In the morning we got dropped off at the Nha Trang bus station, took a taxi and luckily could check in early (it was 7 am) int Tuyet Mai hotel. Not the best hotel, but it was okay for the moment and we wanted nothing more than sleep. We were in „my old neighbourhood“ (to my horror I discovered that our old hotel from2 years ago had been taken down to build a skyscraper hotel) and took a stroll to the beach, stopping by at a tourist restaurant to have some breakfast/lunch. We enjoyed sitting on the beach for some time and buying a fruit salad from one of the ladies illegaly ranging the beach here. This lady actually duck behind us and left in between as not to be caught by the police. Strange, but still the fruit salad was good and I discovered: I can eat pineapple..at home I am allergic to it.. We finally got up and walked a little along the beach, went into a kitsch shopping center and entered a small coffee bar with a very shy Christmas elf behind the bar. The ice coffee was great, but the sound from the big street outside was not… Later we tried to find our bus office to confirm our ride for the next day. The guy just looked at us and said: You’re too late, it’s full. But we insisted that he called again and then we got 2 seats on the bus. Yeah! The evening we spend in the fabulous Sailing Club on the beach, enjoying western style food (me: a mozzarella lamb burger with fries and a fresh coconut as a drink).
Mui Ne
Next morning we had to be up very early, because the guy from the bus office told us to be there at 7 am. Our receptionist cooked a fine breakfast (the typical omelette with tomato and a small baguette) and made a fresh coffee for us. And then we walked through the already busy streets to the bus office..which was still closed. There came a guy a little later..and the bus to pick us up actually came at around 8am.. We had a 5 hour bus ride to Mui Ne, which was quite boring and naturally very rough. I spent most of my time watching the landscape and the people outside and taking photos.
At noon we arrived at a very warm Mui Ne and walked up to our guesthouse, Blue Sky apartments. When we entered our room, we were not very pleased to find the place had not really been wiped over, the bed had not been made up properly and the fridge was turned off and stinking. So we got down again to let it fix and at least the next day our fridge was cleaned out. We went to a little backyard restaurant by the sea, had ice-coffee and a mango pancake and than all of the sudden I felt sick.. Fantastic..
Fortunately it became better instantly and so we walked a little along the so called beach. The water was up to every resort hotel’s walls on our way and so we got a little wet. We believed that the beach was practically non-existent here, but later learned that the flood just started at noon, so the mornings were fine to enjoy the dry sand. When it was getting dark we saw a lot of cute little geckos roaming the walls of our hotel. Oh yes and I fotgot to mention: it’s Christmas eve. So we got ourselves a little treat and had a nice dinner at a very good restaurant, including Dalat wine. Then we opened presents. Tina got several from friends at home that she was made to take with her, then I gave her a little Christmas book and mp3s and I got a cool green foldable travel cup.
Actually there were a lot of places in Mui Ne and beyond who had built great silver shining mountainous grottos with figurines of Maria, Joseph and Jesus inside. Very strange looking for Western eyes, but they were supposed to be Christmas cribs.
The next morning we got ourselves bikes (for 35.000 Dong = ca. 1,50 EUR per person per day) and cycled about 2 km to the next ATMs and the great white sanded beach our receptionist had told us about. We had booked a tour with her and had to be back at 2 pm. Tina jumped into the sea and we enjoyed the sight of about 50 kite surfers flying and surfing the waves. This beach was really a LOT better that at our place. So if you’re ever in Mui Ne and don’t stay at one of the plenty beach front hotels: turn into the (probably only) small lane that leads to the beach next to the Blue Ocean Resort. It also leads you to some Kite surf schools. At 2 pm a jeep picked us up at the hotel and drove us to the entrance of the „Fairy stream“. First we walked barefoot through the stream, which later turned out to be a wider canyon of enormous beauty. What a pity that ALL the tourists were shoved here at the same time. The next stop was a point were we could overlook the Mui Ne fishing boat fleet. Hundreds of mostly blueish coloured boats floated at a cove that protected them from most storms. Now our driver (who loved hitting the horn so much) took us to the famous white sand dunes. He dropped us off and told us to be back in 40 min. In this time you don’t come very far on foot, so many people rent one of the very very loud quads to cruise the dunes. It looks like fun but the sound is absolutely unbearable. But besides the noise the dunes make you feel like you’re in a piece of Sahara just placed here for fun. After strolling back to the jeep the guy drove us to the other fmous sand dunes: the red ones, nearer to Mui Ne where we had 20 min to watch the sun set. This was actually quite funny, as you could see fifty or more tourists stand in a row on the edge or on top of the highest dune all staring towards the sun. On my photos they are all weird silhouettes against the sky.
When we returned we had a fantastic one-hour Vietnamese massage (all-body). After that we tried to book hotel rooms in Saigon and Phu Quoc. The latter island was much too late, we almost couldn’t get a decent resort at the beach. The next day was our beach ay. We cycled to the big beach 2 km away. The sun was shining, it was around 30°C and a total blue sky. We had a snack at one of the resorts on the beach but were not able to rent a deck chair with them, as they insisted they were only for their guests. In the evening we went back to our Christmas Eve restaurant and who did we meet there? A couple, Lynn and Petra, from Shanghai, who we had first met on the dragon boat in Hue and then again while we had a bus break on our way to Nha Trang. We talked a lot and they invited us to come to their resort on the beach the next morning (which was in front of our hotel). So we did. It was great. The sea in front, free deck chairs and nobody new that we were no guests. Lynn and Petra were also there. We enjoyed for an hour and then – very unfortunately – we had to get ready for the 5-hour-bus to Saigon which picked us up at the hotel. Another sleepy, rocky bus trip half lying down. On the tour as well as on other tours over land before we enjoyed the many communist soviet flags (hammer and sickle) lining the roads (hung up probably for the 70 year jubilee).
