Sunrise on the Mekong & Mui Ne Beach

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It was 4:30 AM when our alarm went off. For once I actually woke up before the roosters woke me up. Only an hour earlier, it was pouring down rain on An Binh Island in the Mekong Delta. We had arranged with our home stay to go out on the family's boat at 5 AM to head to the floating market. Although it was drizzling and pitch black outside, we grabbed our Vietnamese hats and set out with a former Vietcong soldier and his 10 year old son, both of which spoke not one word of English.

As we chugged down the river, we watched the sun rise even though the sky was cloudy and admired the lush jungle and family homes that line the river. By about 7 AM we were at the floating market, which really consisted of a few big boats with fruit on them and then a real market next to the river. The morning rain made the market even more exciting as we trudged through the mud in our flip flops admiring live ducks, still flopping fish, unusual fruits, and all sorts of fresh meat just sitting out. Everyone was surprised to see us and as we walked through the market we got tons of waves and hellos. After a breakfast of the traditional Vietnamese soup Pho, we hopped back on the boat for our journey home.

Our homestay was located down a windy, dirt road on an Island in the middle of the Mekong. We ended up playing charades a lot with the family that we stayed with because only one of the sons spoke any English and he was often at school. The most exciting part of staying there was the motorbike ride to the homestay which consisted of sharp turns on a dirt road, 2 foot wide bridges over streams, and ducking around the low foliage. It was so much fun riding around the island on those teeny roads! If anyone ever comes to Vietnam, I highly recommend taking as many motorbikes as possible.

That afternoon we went to a tourist attraction on the island and did something I never thought that I would do - rode ostriches! Although they are pretty scary, it was pretty fun riding them. We also dressed up like Vietnamese queens, held a python (our guide said the python was friendly, so we believed him), saw crocodiles, monkeys, and even a peacock. Then we went and explored a local temple school. Our day in the Mekong was so random but so much fun!

Last weekend, the volunteers and I decided that we needed to relax a bit and get out of the big city, so we headed up to Mui Ne Beach for a little R&R. After an insane bus ride in which we almost died several times, we pulled up to Mui Ne in true backpacker style: without a place to stay. We eventually found a sweet resort right on the beach for about $30 per room, so we took it!

The next day we rented motorbikes and rode for about 2 hours along the coast to the white sand dunes to go sledding. The sand dunes were straight out of a movie. Little children charge you about a dollar to walk with you to the top of the dune with a plastic sled. On top of the dunes it was so incredibly windy that the sand stung our sunburns and we could barely open our eyes, but we managed to snap a few pics. Standing at the top of a steep sand dune looking down at where you are about to sled is really scary. I was the first one to push off and discover that you don't really sled down a sand dune like you do a hill, you sort of scoot really slowly and your butt sinks down in to the sand. So we drove 2 hours to scoot down sand really slowly, but it was definitely worth it just for the motorbike ride.

On the way home, I got behind the wheel of the bike for the first time. Seeing that I had never driven a motorbike, I didn't really have a feel for it. I had a passenger on back and had to start uphill, so I knew I needed a little extra gas. So I gunned it and we wobbled back and forth as my toes drug across the pavement, but we didn't crash! Although I was bleeding, I drove the rest of the way home and now I know that I need a motorbike of my own.

Thanks to all of you who have read the blog and helped me with this trip. It has been the trip of a lifetime and I am sad that it is over, but excited to get back to San Diego. Han Ga Blai! (See you later!)

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Photos

Where We Ate Lunch
Notice the turtle and rat picture. We made oinking noises so we would hopefully get served pork.

Motorbike Ride to the Homestay
Our homestay was on an island and we had to take dirt roads to get there!