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Published: July 26th 2012
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Cheers
Vietnam We left Saigon on our open bus ticket and headed to Mui Ne. After a very long bus ride, on a sleeper bus, I need to explain what exactly that means to us. A sleeper bus is designed with basically a lounge chair-but as Americans, take our average lounge chair, cut it in half lengthwise, then cut off bottom third of it. I fit fine (but I sat backwards in it with my feet in the air); Steven, however, looked like he was in Baby Bear's chair. We pulled up to Mui Ne, found the road that led to our guesthouse, and started the trek up. Halfway there the rain poured-out of nowhere, well, not nowhere, the typhoon in Hong Kong started it. Anyway, Steven ducked under a corrugated tin roof-and what do you know! It is a little Vietnamese Grandma selling beer! We stayed and had a beer until the rain stopped then kept going.
Our guesthouse was beautiful, Mui Ne Hills 1, but the town itself is nothing but tourist shops and most of the shops and restaurants signs were written in Russian. We bailed the next day.
Sleeping bus again, but when we got on this
Sleeping Bus
This is the only way I could get comfortable. time we did not have assigned seats! We rushed to the back of the bus where there are five seats in a row and comandeered the rear. Spread out, with fans, and a whole lot of tiny pillows, we were off. Six hours later we pulled into Nha Trang at night, two guys offering us to take us to our hotel on moto-taxis, not a chance. Found a regular taxi and off we go. Landed five minutes later, greeted by the owner and his wife, and we had a cold beer and were looking for somewhere to eat.
Down the street we went, found the restaurant our hotel kid recommended. We sat down and the waiters had to go get the manager-he was the only one that spoke a little english. We ordered some beer, and asked for the fresh grilled grouper. The waiter came back to tell us something, and I turned in my seat to find the damn grouper in a net next to my head-with the waiter saying enthusiastically, "OK? OK?". Steven said yes, I questioned the price but oh well-I didn't win this time. We ate probably what was meant for a three generation Vietnamese
Ferry Crossing
Looks as rickety as it was family and paid our bill and crashed for the night. But bliss was not to follow. Our room faced the street, so we woke to blaring horns of traffic and the sun scorching through the windows. And if that isn't enough-the power goes out at 6 am. And stays off for seven hours. We ended up sitting in a tea shop that was fully shaded but had ice for at least two hours waiting for the power to come back on. During that time, we walked around the block only to find a beautiful hotel with a pool! Needless to say, forget the budget, we're hot. We are checking in tomorrow for three lovely, cool days-with or without power.
Oh-and the rest of the open bus ticket? We still have one more leg of it left to get to HoiAn. Some lucky backpackers we meet between now and Monday are getting free tickets. We're flying.
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