Nha Trang, Mui Ne & Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
06.06-12.06
We arrived in Nha Trang at 6am absolutely
drained from hardly sleeping a wink on the overnight bus again. Chris, Dave,
Juliette, Nina and I occupied the back 5 of the bus and the seats were so
narrow that you could only lie on your back with your arms by your sides. Even
more annoying was the fact my seat didn’t click back and was only held in the
reclining position with my body weight. Whenever the bus hit a bump, which
happened about every ten minutes, my seat would spring up and I would fly
forward! Thankfully our tiredness didn’t really hinder us from our main aim of
lying on the beach all day. Although the beach in Nha Trang was really nice, we
were not that impressed by the town itself. It lacked a bit of character, and
although it is famed for its nightlife we were too tired to experience any of
it in the one night we had there. However, we did have a great day on the beach
and enjoyed a lovely seafood meal for dinner. It became clear as the day
progressed that Nina, Ruth and especially Juliette had gotten really sunburnt
while lounging about in the water. A LOT of after sun was used in the following
days. After the sun had gone down, we also had a game of beach volleyball. A
Vietnamese couple were sitting close-by watching with their toddler who was
fixated on the ball. As soon as someone over hit it, he sprang up and tottered
over to the ball and wouldn’t let go! Dave had to go over and make a plastic
water bottle look like the most fun in the world while we slyly did a swap
while he was distracted.
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A very skilled beach salesman |
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Purchasing Nina some new sunglasses |
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The baby thief! |
As we were short on time, we decided that we would only have
a night in Nha Trang but two in Mui Ne. Mui Ne is the sort of up and coming
beach destination in Vietnam for backpackers. It normally takes 5 hours from
Nha Trang but about 4 hours into our journey disaster struck and the bus broke
down on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. In typical south-east
Asian fashion, nobody who worked on the bus could tell us what was happening or
when we would be moving again. We waited on the side of the road and in the
increasingly stuffy bus for about 2 hours! Eventually a bus from the same
company showed up going in the opposite direction and we were told to get on
that and wait for further instructions. So we ended up having to go back
towards Nha Trang for about an hour before we were told to get off again and
get on a local bus which finally ended up in Mui Ne an hour later! We
immediately went to a restaurant and ordered about 3 mains each.
Despite the arduous journey, Mui Ne lived up to its
reputation as the beach was stunning. We stayed in the Mui Ne Backpackers which
had its own private pool and was also situated right on the beach. At high tide
you could literally walk down some steps into the sea! One minor drawback of
the hostel was a really rude American woman who worked there behind the desk
who seemed to hate her job and take it out on all the guests. We all wondered
why she was there if she so clearly didn’t like it.
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The nice little pool |
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Neen chilling out beachside |
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The Mui Ne beach at high tide |
The second day in Mui Ne we spent more time playing cards
and chilling out. In the afternoon we went to visit the sand dunes and the
Fairy Stream which were only a couple kilometres out of town. The area around
Mui Ne is known as the Sahara Desert of Vietnam due to the amount of huge sand
dunes. The Fairy Stream was a shallow river that you could walk in that ran
alongside huge rock formations next to the sand dunes. We didn’t really know
what to expect before visiting but it was absolutely great. Chris and Dave
decided to have a race from the top of one of the dunes to the stream and
underestimated how quickly they would go. They both lost control of their arms
because of the speed so we just saw them disappear down the dune with their
arms flailing! The minerals in the rocks made some amazing colours like dark
reds and oranges and we wondered along the stream for a couple of hours.
Nina and I shared a whole sea bass for dinner and the girls
shared a bottle of Vietnamese white wine which in the words of Chris was the
“worst wine I’ve ever tasted”. I don't think it was even made with grapes! We then went to a couple of bars further down
the beach to fulfil our dancing needs. When we were leaving Nina and I offered
to walk home as a taxi could only fit 4 people in it. As if on cue, as soon as
the taxi left a huge thunderstorm started with absolutely torrential rains! We
ran to take cover in a shelter which must have been a shop front in the day
time. It was possibly the heaviest rain I’ve ever seen! It became clear that
it would not stop any time soon and that we were just going to have to brave it
and walk the 20 minutes home. It was so heavy that it caused a sort of
flash flood and the roads were completely submerged. We took off our flip flops
and waded through it with the water coming up to our knees. Just as we were
nearing the hostel Nina asked if I had her bag with me, which I didn’t, and we
realised that we had left it in the shelter when we were taking cover! By the
time we had walked all the way back to get it and then all the way back to the
hostel again we were well and truly soaked. Astonishingly, by morning the roads
were completely back to normal as if nothing had happened.
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The view from the top of a dune |
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The race |
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The sea bass dinner! |
We had one day in Ho Chi Minh City before we would say
goodbye to the others and they would fly to Thailand while we would continue
into Cambodia by bus. Chris and Ruth made a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels in the
morning. Dave, Juliette, Nina and I were a bit more worried about possible
claustrophobia and decided to go to the market instead and everyone planned to
meet at the war remnants museum in the afternoon. In the market I bought a new
pair of headphones while Dave set out to find a new pair of shoes. He bought a
pair of Adidas trainers and put his old shoes in a plastic bag to carry. Since
the beginning of the holiday, one of his stated aims was to sell something to a
Vietnamese person and on the last day, in the middle of the Ho Chi Minh market,
he managed to do it. While we were at one of the stalls he asked the owner if
he wanted to buy his old shoes for 10000VND (about 30p). About 5 or 6
Vietnamese men then came over to inspect the goods and assess the situation.
After a couple of minutes deliberation they were taken off his hands for the
asking price! We were all pretty impressed.
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Ho Chi Minh City Centre |
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The market |
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Making the deal.... |
We then met up with Chris and Ruth at the War Remnants
Museum. They found the Cu Chi tunnels really interesting as their guide had
fought with the Americans and still believed that the North Vietnamese were in
the wrong throughout the war. The museum itself was fascinating and provided an
amazing insight into the long lasting physical and mental effects of the
Vietnam War for both the local population and the soldiers of both sides. In
the evening we went out for our final dinner together as a group and then sang
some Karaoke to cap of the holiday in style!
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Our final dinner together! |
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