Mui Ne, Vietnam

Off the bus from Na Trang (shudder) and before finding our hostel we spot a delicious looking little German owned cafe called Sinhbad (I think the spelling is purposely incorrect?). Chicken shish kebabs - yes please! Over the next few days we devour three of these, washed down with an iced coffee.

While eating my kebab I notice that my TSA number padlock is open and hanging on for dear life. On closer inspection I can see that a TSA unlock key has been used, these are only normally issued to airports for bag inspections, so they don't have to break your lock, but I'm sure you can buy them on the interweb. So, someone's opened it between Na Trang (shudder) and Mui Ne. Thing is this lock doesn't do anything, it merely clips onto the top of my bag in transit and I use it for lockers in hostels, and nothing is missing from the bag. I've heard stories of people sitting in the bus holds, rummaging through peoples bags, and the buses sometimes stop frequently with people fussing around the bus. The bus was run by the less than popular Cuc Tung travel agency (see my last post).

Dorm

We stay at the Mui Ne backpackers (Vietnam Austria house). A pleasant mini-resort with dorm's and rooms on various levels. It has a nice pool and backs right onto the beach, although a recent storm had destroyed the sea wall, and workmen were back and forwards fixing it. In the dorm we met some nice people (apart from the mute (ignorant) French guy who had a girl in top bunk with him). A man with a remote control pops his head around the door and switches the dorm A/C off at 8am, then back on at 5pm, leaving you sweltering if you're inside during the day.

Storm damage

Mui Ne is kite-surfing crazy! There must be a million kite-surfing schools here. There are 50 or so kites on the water at one time when we were there, but in high season there can be as many as 300! The wind is consistently solid which is a nice distraction from the heat. Oddly enough Mui Ne also has a myriad of mega-resorts, mostly Russian. Not really the kind of place kite-surfers (or backpackers) would, or could afford to, stay. This leaves you feeling like Mui Ne has an identity crisis. You can walk up and down the beach, but you can't sit on any of the loungers, as they're all resort owned (I got moved on several times). So all I did was go to the beach early (6:30am) for a tan top-up, a run and a swim, then hide from the sun for the rest of the day! (I still got very sunburned)

One day we took a tour. What might be the bargain of the century. For $8 a classic Russian (ex-Vietnam war) jeep picks you up and takes you to the fairy stream, to the white sand dunes then to the red sand dunes. Doesn't sound like much but there's big distances involved. A grand day out, returning at 6pm. Note: you have to pay extra for sand-sledges or quad-bikes. I took tons of pictures so I'll stop waffling and post some;

Fairy stream

Amazing colours and quicksand

Floating

Into the clouds

Sunset over the red sand dunes

Russian jeep

A group of us have a couple of nice nights out; one at Joes next door (which has never ever closed since opening) and one at a highly rated local curry house, Ganesh, which was truly delicious (and spicy), and my first dip back into a curry since purposely detoxing from India! Oh and talking of Ganesh I ripped my Ganesh t-shirt, on the shoulder, pulling my rucksack up, so *fanfare*, I bought a new one - finally! It's more of a polo shirt, brown, Lacoste, but it's an overdue addition to the smarter end of my "wardrobe".