Hai Yen Family Resort Mui Ne

Our journey to Hue (pronounced something like Weigh but with more of a back of the throat ‘wh’ at the beginning) was stunning. Instead of going through the newly built tunnel we decided to go over the mountains which was far more stunning than the interior of a mountain. If you’ve seen the Top Gear Vietnam episode (which is you haven’t you should) it’s more stunning than it looks on camera.
Was very appreciative that the travel sickness I use to ...

... be a pain for us to get there and we have read a lot of mixed reviews about it so Mui Ne it is. For $64 a night, we are staying at a resort on the beach of Vietnam, with very few people. Yes, $64 a night is a rip-off here, but very well worth the expense. Imagine a very touristy beach in Hawaii, like Waikiki, but take away 95% of the tourists and lower the prices to about 1/10th of what they are in Hawaii, and you've got Mui Ne.
We haven't really done much of anything here but ...

... to the mountain to find it totally deserted except for staff... The cable car wasn't even on (they had to start it especially for us!). There were beautiful views and the big budda IS very big (although hidden away around the back)! Apparently it's the largest in Vietnam.

We headed back to Mui Ne and explored the Cham towers which we always enjoy (nerds!).

Mui Ne's main attraction, though, is ...

Drew's awesome German managed to bag us a lift to the Vinh Moc tunnels, half way between Dong Hoi and Dong Ha. We were up at 5am (yes, 5am!!!) and not exactly raring to go! We arrived at the Vinh Moc tunnels ridiculously early but it meant we had the whole place to ourselves... Including the fact that the tour guides didn't arrive until half an hour later. We were assured that we could do the tunnels on our own though so off we went...

The ...

... were two young boys that took a basket boat out to the fishing boats moored out a bit. They maneuver the basket over the small waves and against the current with only a small paddle. They eventually make it out and come back to the shore with plastic containers full of squid and fish for the waiting village people. Everyone gathers around, each have a specific job in the process of separating the fish and putting them into different ...

We set off for Laos today. the bus took us to a town on the Vietnamese side of the border, called Dong Ha to spend one night there before being picked up by another bus and taken across the border into Laos the next morning. It was a bit of a nothing town, obviously just a place that people pass through on their way to ...

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After that we headed to the Vinh Moc tunnels, where families live for 6 years during the war. These took 18 months to dig, an incredible network consisting of 3 levels. 12m deep, then 15m and the final 23m deep.

Then went to the beach and had fish for lunch then swam in the sea, Mr Hoa joined us and Mr Binh just chilled out in a Hammock.

Then the 35km ride back to Dong Ha. All in all a thouroughly enjoyable trip and highly recommended to anyone!!!