Crazy Carpetting down Sand dunes

Trip Start Jun 01, 2008
1
9
40
Trip End Aug 27, 2008


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of Vietnam  ,
Monday, June 16, 2008

OK So on Saturday Morning, we left Saigon to make our way to Mui Ne, a city on the coast.  WE had bought our open tour ticket, so we jsut have to tell them the day before and then the bus comes to pick us up.  So we showed up in the morning, and once again, due to very hard communication in english, we were very confused of waht was going on.  NO one seemed to know where our bus was.  All the travel agencies are on one street and ALL the tours leave from there.  There are a lot of buses at 8 am everyday, and this is supposed to be low season.  I dont want to imagine what it would be like during high season!! So we waited at about 3 different agencies until this random guy told us to load on a bus that was at the other end of the street with a different compnay...but somehow we made it here alright and pretty much on time.  So we got here, and as per usual, when we get off, lots of people surround us to get us to go to their hotel.  So we got one for 8$ per night by the beach. We went swimming for a bit and then just hung around the hotel.  Mui Ne is all on one street but the street is VERY long so it is pratically impossible to walk anywhere or do anythign outside your guesthouse.

The next morning, we got picked up by a jeep to go see the sanddunes and other sites in the city.. So first, we went to see the fishing village, quite a typical image of vietnam there with all the workers and their conical hat working at it by the sea. Quite busy and all the seafood looked very good.  Then we went to teh white sanddunes.  It was so nice and we took lots of pictures.  We also rented some crazy carpets to slide down the dunes.  NOt as fast as snow but still pretty fun except that we were covered in sand by the end.  There were 4 other vietnameses on the bus with us and they bought us some sugar cane drinks.  SO SWEET. Sean and I could barely finish them but didn't want to insult them.  Anyways, then we went to see a red canyon and yellow sanddunes.  IT was really hot so we didnt walk around too much on the yellow sandunes as there were not as nice as the white ones and it was boiling hot.  WE ended the tour at the fairy stream. This is a stream in a canyon where there are 4 types of sand..white, yellow and black, and red.  It was really nice but the sand was really hot and we had to run and jump parts of it cuz the sand was too hot for our feet.  We then went back to the hotel and decided to go for a swim.  Everything was fine until i got STUNG by a jelly fish.  I had never been stung before so taht was quite the shock.  Layed down a bit so the sting would stop burning and then went to the hotel restaurant to grab a bite. Who do we see checking in??? Stefan and Andra!! Great! So we spent the rest of the afternoon and night together hanging around teh beach.  We had also booked our bus to leave the next day for Dalat, a city in the interior with apparently gorgeous waterfalls.

So this morning, we wake up at 6:30 am to catch our 7:30 bus to Dalat.  BUt surprise!! at 7:20 this guy comes to tell us that there is no bus and that we will take the 1 pm afternoon bus.  GAHHHHHHHHHHH this ruins all of our plans because now we get thre at night and we cant do anything today.  We are FURIOUS but they say we cant do anything.   We only have 3 weeks in Vietnam and this doesn't help us in seeing everything we want to see.   We took two buses so far and the first one was complete confusion...its not looking good.  So we are just wasting time until 1 pm till the bus come get us, if they actually do, at this point anything is possible.  We are not happy and they know it but since we can barely communicate it is very hard to ask questions.  Apparently they called us last night but we were sleeping but the owner failed to tell us anything before this other guy came this morning.  And since we already checked out, we have nowhere to go or nothing to do.  So annoying but I guess this is the way it goes!!!  WE will have to adjust our plans in Dalat see if we will have to spend an extra day there since our whole plans are changed now!
Print this entry