A little place called Mui Ne....

So on the journey goes, after venturing inland for a brief two-day sojourn into the mountains to Dalat, we were on our way once more to the coast and a small beach resort called Mui Ne. Before we arrived however, we would first have to contend with the four and a half hour journey back down through the mountains. A route made even more impossible by the driver's irritating decision to take a seemingly 'more scenic' route, that according to the map on the iphone, didn't even exist! Even though we were the only westerners on the decrepid old bus, each and every passenger looked as bewildered as each other as the bus struggled through mudslides, part-destroyed roads, herds of buffalo and hare-pin bends that wouldn't look out of place in a James Bond movie. Why this madman couldn't have gone the more conventional route along the highway, we will never know. Even so, we arrived shaken but in one piece in Mui Ne nearly five hours later, where we waited patiently for yet more motorbikes to pick us up to take us to our guesthouse.

After finding the hotel on the internet by accident really (saying that it was #1 on trip advisor) I phoned the owner where we had a long conversation where he told me that the guesthouse was actually closed for renovation but they were building another, very similar one right across the road. He said we could stay there, as it was 90% complete and he would put us in a proper suite with stunning views of the pool downstairs and also, stunningly, the sea in the distance from our terrace. Apparently the offer is called a 'soft opening' (don't think about the name too much) due to it not being complete, but whatever it is, it is good! We managed to haggle him down to 20 dollars a night when they will be going for around 70 dollars in a few weeks time.

To match the beauty of our surroundings the guys that own and run the place like everyone to mix together, to create a real family vibe. This they have in abundance. We met some really great guys there and decided to book another couple of nights on the back of our welcome alone. That night we dumped the bags and went out for food, noticing straight away that the tempreture must have been a good fifteen degrees hotter than in Da Lat, absolutely crazy.

The next morning we woke fairly late for a change, had yet another beautiful breakfast made freshly for us and got talking to the guys about what to do over the next two days. We decided that as the weather was so good we would take advantage of the beach and the fact that the guys here have a special 'partnership' with one of the huge, mega-resorts on the beach. Basically for 4 dollars each we could spend the whole day using their facilities, making use of the pool etc. After walking through the grounds we hit an amazing stretch of beach, Skegness this certainly isn't. The sand powdery white, the sea bath-like warm and hardly a Russian in sight. Oh yeh, the Russians! Forgot to mention this. Bascially Mui Ne is Russia's biggest foreign holiday destination outside of the Black Sea resorts of the Ukraine. Which kind of puts a very surreal spin on things given the fact that every shop in Vietnam sells bucket-loads of Red Star adorned memorabilia and the equally interesting fact that the Russians like to wear said Red Star memorabilia. In essence, as you witness large groups of Russian blokes walking around wearing red stars and singing in Russian, you could be back in the height of the Cold War in Moscow, but by the seaside. Very strange.

Anyway, the beach was perfect and so we spent the whole day there, only sidetracked once by a game of beach football involving around twenty Vietnamese and a couple of Aussies, who in true Antipodean Style, just ran around kicking everyone. Without sounding like Roy of the Rovers I scored a hat-trick and the winning goal, celebrated with my adopted team and then fell into the sea in a sweaty ball of mess. I don't think Shell had known where I had gone for an hour or so but it's the first football I have seen in months and I was truly mesmerised.

Back at the hotel, we were preparing to head out for food when all of a sudden the power completely went out followed by a rainstorm of vicious proportions, causing a literal river to form outside of our room. It never really stopped all night so we were kindly offered to have take away brought up the hill to us from the restaurant which is fortunately owned by the same guys. For the first time in a couple of months we gorged on take-away food but take-away food of the freshest Vietnamese fare you could imagine. I have said this many times already on this blog over the past few weeks but Vietnamese food is to die for. By far the tastiest and most varied I have had the good fortune to experience.

The next day we awoke to a bit of a grey start but with the promise of the weather clearing to create yet another perfect beach day, it wasn't to be. Although we spent the whole morning on the beach, we had to run and take cover at about 2pm as another giant rain cloud approached. Crashing into the beach bar we sat and thought we would wait it out by playing draughts, the poor man's chess. In true Shell style, she ended up being silently amazing at a game she never plays. You see this is the thing with Shell, vastly understated and relatively introverted, she is enormously intelligent without ever wanting or needing anyone to know that she is. Which is why after three hours of tense, Gary Gasparov style draughts I was comprehensively and humiliatingly defeated. Never really winning a draught piece and outhought at pretty much every turn. Not happy. But well done Miss Fleming, chess next time. (We just have to learn how to play it).

That night we hung out with some of the guys from the hotel, one of the girls, called Olivia, comes from Chichester no less! Very small world indeed. (Could be Olivia Mastrolonardo in twenty years!-If Vito let's her?). After ordering yet more food to be delivered by the restaurant we headed to bed early in hope that tomorrow the weather would clear.

As the weather was still overcast the following morning we decided to opt out of the kite-surfing lessons and hire a motorbike! Now I have never ridden a motorbike before, in fact I have never really driven anything motorised before so I was determined to do both of us proud by conquering at least some demons of mine. After a brief lesson from Jake outside the hotel we were on our way to the sand dunes to the north-east, some 40kms away! Not a bad baptism! After some initial wobbleyness and being squeezed off the road by an apologetic bus driver we were on our way, and I felt as high as a kite! (I'm thinking Vespa or Lambretta when we get back!).

Finally arriving at the dunes, we were once again blown away by the sheer size and magnitude of them. Parking up we were then convinced to hire two wobbly peices of plastic that we were informed you could sit on and sledge down the dunes. In reality they wouldn't budge, even though we walked 10 minutes to the top of the highest point. Daylight robbery. I tried to remonstrate with the kid who hired them to us but I think he just thought I was excited. We spent a good 2 hours there before riding all the way back to Mui Ne where we had just enough time to visit the Fairy Springs, a river which you actually walk in barefoot, all the way to a waterfall, half a km away. All the time you are surrounded by vibrant red cliffs and rock formations, giving the whole experience some what of a Bear Grylls edge, half expecting a snake to jump out at you! Half way we did notice a place where you could ride an ostrich the rest of the way, now that would have been an experience. I think my dad would have loved that...

The next morning we woke to glorious blue skies! Typical. The previous day we had booked tickets to Saigon, a journey of some five hours as our visa ends on Saturday and to be honest if the weather isn't great then Mui Ne offers very little itself. It was just our luck then that the weather is amazing. As I type away here on the bus as we roll around the endless roads of Saigon I am not looking forward to the hustle and bustle of a city that is home to over 10 million people! We have been warned what to expect but I don't think anything can prepare you for 12 million scooters!

We have offcially been gone two months today. I can't quite believe it really. In some ways I guess it has flown by but then I think back to what we have already seen and done and I just feel dizzy. Let's just hope the next few weeks are equally as impressive as we head away from the coast and into Cambodia and Laos, may even try deep-fried spider!
Much love, Tommo xxx