakes, which keeps me happy, and I have allowed Rob to have a go at kite surfing. I think that shows that all is forgiven!

Mui Ne is the kite surfing mecca of S. E. Asia - on a windy day all you can see along the beach are kites. Rob's paradise, but it leaves little space for sunbathing! The beach is only 10m wide. He did 5hrs over 2 days, starting with kites on the land, which was old hat and progressing to body dragging, and then attempting to stand on the board whilst flying the kite.

The verdict to kite surfing is 'its cool!’ despite the multiple attempts at drowning. I was unable to get photographic evidence of Rob standing as they were shortlived attempts! But he found his feet nonetheless! As yet there are no kite shaped packages to be sent back to the UK!

Dinners have been fantastic here with so much seafood and each restaurant trying to out do the neighbouring restaurants, making for a competitive market. Our standard starter is shrimps steamed in coconut milk (not the kind of shrimp we are familiar seeing in a prawn cocktail, but what we would call tiger prawns!) - About a pound for 10!
Last night we then went on to have a red snapper barbecued, and what they call tiger prawns - Prawns that are about 15cm long weighing in at about 100g each. Absolutely delicious! We had this, 3 beers a pudding to share and it came in at 7 pounds including the tip. Bargain! Needless to say we are going to make the most of our last night on the Vietnamese coast and get ourselves a seafood feast tonight!

Yesterday afternoon, we hired a rickety old jeep and driver to take us to the sand dunes that Mui Ne is famous for. The first photo opportunity was off a fishing village - 100s of boats trying to catch our dinner! We then went to the yellow sand dunes. As soon as the jeep pulled up there were kids running across the road trying to befriend us (or get us to use their piece of plastic to slide down the dunes).

The dunes were impressive, if a little difficult to climb. The kids are there everyday so they made light work of climbing them, giving me a push and pull in the right direction when they felt fit.

We used their 'sledges' and slid down the dunes, the boys giving us a good push at the top just to make sure we picked up a decent amount of speed - I don't think that there was much chance of us not! Rob was persuaded to go down head first, with one of the lads on his back for added weight. We got absolutely carted in sand, it sticks really well to suntan lotion!

Then came the inevitable point when the children wanted some money for their goodwill. It started off with us calling how much money we were willing to pay, but it soon became clear that they had their own ideas about what was suitable. We were ripped off, but had so much fun, and they had been good companions. Speaking to others later they said they had left money in the sand and walked off, instead of entering into a debate - probably a good idea, and we will remember that trick!

From there we went to visit the 'red canyon', Vietnam's mini grand canyon. It was lovely to be able to walk up there at our own pace and not pass anybody - Until we reached the top when we were able to get our picture taken and do the honours for another couple.

We then headed to the white sand dunes to watch the sunset. Fewer children to be mobbed by here, but maybe it was because it was late in the day. The white dunes seemed to rise out of nowhere and stretched off in to the distance. The sunset was fantastic and a great ending to a brilliant day.

As you can see, thanks to Ned, we have been able to get some pictures onto the site. It is now easy, so there will be plenty more to follow! The majority are from the last couple of days, but we have selected a few from before i.e. Rob's now infamous haircut!

On the move again tomorrow - Down to Saigon, where apparently there are tourist police to help you cross the road as it is worse than Hanoi for mopeds! I can't see how that is possible, but we will see....

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