DAY 3 &4 MUI NE
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2008
1
59
319
Trip End
Sep 02, 2009
Mui Ne,
Vietnam
Friday, November 21, 2008
We go out to have a look at the beach and there are two large groups who are pulling in nets. Quite a proceedure, with 4 on each side, with ropes around their waist tied to the ropes attached to the net out in the water. The two lines are quite far apart. The person at the end then goes to the beginning and so one, and so one. Finally they begin to pull the net in and keep moving closer together so they are not far apart. There is a funnel net at the bottom and we get to see all the little fishes in the scoop net. One of the girls spreads out an old net and one of the men brings a basket of fish from the net up and dumps it out. They all begin to sort and throw eah kind into a plastic basket. Watched on lady pick up a fish and quietly put it in her basket under her drinks and then went back to the group to sort. There were, what we thought, large jelly fish they dumped out to go back in the sea. Lots of garbage and plastic bags seem to be endless and they just leave them to go back into the sea. Yesterday I did pick up all the plastic bags on our sand and put them all together in one bag, but then what do you do with them, put them in the pile of stuff to burn on the empty lot. I could have a full time job just picking up plastic bags.
It was getting hot standing in the sun so we went off for breakfast. Looks like it might cloud up so we make arrangements and rent a couple of bikes. Off we go into what we thought is the town of Mui Ne. We check out shops, the market and stop at some hotels. Find a reasonable one with a pool, no internet, so we give up the intermittent internet for a pool and decide to move.
Back to return the bikes and pack up and check out. The manager/maintenance man was getting a little much. First day he asked Len to buy him a beer, and Len did, so one would think he would be pleasant, but just seem to be more obnoxious as the days went by, and never stopped bugging Len to buy him another beer.
So off we go and hire a couple of scooters to take us back to the hotel. Had to wait for the room and chatted with those checking out. Met a chap from Grand Forks who did railway track testing for stability (I guess). We talked about Churchill as he had done those tracks this past July. He was heading north with his female travel guide.
Room is on the 2nd floor and overlooks the pool and ocean. A bit closer to the street so at times we can hear the honking. Not too much sandy beach, but Len can go down the stairs and jump in the ocean still. Met a brother and sister from Vancouver, they liked to go out and jump the waves and body surf so Len had someone to join the fun with.
I sat on the lounge with the padded cushions and swam in the pool. Found another great restaurant across the street and have enjoyed the food there. It always seems to be busy so others must think it is good too.
DAY 4
It was a good night, but, there is a group of touring Vietnamese men in the hotel who are up and in the pool. First I thought maybe it was cleaners, but the crowd and noise grew so we looked to see who it was. By 6 they had finished their swim and moved on.
The view from the side window we look out from in bed is a blue sky with waiving palm branches and trees just loaded with cocoanuts. I'd love to see one fall while just lying there!
We decided to rent bikes as it is cloudy and go to Mui Ne, which is the other way than what we thought. We ride out about 6 kms and then about another 3 looking for the sand dunes. We did find them and are greeted by children carrying sledding carpets. One enthusiastic girl tells me her name and then mutters something and begins to count 1, 2, 3 and the next thing I know is riding side saddle on the back of my bike. Surprised me as I'm now trying to keep from wobbling all over the road and falling off! I stop and tell her to get off. We lock up the bikes, now they want to negotiate with us to watch the bikes while we go sledding. We decline and walk up the hill. More offers to rent a sledding carpet. I say I am too old to do this and one girls says 'no you young'. We have our look at the dunes and then head down to bike into town. We go into town and look for a market but can't find one. Len takes a picture of the motorcycles (very old ones) that have a big basket on one wheel out front. There seem to be lots of them in this town.
Back on the bikes and we head south. Stop in at the first restaurant we enjoyed for lunch. Just outside was a scooter/taxi accident, and yet the big busses still come barrelling along honking for everyone to get out of their way. Unbelievable.
After lunch we head back to the hotel for a dip in the pool to cool off. We are then back on the bikes heading south to watch kitesurfing. We park our bikes at a tour office and walk through a cafe to the beach. Lots of beach here and look down and out over to see about 25 to 30 kitesurfers out on the water. The kites are all colours. We have a look at one on the beach, it is about 15 feet long and 4 feet wide, with air pockets along the top and dividing spines on the kite. There are about 6 lines from the kite to a bar and the surfer hooks his jacket onto the bar with a rope. Once the kite is up the surfe heads for the water, grabbing his board along the way. It looks like a lot of fun out there and I ask Len if he wants to take lessons and try it, but so far he has said no.
We stop at a cafe and have a fruit salad and just watch all the surfers going in and out over the water. Saw one guy riding a wave get lifted into the air! Quite the colourful sight. We head back to the bikes. Lots of very nice resorts here with patios or decks right on the beach. A younger crowd and I am sure a party hardy scene.
We keep the bikes and are going to ride down the street to check out other restaurants. The wind comes up and the sky is black so we change our plans and take the bikes back and go to our regular restaurant. It is packed tonight. We picked out large prawns for dinner - 250,000 dongs for 1 kilo. We take half a kilo and get 12 prawns. The place is packed and we invite a couple coming in to sit with us. They are from Leipsic just outside of Berlin and don't speak English they say, well a little and I get to try out my German. It was a good evening, we enjoyed the prawns, bottle of DaLat white wine, and made a couple happy by sharing our table and conversation. Time to go and it is now pouring. Oh, well, I sing "Singing in the Rain" and we dance on home.
I have mosquito bites on my legs. The new place has a net for over the bed so haven't gotten any more. The salt water of the ocean and the pool soakings and making them heal fast. Lost more skin off my soles while walking along the sand today.
DAY 5 MUI NE
Up early to music this morning. Loud music. There was something going on just down from us last night, but with the rain it ended early. I guess they are picking up where they left off this morning. Actually it is in the lot next door and there are about 15-20 young people and 1 guy in the middle with the mike. He could have just spoke to them and they all would have heard just fine without the mega amplifiers going. We went out for breakfast and could still hear them down the street. We had banana pancakes covered with chocolate syrup again this morning and finished with 2 hard boiled eggs.
Relaxing day today. I did some laundry, a dip in the pool, su du cu, reading and then went down the street to find some bread, tomatoe and cucumber for sandwiches by the pool for lunch. Also found a watermellon. We actually sat on the balcony and ate. I think the view made it taste even better. The watermellon was delicious and we ate it all. We do have two young women as neighbours who came up while we were eating, I said we will do lunch tomorrow with them.
So here I am descrietly drying my laundry over chairs on the balcony below the railing so no one can see them. While we were sitting out at the pool a young guy brings his laundry out and drapes it over two chairs and table to dry and then goes off and leaves it all there! Silly me, I guess I have to start acting like a young backpacker.
I was in the pool with one of the workers little girls, she is 6 and has a teacher come in for half a day. Her father was getting her to count to 10 for me in English, I praised her. I counted to 10 for her in Vietnamese, but they didn't seem to impressed with me. I sang the head and shoulders song and went over the eyes, ears, mouth and nose. She didn't want to repeat after me, but her father kept encouraging her. He liked it when I spoke with her as I am sure he thinks English from someone who speaks it would make for better pronunciation.
Tonight for dinner we tried grilled red snapper. It was good, but a little too much chili spices for my liking and I think we would have enjoyed it more if it had been gutted before being cooked. We did pick all the meat from the bones, it was enjoyable and came with rice and vegetables - mostly boc choy with a sweet soya sauce.
We are enjoying the break from moving and just relaxing in between bike riding. Outside of the rain last night so far it has been just great here in the warm day sun . Always a breeze blowing to keep you cool as it is also humid.
Comments
Pancakes
Mmm...banana pancakes with chocolate sauce...