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Published: November 29th 2007
The Gang In The Dunes
Minus one Chez of course.
Shina, Luna, Lovell, Couch, Lucy, Paul and Adam.We have just spent the past three weeks in Mui Ne, a beautiful and picturesque beach on the east cost of Vietnam. The sun has mostly been shinning, apart from the past few days, and I have bizarrely found myself wishing for the wind to come, and praying the typhoon will hit us sooner, rather than later.
We came here to visit every one's friend Lovell, and since then he has been trying to convince us to stay longer and longer than we had planned. We have fallen in love with the place though, there's a great community of people and plenty of water sports to keep us entertained, weather dependant.
On our way here we did stop off in Ho Chi Minh City (formally Saigon) for a few days to soak up some Vietnamese culture and attempt to cross the road. As we stepped off the bus bringing us from Cambodia, we waited at the side of the road for a very long time, deliberating how we were going to cross over with all our luggage. Luckily there was a break in the traffic which saved us on this circumstance, however, later on in the day we were
helped across by one of the locals, and an elderly one at that, a bit strange! I have never seen that many motorbikes all driving at one time (I'm sure that I have said that before, but each time surpasses the last), it appears to be every one's preferred mode of transport. With that many motorcycles it does look scary crossing the road, especially as most do not wear a helmet. They have not cared too much for safety in the past, but a law is being enforced in December to make helmets compulsory. Anyway, we soon learnt that the key to crossing the road was simply just to walk out slowly, the bikes all swerve to go around you, but cars never head to anyone, so you have to make sure that you don't cross in front of them. If you run across there is more of a chance that something will hit you, so slow it was. After an hour of walking around the city, we soon became experts at it.
Ho Chi Minh was a really hectic city, very busy and bustling. The roads were busy for the whole day and night, people constantly moving about
and working, contrasting with the quietness and size of the previous two countries that we have visited. Walking down the road one day, along an avenue of shops, Adam and I were walking in front, and Lucy and Couch were walking behind. Suddenly we heard a massive crash, and turned round to see a commotion in one of the shops. Between us, a motorbike had accidentally ridden into an expensive looking picture and frame shop, and from the sounds of things, caused a fair bit of damage. A few people stared for a bit, but it was cleaned up and they went on their merry little ways. Just another day in the city.
A major attraction in the city was the War Remnants Museum. As you could probably guess, this was a museum of the effects of the Vietnamese war in the 70s. At the entrance there was a photo exhibition from the media's interpretation of the war. Many of the reels of photos were the last roles taken before the photographer and/or journalist was killed. Very harrowing photographs, showed much of the unnecessary damage and hurt done to the country, and how many of the Americans were caught
up in the glory and thrill of the kill. Photos depicted American soldiers holding up the remnants of dead bodies from the opposition, with big grins on their faces, without a care for the sake of a human life. There were before and after shots of some of the battles, in particular of where the new chemical warfare was unfairly tested, showing considerable damage and difference. We then walked through a collection of retired military artillery. Each weapon or vehicle had a plaque that clearly stated the range and damage of the weapon, or where the weapons were carried. Most of which were from the American army. It was then that we came to the most distressing part of the museum, the after effects of the damage caused from the war. We were greeted with the faces of those that had been exposed to the chemicals of Agent Orange and Napalm, and those who were born with birth defects as a result of their parents having been exposed to the defoliants. There were also those that had been the victims of torture as prisoners of war. The last section showed a mock tiger cage where the Viet Cong were held,
Lucy Holding Lil' Chez
In the palm of her hand. How we entertained ourselves in the sand dunes! tortured and beheaded after the war had ended, and showed how the country was starting to rebuild itself. It was a very interesting museum, although very heart braking at times.
Whilst in town we decided to see a water puppet show, a traditional Vietnamese art. It originated from rice farmers finding a way to entertain themselves during times of high flooding. They used long paddles in their water logged rice paddies to manipulate the puppets, giving the impression that the puppets are floating on the water, and often popping out of the water at desired intervals. It was a really random performance, changing from dragons playing with balls to men sailing ships. One scene portrayed a man trying to drown a cat, maybe some sort of link to rice paddy life. I am sure that there was a story line in there somewhere, but with all the commentary and music being in Vietnamese, it was hard to follow. A very clever skill though.
Concluding our time in Ho Chi Minh City, I have re learnt how to cross a road, been caught up in the local culture, had a tailor made suit produced, almost over heated at night
from sleeping in a sweat box with no windows, and have told many people that I don't want to buy a book whilst I'm eating my dinner! Some guy came up to Couch when we were sitting in an Indian restaurant waiting for our food and started to massage his head. We were all a little bit confused at what was going on, but Couch asked him to stop and to leave him alone. The guy then asked for money for the massage. The cheek!
We also experienced this cheek in Mui Ne, on a day trip to the sand dunes, canyon and fairy stream. The fairy stream is a really shallow stream that you can walk along to see a waterfall at the end, and along side a mixed coloured sand canyon. Very beautiful. Anyway, we were walking along the stream and two kids started walking along side us. They then asked us for money for the tour, even though they had just started walking along side us without saying a word. It is really annoying, especially as they make you feel bad for not giving them any money, but we didn't ask them to walk beside us
Lovell and Luna
In Lam Tong, our favourite restaurant in Mui Ne. after all. It puts a downer on a good day.
The sand dunes were really stunning. They go on for as far as the eye can see, so made me feel as if I was in a desert. We visited an area of red dunes, an area of white sand, and a few days later we visited the site of the Full Moon Party, where the sand was more orange and much more of a deserted area than the others. This particular area overlooked the sea, perfect for the sun rise. In Lovell's spare time, when he is not teaching kite surfing, and when there is no wind, he organises full moon parties in the sand dunes, to earn a little extra cash. The site is perfect for it. I'll come back to that a little bit later.
In the mean time, we were lucky enough to be the guinea pigs for the kite surfing instructors course that was going on the week after we arrived. We were each given two instructors for an hour each and they had to teach us the basics of flying the kite, how to set up the kites, and how to perform
Kite Surfing
Mui Ne Beach an emergency self rescue in the sea if the kite goes down and cannot be relaunched. They were using us to practice their teaching on, whilst under watch from the examiner and partner, who all offered ways that they could improve as a result. Lovell went through everything again with us afterwards though, to make sure that they taught us correctly. It was fun, especially flying the kites. The plan was for Lovell to teach us after that, up to a level where we can practice by ourselves, however, due to a lack of wind and many jellyfish washing up in the sea surrounding the each, that didn't quite go to plan. Adam, Couch and Lovell all got stung by the little buggers when showing them how to body drag in the water, so when my turn came we called it a day. Frankly, I am still quite glad that I have not yet been stung by a jellyfish, and hope that I can avoid it for the rest of the trip! Lovell was stung quite badly on his arm. Adam was stung in three different places by different jellies, and Couch was also attacked a few days later, whilst
out body boarding. Unfortunately, Lucy had to go home shortly after the guinea pig session, and since there was a period of no wind she missed out on the actual lessons (although at this point that is actually only about 30 minutes extra).
So, saying goodbye to Lucy was sad, and I have missed her ever since. She did look incredibly comfortable in the sleeper bunk bed bus that she departed us in, on the long trip back to Bangkok, to get the flight back to England. Lucy is definitely hardcore!
The days of no wind that we experienced shortly after were attributed to the incoming typhoon that was scheduled to hit Mui Ne on the day of the full moon party. It sucked out the wind, and brought us some rain, and incredibly hectic waves to play in. Trying to body surf one day, I got completely wiped out by one wave that seemed to spin me around like I was in a washing machine and my rash vest ended up around my neck! Everyone who entered the sea got completely pummelled by the waves. This did bring us worry though, if the typhoon hit, the party
The Pool at Wax
A regular place for us to hang out. could not go on as planned. As each day came and went, the news changed, then suddenly, a car was driven around the town with loud speakers, broadcasting that the typhoon would hit on Thursday night / Friday morning. So whilst the locals were tying all their stuff down, and telling people not to go in the water, we were getting excited. I really wanted to see the typhoon, however, it never actually hit. In the night it turned right around and headed back to the Philippines. We were saved!!
In the meantime we helped Lovell with all the preparations for the party. One thing was to build the tipi for the DJ to go in. The team mission was successful. Adam also put an Ableton Live set together, for which he had to spend a lot of time downloading stuff from the internet, and Couch practiced mixing on Virtual DJ. We all spent much time practicing on the circus toys for the visual displays, and promoting along the beach. At least we had something to do when there was no wind and no sunshine!
On the evening of the party, a group of 10 of us transported
Building the Tipi
For the party. On the dunes at our house. all the gear to the dunes. It was such hard work. It took us three trips each to carry all the speakers, amp, tipi, banners, drinks, ice, water, rubbish bins, generator and fuel up there. My body still aches from it now, almost a week later. Sweat was pouring from every orifice, and I was huffing and puffing as if I had a house to blow down. Then I was sent on a mission to collect fire wood, and had to go through the whole experience again! We were saying before that it was almost not worth the hard work, but it certainly was. It all came together like a perfectly designed puzzle. We had ten minutes of rain just as we arrived to the dunes to set up, sending a few waves of uncertainty through us, but it disappeared without us even noticing it, lucky! Such a relief and so satisfying to see it all set up, then two coach loads full of people arrived and the party began.
Needless to say that we had an amazing time, got very trashed and partied until the sun had come up and it was too hot to continue. There was
Full Moon Party
Tunes In Da Dunes. a couple from Tasmania there, who also happened to be staying in the same accommodation as us, who danced around in their underwear for most of the night, and tried to convince everyone else to do the same. We were feeling a bit sorry for the boyfriend after the girlfriend started to do it, but then minutes later he joined in, without a care to the world. Very funny! Probably the most talked about thing of the evening.
We had a great selection of music played, breaks, techno, drum 'n' bass and electronica, really loud. Everyone congregated around the booze table until it was all canned, and then the dance floor filled up. 98 bottles of rum, plus other extras, were brought up there, and all had been consumed. I danced until the sun came up, then we found some people sand boarding down one of dunes, and I laughed very hard at the outcome! When Couch walked back up the sand dunes he was completely orange, covered head to toe in sand.
The clearing up went without a hitch at the end too, shocking everyone, as everyone was in a state at that time of the morning.
As all the drink had gone, and we had more people, only one trip to get it all back. Lovell certainly knows how to throw a party! Thank you for a brilliant night!
Chivo flew into Ho Chi Minh City on the Saturday of the party and caught a taxi to the bar where the buses left from to go to the party, arriving just in time. We met up with him on the dunes! How crazy is that!?! Such a good surprise to find out that he was coming to meet us, and very random! We convinced him to come travelling with us a few days after the party.
Unfortunately it was time to leave Mui Ne, and Couch had to fly home. Farewell to Couch and Lucy, but hello to Chivo. We have had some fucking great times in the past few months, I am very grateful of their company and will miss them loads. Hope you have both had a safe flight home. The new group of three has just flown north to Hanoi, the capital city, and plan to travel back down south to be back with Lovell and Luna, his beautiful girlfriend, in
Early Morning Raving
Beautiful scene brought by the morning sun. Mui Ne in time for Christmas.
Take care everyone, miss you all too and wish you were here with us too.
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Kat
non-member comment
Wowsers
OMG I am the most jealous person in the whole world. :-( Wishing I could travel but glad you're living the dream!