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Published: July 14th 2006
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Woke up nice and early for the bus, but somehow still nearly missed the bloody thing! The journey really was shite. One thing that I should explain is that all of the buses over here are constructed for Asian people and me being head and shoulders above most of them means that I get zero legroom. As if this wasn't bad enough some inconsiderate little cretin sitting in front of me reclined his seat so far back that the back of the seat was literally touching my nose!
I was, however immediately cheered up by the scenery once we arrived. Mui Ne beach is beautiful. I apologise, but the pictures that I took are not worthy of being added. This was as a result of a combination of me being very tired and shaky at 7am and the camera being full of sand (see below for the reason why). The beach is enormous. It must be about 3 miles long, or even more. All the way along it is lined with resorts and I could immediately tell that this isn't really a budget destination. There is a lot of wind here, resulting in a lot of chop which in turn
has made Mui Ne somewhat of a Kitesurfing mecca. As we walked along the beach, as far as the eye could see were kites swooping around over the break. Out the front of each plush hotel were women sunbathing while their other halves were busy looking cool in their wetsuits. Whilst walking (looking quite dishevelled, sweaty and in need of a shave and a shower) we both agreed that there was zero chance of attracting any ladies during our stay!!!
The main sights of Mui Ne are the sand dunes and a spring in the surrounding area so we decided to book a jeep tour for the following day. We were quite upset to learn that we would need to leave at 5am after numerous early mornings over the past week or so. Admittedly we were a little late, but I think all considered we deserved an extra few minutes in bed. Walked to the entrance of the guesthouse to find our jeep waiting, engine running, fully loaded with passengers. As we got in we apologised for the delay and asked if they had been waiting long, to which somebody flatly replied "10 minutes". Ooooooh, good start to the
day!!!
The early morning turned out to be well worth it as the first stop was to watch the sunrise over the beach. We stopped on a really beautiful coastal road and watched the sun peep out from behind a distant island sending light dancing across the ripples of the sea. It was a shame that the sunrise was so beautiful actually as once it had risen, we turned around and it had shed light on the collection of horrors that were accompanying us on the tour! The contrast between the sheer beauty of nature and the 4 butch lesbian scousers that confronted us was quite horrifying!
We continued on to our next stop which was the white dunes. It's a massive expanse of sand as far as the eye can see. I think the pictures pretty much speak for themselves. As we arrived we were greeted by our guide who was an 11 year old kid by the name of Tun. We rented a sled from him which was basically a sheet of plastic with rope handles tied to the front that we would use to go careering off down the sand dunes on. I mean what
a job. Being 11 years old and getting paid to take crazy foreigners to surf sand dunes all day! Got to the top of the highest dune and began my descent. It was excellent fun and it's amazing how much speed you pick up. Unfortunately just as I was at peak velocity I fell off and practically every single orifice on my body was then filled with sand - niiice! - much to the delight of Tun who was in hysterics.
After this we moved on to the Red Canyon. So called as it is an area of deep red sand formations that have taken the form of cliffs leading into a canyon. The Red Canyon really was very beautiful and also every time it rains the formations change making each visit a new experience. Unfortunately due to our shite camera, the redness of the sand was lost somewhat so apologies for that.
We once again left the girls waiting while we were clambering over the sand like monkeys! Next stop was the Yellow Dunes. After seeing the White Dunes (that were deserted as it was so early in the morning), the Yellow Dunes just seemed overcrowded and
generally less impressive, so we just stayed long enough to take in the view and get a couple of snaps.
Finally, we arrived at the Fairy Stream. This is a shallow spring that starts at a waterfall, then makes it's way through some quite spectacular sand formations to the road. We got into the stream and started our barefoot trek all the way up to its source. It was a very pleasant walk, the surrounding landscape was beautiful, sand formations, waterfalls, random cows(!). Unfortunately the waterfall was a little bit of a let down as we couldn't actually see it!
By this time myself and James were feeling decidedly childish so spent about 15 minutes writing a message to Kiwi Paul (see picture), then amused ourselves with a good old game of Pooh sticks with two halves of a broken cigarette. We followed them all the way down to the road. James' took an early lead, however due to the lack of a filter on my vessel, the lighter weight brought it through to snatch a late victory! Hooray!
Got back to the Jeep to find the girls once again already waiting, their faces becoming progressively more
like bulldogs chewing wasps as the day went on! We made our apologies and headed back to the guesthouse for dinner. Got complimented by a Vietnamese waitress who was talking about marriage. Feeling a little worried, I avoided eye contact and left promptly after the meal. Had a 'Fanny Ice Cream' strawberry shake - hahahaha! (which was actually the best shake I have had all holiday), then went and booked our bus to Dalat for the next morning.
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U.Andrew
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Copycats
OK, James's Bebos and your blogs are word for word! Is he copying yours, or you his, or a joint effort? I have to say that the blog is a more user-friendly site for computor illiterates, and it's much easier to view the photos as well. Loads of love, Uncle andrewxxx