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Published: March 14th 2007
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Our bus trip to Mui Ne was surprisingly comfortable, despite its bargain price. At least, it was comfortable as long as we were concentrating on something other than our bus driver’s driving. He certainly wasn’t conservative when overtaking and on several occasions even caused oncoming traffic to swerve off the road. Being dark, we couldn’t see much of the countryside, but through our window, we were amazed that even thought we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, the road was still lined with houses and there were still so many people about, although not nearly as many as in Saigon. Eventually we arrived at Mui Ne, which didn’t look very beachy, just a road lined with resorts. On arriving at our resort we were somewhat surprised and relieved that they knew we were coming, because the ‘travel agent’ we had booked with earlier that day didn’t seem too competent. Being lead to our rooms in dim light, we could still tell that Hai Au was a pretty nice looking resort, especially for us as budget travellers. Our accommodation was a quasi-traditional ‘cottage’ which was pretty cute from the outside and was very comfortable inside.
The next day we
awoke to discover that our resort was just as nice as we had suspected, especially the pool and gardens. Though, unfortunately our complimentary breakfast was a little on the average side. Worse still, the beach directly in front of the resort wasn’t great. In fact, there was really no beach, just a wall of sandbags preventing the murky ocean from washing away the resort. We had come in search of beautiful beaches like we had seen in Krabi, so this was really disappointing. This probably went a long way to explaining why the resort was pretty much deserted, except for three or four retired European couples. We didn’t mind this to start with, as we had the pool to ourselves, but after a while we were longing for a bit of atmosphere. We spent the first day laying by the pool and swimming, only leaving the resort at lunch and dinner to sample the gastronomical delights of the nearby restaurants. Many of the restaurants were really just people’s houses, with tables and plastic chairs out the front. Almost all of them had a dog, such as the one where we ate lunch this day. As we were eating this meal,
The Bus to Mui Ne
Only cost US$4 each, for a 5 hour journey! the lady who served us noticed that we were admiring their dog, and asked if we liked dogs. Of course we said yes. Then she replied, “Do you like barbequed dog?” Ordinarily, we would have thought she was joking, but as the chicken Alicia was eating tasted really strange, and had a texture nothing like chicken, this comment was enough to put her off her lunch.
We spent the second day cycling around Mui Ne on bikes we had rented. At only US$2 per bike for the whole day, we thought this was a real bargain. We later found out that a brand new bike only costs US$10 in Vietnam, so we were literally being taken for a ride. This is just one example of how despite the fact that everything seemed like really good value in Vietnam, tourists always pay at least double what a local would pay. It was just ironic that Vietnam was easily the place where we got ripped off the most, yet we didn’t care at all because everything was still so cheap. And besides, average wages were (according to a tour guide we had) just US$1 per day for people in the countryside
Local Lizard
These were all over our resort and US$10 per day for people living in Saigon, so we felt good when buying from locals. Anyway, our bike ride was our first chance to see much Mui Ne, as it was dark when we arrived several days earlier. It was interesting to see the contrast between the original local houses and buildings, and the newly developed 5 star resorts. Some houses were made from little more than scrap wood and rusting corrugated iron, while others were much grander, and were probably beach side retreats for rich people from Saigon. Our ride also revealed what we had earlier suspected. Almost all the other resorts were at the other end of Mui Ne, and there was much more action and atmosphere on that side of town. Unfortunately, we had booked our trip on a whim, and paid the price for not fully researching the place we were going.
Our third day in Mui Ne was also Alicia’s birthday. Of course, she was spoilt with a single gift. A pair of goggles from our resort’s gift shop that cost about 3 Australian Dollars. We spent that day relaxing by the pool, and Josh built up the courage to take the
plunge and go for a swim in the murky ocean facing our resort. While entering the water, he noticed a piece of wood caught on one of the sandbags on the ocean floor. Luckily he saw it before stepping on it, because several nasty looking rusty nails were protruding the wood and we’re pretty sure there were no decent hospitals near by. After seeing this, there was no way he was going to continue swimming in the sea, so it was back to the pool. That night dinner was by the romantic light of candles. No, Josh hadn’t organised a romantic birthday dinner (although he tried to claim he had), but rather it was a blackout, something we had heard was rather common in Vietnam.
The next day we returned to Saigon. We had enjoyed our stay in Mui Ne, as we got to escape Saigon for a few days, and see a different side of Vietnam. Also, this was probably the only place on our trip we would be able to afford to stay at such a nice resort. With a bit more research and planning, this get away could have been even better, but nevertheless were glad
to have had a couple of days to unwind and recharge.
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Chris Woods
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$10 Bikes?
I saw one of those girls bikes at a garage sale the other day for only five bucks outright , but the views were terrible , so there you go. Chris