Mui Ne,
Mui Ne,
Vietnam
Sunday, May 18, 2008
We got up at 5:30 this morning, too early. We had a bus to catch to Mui Ne, an estimated 4 and a half hours from Ho Chi Minh City, at 7:30. We had a bit of packing to finish, then we headed out hoping to find some breakfast and go to the ATM. We found both, but neither of us were feeling all too good, probably from our binge on the buffet last night, so we just grabbed some shakes and toast. We went back to the hotel and the guy asked us to pay before we got all our stuff. He showed us the bill, 5 nights plus half the taxi bill, for a taxi ride we never got. We told him that we are not paying that, its not our fault that the guy didn't wait for us, when I had told them to check our flight. He was very timid and didn't argue, I think Jes scared him a bit. So we just paid our room, which he claimed he had given us a discount on, which wasn't true, so it all balanced out. We got our stuff and I said good-bye to the girl who works the reception in the daytime and was very friendly to us, then we headed out for the short hike to the travel agent. We waited til about 7:40 for our bus and finally it arrived. It wasn't in amazing condition, but at least we got pillows and the seats went back. We drove around the area a bit to pick-up other passengers at other offices. The ride was supposed to take 4.5 hours but we heard it could take up to 7 with the traffic going out of HCMC. After an hour of sitting in traffic we were expecting the later. Things freed up once we were out of the city and the ride went pretty smoothly, that is with the exception of the incessant horn beeping of the driver and near-miss car passing. Its like they have a secret horn language, communicating their next move. We had a short stop about halfway for bathroom and snacks and of course some hounding by other people selling stuff. We were both able to get a bit of sleep, which was a miracle because of the horn-happy driver. After about 5.5 hours we arrived in Mui Ne. We first stopped at the travel agencies office along the main area of the road (Mui Ne isn't really a town so much as a strip of hotels/restaurants) and were told there would be a half hour break and we could have something to eat, then the bus would drop us off at our hotel. When getting off the bus we were surrounded by touts wanting to take us to a hotel, we just repeated "no thank you" over and over, saying we already had a hotel. We didn't have a hotel, so we just told the bus company the one at we planned on staying at and pretended we had a room booked. We sat and had a shake at the nearby restaurant, during which one of the tour guides did come up and ask us if we actually had a room booked at the Canary Resort, where we wanted to stay. We said no and he said if we come to the agencies office down the road, just across from the resort he would get us a good price. So we agreed, he seemed trustworthy. We all got back o the bus and others were dropped off along the way. We got off with the tour guide and went first to their office, TMK travel or An Phu travel, he said he could get us a deluxe room at the hotel for $50, which was way cheaper than we had seen on the net. So we thought, why not, and decided to go with it, but we had to pay them, then get a receipt and go to the hotel. We were a bit hesitant but again they seemed trustworthy, so we went with it. He then took us over to the hotel and we checked in. The room was quite large and clean, with a nice balcony overlooking the pool area. We realized that we would have to get some more money out, so we headed out to go to an ATM. We asked the lady at the front where the nearest one was, she said it was about 2 km back toward the town. We figured we would just walk it, see how it goes. After walking for quite a while we went into another resort to ask them. Jes claimed that the guy said the nearest one was about 7 km. Okay, so what do we do, keep walking or see if Jes could get a motorcycle to take him to the nearest one? We attempted to ask some motorcycle taxis where the ATM was, but they had no idea what we were talking about. Then as we walk away two of the guys start following us claiming they know ATM. We laughed, that's convenient, two seconds ago they didn't know and now they've had a revelation. We just kept walking, as a few other motorcycle guys tried to ask us where we wanted to go. Eventually we came upon this massive flood in the road, which we had driven through on our way to the resort. After making our way around it, trying to avoid the cars flying through it, we came upon the sinh café, which is in lonely planet and were able to ask a woman there about the ATM and she said it was about 500 m, at Huang Ngoc. Soon we had found it, finally. The ATM was housed in a small glass case that was air-conditioned, how genius. After we argued with the ATM, cuz it wouldn't let us take out enough to last us, since we had used one this morning (the limit is about $250 CDN), we enjoyed the a/c for a bit. Then we headed back, we thought we would try to walk along the beach and see if they had any restaurants along it. The ocean here is very rough, maybe comparable to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, but the beach is pretty nice, but not all that clean until you get in front of the resorts. We walked along passing by fishermen that were packing up, dogs pigging out on fish left behind and some cute kids playing in the water. We had to jump over a few streams, one of which we had to actually walk through at the opening into the ocean, since it was too wide, don't wanna know what was in that water. After a while we made it back to our resort. We hadn't seen much for food, so we thought we would just eat at our hotel. The hotel seems to cater more to Vietnamese, so the menu was a bit sad, not even any noodle dishes. We thought we couldn't go wrong with some chicken fried rice and some veggies. Again we were mistaken, I have never seen such disgusting chicken in my life, I seemed as though it was left over pieces, some just cartilage, other with bone, others with skin, I would like to know if any asian person would have eaten it. So that turned us off completely. The veggies were okay though. After we thought we would have a nap, the day was starting to sink in. So we had a short nap and hung out in the room. It seemed as though there were some exceptionally loud people staying a few doors down from us, I think it was the yelling back and forth between rooms that gave it away. After a while we went down to the lobby to use the wifi and email some places in Nha Trang, our next destination. As of right now we don't like it here and the "resort" sucks, except for the pool, which we have yet to use. After hanging out and having a drink in the lobby we decided to call it a night, tomorrow is a new day. On our way back to our room, we noticed that the same noisy room down from us was packed with people, all talking and laughing very loudly. Come 10pm the noise just kept getting louder. Jes went down to the reception to ask when the noise would be done, she said that it was a special occasion for the group and it should be done by 11. 11 rolled around and still the noise continued, seemed as though it was a group of women in particular that were practically screaming at each other, along with everyone chanting and laughing, most drunk out of their minds, all right out in the hallway outside our door. Jes went down to reception again at 11:10, the lady said she would wait a bit and then ask them to quiet down. On the way back to the room Jes asked them to be quiet, they knew what he was talking about. We figured it would get better after that, until midnight came and the noise was still going. Jes got out of bed a 3rd time and this time the people knew why, Jes said they had a look of fear on their faces when they saw him. Right when he walked out of the room he told them to shut up, one guy, who spoke English, stood up immediately and told him they were sorry and would be quieter. Jes told them to go to the lobby or inside the room, with the door shut, just not in front of our room anymore. The guy said that was a good idea and they would go to the lobby. Jes asked what this was all about and the guy said they were and tour company and it was their one year anniversary. Then a drunk guy come up holding up one finger saying "one year" over and over again. They all had a good laugh. They soon packed up and moved downstairs to the lobby, finally we can go to sleep! Chao for now!
Zoe
