Mui Ne and a few days on the beach

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On arrival in Mui Be it is a good idea to have some idea where your hotel is so you can ask your bus driver to drop you off in an appropriate place. Naturally we didn't do this and therefore we got a good look at the main tourist strip watching everyone else get off. Finally we were the only ones left and it turned out that the bus didn't go past our place. At least a taxi driver knew where we were going. It was miles out of the way! Our initial disappointment turned to delight as we had an almost deserted beach and an incredible beach front bungalow. Except for needing to get taxis going to and from the strip, it was perfect. We highly recommend the White Sands Resort.

We did plan on doing some sightseeing while we were there. The weather put paid to that idea though. Having waited so long to see the sun we made the most of the beach. The South China Sea was a bit chilly so when we needed to cool off, we went to the pool instead. We had a nice stroll along the sands too seeing the circular fishing boats in action and wondering where all the tourists were. The excursion to see Asia's largest reclining Buddha on top of a nearby mountain bit the dust, or should we say sand, and dunes are dunes, no matter where you are or how spectacular they may be.

We had expected the bars and restaurants to be a bit livelier at night. Instead we found ourselves eating either alone or with large parties of Russian tourists. The food was good wherever we went but special mention must go to Jibes where their buffet was excellent. The freshly cooked Vietnamese pancakes were lovely but we seemed to be the only ones eating them even though the old lady kept on cooking then continually, even after we had paid up.

So, a nice relaxing few days to get us ready for the stress of a return to Saigon. The bus was supposed to take 5 hours but we crawled along for 7 and a bit torturous hours as the weather got steadily worse!

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