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Published: December 7th 2011
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Getting off the bus early that morning we headed to the accommodation recommended by Deon, to our relief there was not a cloud in the sky and it was already getting hot by the time we had breakfast. Not a flood in sight.
Nha Trang was used by the Yanks in the war for R&R (rest & recuperation) as it's supposed to be the best stretch of beach in the country. We decided to give it a try after breakfast and both of us ended up with sunburn, maybe our enthusiasm got the better of us after all that rain up north.
That night we went to a BBQ restaurant where they give you a mini BBQ grill on the table. This was a proper treat, a day off from the banana diet, and we were soon 'throwing shrimps on the barby', getting some practice in preparation for Christmas day.
The next day we went to find the mineral mud baths on a moped, it took us about an hour to find but we got there in the end and before long we were floating around in our double mud bath. How it is supposed to be good
for your skin I’ll never know. It's defiantly not good when you swallow it or get some in your eyes. Our fingers were like prunes long before we decided to get out and shower.
Our next stop would be Mui Ne. The bus departed Nha Trang at 08:00 and arrived in Mui Ne at 14:00. It felt like we wasted a day on the bus as we were used to sleeping on them, but the frustration soon subsided when we saw the beach. The beach here was out of this world set on a strip about 6 Km long, to the north is the backpacker’s area and to the south are the resorts which are frequented mostly by Russians. In fact finding a way onto the beach without trespassing through the heavily guarded upmarket resorts was proving to be a bit of a challenge when we’re neither Russian nor fat. (This may have helped).
By the second night we were staying in our cheapest find yet; a $4 per night guest house, making our own tea & coffee and eating ‘a good meal’ for next to nothing, although with my 28
th birthday 1 day away this was soon
to change..... Steak Time!!
10km north of Mui Ne are the Red Sand Dunes and a further 20km are the White ones, so we hired a scooter and went to see what they were all about. We arrived at the White dunes; they were literally in the middle of nowhere and miles from the sea. They were massive, probably 50 meters at the highest and set against a crystal clear deep blue sky. The only problem stopping us getting to the top of the largest one was the wind, it was like being stood in a grit blaster up to the knees, the higher we climbed the more ferocious the wind became. One couple went up to have some wedding photos and nearly got to the top; it was a brave attempt but ultimately ended in the bride’s vale being blown off. We dint stay long!
The Red dunes were a little less windy so we went sand sledging which is not as good as it sounds. You basically pay a little Vietnamese kid with some plastic and he / she pushes you down the hill.
My birthday celebrations the next day were a little unorthodox, Nat
told me on the night before that we were getting up to see the sunrise at the beach. After we had dragged ourselves out of bed, we got to the beach and had a fruit salad then saw the sunrise. It was well worth the effort getting out of bed as you’ll see from the pictures. Probably the biggest surprise of the day was unveiled at the red sand dunes later that evening, my birthday cake which was a double layer Snickers and Mars bar combo, delicious. The BBQ steak and shrimps that came later that evening defiantly topped the day off, as a surf & turf is a rarity!
After 6 nights we were pretty much beached out and ready for a change so we headed to Saigon for a few hours on the way to Cambodia. The contrast between Hanoi was like chalk and cheese. Saigon is way more cosmopolitan and westernised than its former northern rival, the streets seemed a lot cleaner, the buildings more polished and the citizens are better dressed.
We went to visit the War Museum which had a forecourt full of Tank’s of which there was a flame throwing example, a
US Marines Huey Helicopter straight out of the film Apocalypse Now and some old school Fighter Jets, the ones that delivered Napalm (complete with engines which I could still turn by hand after 50 odd years, I guess old habits die hard......Proper Geek!!!). Going up stairs to the Agent Orange Exhibition, this is no FBI special agent; it’s a chemical that the Yanks used to clear vast swaths of dense jungle in a bid to flush the Viet Cong into the open. The Dioxin or super strong weed killer was distributed all over Vietnam and Cambodia, the effects of which are still prevalent today in the offspring of the native people. It causes horrible deformities which were all displayed inside the museum, most people who came into contact with it died at an early age but some lived on. Children with 3 faces, missing / sealed up mouth and eyes, feet facing the wrong way the list could go on, it was very disturbing. Then it dawned on us the amount of beggars in the street with really horrific deformities, some young, some old who we had encountered all over Vietnam. How come nobody was ever tried with war crimes??
If it had been any other country what would have been the outcome?? Then we moved on to the unexploded ordinance exhibition. Following the most prolific and sustained aerial bombardment ever undertaken by man, a large percentage never exploded and will never be made safe. These claim the lives of many people every year and yet the Americans do nothing.
Anyway enough of the ranting, we nearly missed the bus to Cambodia partly because of the museum but mostly because I forgot to get some dollars out of the bank for the border crossing! The bus started to drive off with Nat stood with one leg on the road and one leg in doorway. They had thrown our bags off and tried to push Nat off, but she stood firm until I returned with the dollars. It was not my finest moment and Nat was well, not the most welcoming. Back to back buses without a shower.......we are now REAL stinking travellers!
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