|
  | |  |
First weekend away - Mui Ne
Entry 4 of 6 | show all | print this entry |
|
My third weekend in HCMC turned out to be a long, long one for, um, Vietnam National Day I think. So after a day at work on Friday still kind of seedy from Anzac Day, we set off in a mini-van complete with DVD player and eski to Phan Thiet, Mui Ne.
We arrived a good 5.5 hours later (this trip can take anything from 4 to 7 hours depending on traffic, which is usually BAD and quite unsafe) to check in to our hotel. At US$50/night I was expecting something pretty nice, but no. Winchamp is one the ocean (as are most hotels in Mui Ne) and has a pool (again, common) and that's about it. The rooms were old and nasty, the bathroom smelled and leaked, and there was a mysterious rusty stain on the steps of our semi-detached bungalow that looked a lot like a murder scene. The reason they charge what they charge is that they are next door to one of the only night spots in Mui Ne - WAX.
I was grateful at least that I could go back to my room to use the toilet - the spew-ridden, flourescent-lit, flooded cess pits at Wax have left scars of my pscyhe... Don't get me wrong, I can squat with champions, I just prefer not to go where so, so, so many people have gone before, and in such creative and disgusting ways. Anyway, we didn't spend much time in the rooms, or the toilet, preferring by far to spend time in or by the pool drinking cocktails. Although the guys from Wax are not fab once your order gets more complex than "Ginnnnntonic" - witness my flouro blue Mai Tai that tasted like cherry medicine and petrol.
Ms Amanda has possibly the whitest skin in Vietnam (except the Koren lady walking down the beach wearing a Darth Vader helmet - I kid you not) and had an unfortunate nasty sunburn received while she scuttled like a crab from the shade of one building to another. Ouch that took weeks to go away. But it didn't stop her from catching the eye of Hungarian bar manager Andreas.... (By the way Miss M - saw him again last weekend when we were up there! He's as orange as ever).
There were boy troubles all round that night really, with Jodes memorably (not for her) trying to catch someone's eye by performing unsteady sun salutations around the beach bonfire. Nice one.
So all in all, a long weekend of lounging, laughter, sun(burn), and watching kite surfers for hours on end. They are pretty beautiful when the wind is strong, as it usually is in Mui Ne. You do occasionally get sandblasted (literally) while lying on the beach, but as long as it doesn't get in your freshly bbq-ed crab, who cares?
Where I stayed:
Windchamp
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries by zieba, from Vietnam or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
