Vietnam's Coast - Nah Trang and Mui Ne

  Mui Ne, Vietnam
Wednesday, November 12, 2008

First things first, I'm afraid there are very few photos with my next few blogs... I can't upload my pictures, so I am relying on the ones that Tom and our friends have already put up... sorry chaps!! Anyway....

Me and Tom out and about in Nah Trang

Nah Trang is a fairly big sea side town towards the south of Vietnam... I usually really like smaller places, smaller than the big cities at least, but Nah Trang didn't really have much character at all... We spent several days lounging around by a pool near the beach, trying out the nightlife, and then sleeping in... oh, and we did get to have one seriously good Indian curry... :D Tom and I stayed out until the end one night, and as we came out he was surrounded by two women, one grabbing his crotch at the front and the other pretty much humping him from behind... I went over to ask them to stop because he looked a wee bit perplexed... "Why stop?!?" "Because he's my boyfriend and you have his knob in your hand!" They didn't appreciate it... and it was only the next morning that we realised that they had managed to lift all the cash out of Tom's wallet... bugger... fortunately it wasn't a king's ransom and we just put it down to experience...

After another similar night out, we had to get up about an hour after we went to bed to get on a bus to Mui Ne... Fortunately it was another sleeper bus, so we were able to curl up in a ball and sleep all the way... and we also met up with Roxy that day, as she was on our bus!

Our bungalow in Mui Ne

Mui Ne is a pretty small town with just one very long, very straight road running along the coast. There is a "rumour" amongst backpackers in Vietnam that the south is much warmer and friendlier... and in this town I found it to be absolutely true... After a little bit of searching we managed to find some small and basic bungalows just set back from the beach for $8 per night... bargain!! And I've got news for you... Charlie DOES surf!! We had one great night where me, Roxy, Tibbs and two girls we met in Hoi An, Aimee and Michelle, sat on the beach drinking local rum and then dipping in the ocean until 4am... at around 1am we ran out of rum, so I went to ask at the closest bar if we could buy some... they didn't have any, but the girl I asked offered me her moped to go to the shop and buy some... being the sensible girl that I am, I said thank you, but that I probably wasn't in any state to ride a moped, so she got on, took me on the back and took me to the shop, where I got rum and cold coke at the local's price... flippin fantastic!! Unfortunately, Tom wasn't feeling too well that evening, and was on antibiotics, so he missed all this gallivanting... He hadn't been feeling well for a while - problems with his jaw and ear, so that next day we had taken a taxi to the hospital... we were in and out so quickly, and it didn't even cost very much at all... we were most impressed :)

Sand boarding :)

We had some fantastic weather in Mui Ne and the beach is gorgeous, so we tried to take advantage of it as much as possible... one day we rented 3 mopeds, one for me, one for Tom and one for Tibbs and Roxy... we drove for a few kilometres to get to the sand dunes, where you can sand board, or rather sand-sled down... As we arrived we were immediately surrounded by children, and it was a case of pick a kid, and follow them up the hill... they were proper little wheeler-dealers, bartering for the price of the sheet of plastic that was to act as our sleds... We got to the top of the dune and went straight down... once was enough for all of us though, as it wasn't that exciting and no-one could be bothered to walk back up!!

Me and Tom at the Fairy stream

We went back down to where we'd left the bikes, ate some lunch and went on our way... or everyone else did... you know all those "You've Been Framed" videos you get with people hanging onto the handle bars, being dragged by a moped, and you're screaming at the TV "JUST LET GO!!"?? That was me... across two shop fronts, towards a number of small children... so I held on, which made the bike accellerate... I was trying to steer away from the kids... eventually (it was probably only seconds, but it felt like a long time!) I let go with my right hand (accellerator hand) and pulled down with my left, so the bike came down on my leg and I was dragged along a little bit... it sounds worse than it was... I was fine, just a big graze on my leg which is now a cool scar that I can point to and say, ín a gruff voice, "yeah... I got that in 'nam..."

After that little drama (and me getting over the embarrassment, as the show I put on gathered quite a little crowd!) we set back off to go to the Fairy Stream, which is just a long and very shallow stream that you can walk along in order to get to a waterfall... there's also another big sand dune you can climb up for a great view of Mui Ne, which we also did....

Sunset in Mui Ne

So Miu Ne was mostly relaxation with one action packed day and A LOT of card and pool playing... :) Eventually we got on another sleeper bus and headed to Saigon (officially called Ho Chi Minh City, but every single person I met called it Saigon).... but that's another day and another blog :D