Chilling out in Mui Ne

The train to Mui Ne was awesome... as they always seem to be.  I was, again, the only white person on the train an became the centre of attention.  I love it!  Some of the Vietnamese kids on the train had never seen white people before, and they were shocked at firs.  One of them ended up having the courage to run up to me and shake my hand.  He repeated this for quite a while, also pulling my arm hair and trying to kiss my arm.  Everyone on the train was laughing and watching, very entertained by the whole thing. 

Mui Ne fishing village

I was also lucky that on the train I was sat next to the only Vietnamese guy who could speak English pretty well.  Turned out Huang owned a bar in Mui Ne and was heading back, so he managed to sort me out a cheap motorbike from Muong Man to Mui Ne (about 30km).  I ended up staying in a quality beach hut on the beach for $6.  Might I add that I had done this alone, as the boys wanted to go to Dalat and I didn't. 

The Red Canyon

I spent most evenings in Huang's bar, The Sand Dollar, before heading off to watch sport in Dany's Pub.  Not a bad ritual, although itr meant I didn't eat dinner once in Mui Ne.  The finishing venue tended to be Wax Bar, where you can sit on mats on the beach by a fire.  It was here I met up with a girl I met in Ninh Binh originally, Sarah, which meant I wasn't drinking alone for long!  As the place was open late, I had to climb over a wall to get back into my place at night.  No worries, I'm the king of stealth.

The first full day I had I hired a motorbike rather than pay $25 for a topur of the local sights.  The sights included yellow and white sand-dunes, a red canyon, a pink stream with a waterfall, cham ruins, and fishing villages.  Got some good pics, which I'll put up soon.  As I had gone out early I had it all done by 2pm.  From then on I spent the next day and a half chilling on the beach, getting brown, getting burnt, getting peeling.....

View of Phan Thiet from the Cham ruins

Mui Ne was really nice, a good place to relax and I preferred it to Nha Trang.  I left on 12th March, again via a train, and again having a similar experience with the locals.  Awesome experiences.  Next stop Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)...