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So 7.30am monday morning we hopped onto the open-tour bus for another 5hour journey further down south. After our 12hour+ journeys of late this seemed rather short! The drive was incredibly picturesque as the further we went the more and more awesome the beaches starting looking...on arrival it was a great sight to see the sun shining and the water sparkling: pretty much the first we had encountered in Vietnam so far!!
Getting off the bus we bumped into a couple of Swedish people who were keen to bunker up together so we trooped around until we found a very modist bungalow hotel with rooms at a very low $12 compared to neighbouring resorts! Apparently prices have been increasing majorly in this town so we were happy with that (despite being double to what the Lonely Planet suggested, published just over a year ago). Best thing was, we were right on the beach!! With a simple bed, mosquito net, bathroom and cold water, what more could you ask for haha.
After dumping our bags we ventured around and discovered that there isn't much of a town centre - rather all the places are spread out across one main road which follows the coast for 5km or so. So after a quick lunch we were out to put our feet up on the beach! We quickly discovered that the waves were 'back breakers' with quite a tough rip - nonetheless a lot of fun! That night we then strolled along the beach and came across quite simply the best restaurant, which came to be our one-and-only eatery for the remainder of our stay in this town!! It was actually called "The Popular Restaurant" haha. The freshest and bestest (is that a word?) food and incredibly cheap prices. The menu was huge and nothing was a disappointment. Again, it was right on the beach, with our chairs sinking into the sand...
Having organised a jeep tour the previous day, we were up early the next day at 5am to catch a ride out to the infamous red and white sand dunes. Not knowing what to expect these were quite impressive- you could almost think you were in the middle of the Sahara desert or something. Despite booking a 'sunrise' tour, by the time we arrived at the dunes, the sun was already up, and furthermore there were already quite a few people at the dunes - even a wedding party trying to capture the perfect shots. A young local boy followed us as we trekked out and offered us some sand mats for a $1 - these turned out to be a lot of fun and if you trekked out far enough you could find some pretty massive drops to surf down! Aza and Patrik (swedish) had a good time trying to out-do eachother whereas I never made it to the bottom - always falling head-first or sideways haha...not quite sure why!
Afterwards our tour guide took us to the local fishing market which was a pretty awesome sight to see - piles upon piles of freah seafood were being dragged onto the shore and then straight away after some haggling other locals would pick the up the purchase and it would go straight to their mouths, or their restaurant, or other market down the road. Despite the massive piles of seafood, the beach wasn't even the slightest bit smelly - the Vietnamese certainly love their food!
By 10am we were back at our hotel and proceeded to enjoy a day lying on the beach...The town has the reputation as a surfers resort, with a lot of kite surfing as well - so there was gear to be hired out everywhere. Despite a good breeze, the surf was crashing close to the shore so the boys made-do with some body surfing which was entertaining to watch from a spectator's point of view!
By 1pm four more people we knew from Nha Trang had arrived and they managed to find a place just down the beach which was even better. After deliberating for minimal time (!) Aza and I quickly decided to extend our stay here from 2 nights to maybe 3 or 4 (turned out to be 4), thereby avoiding a trip to the mountainous Central Highlands area called Dalat...we figured we had seen Sapa up north, and will be seeing more mountainous areas in Thailand next month (Chiang Mai) and since we definitely want to be returning to Vietnam again, then Dalat will be #1 on our itinerary...).
So from tuesday to the following friday afternoon our days consisted of sitting on the beach, swimming, and trudging up and down the sand to the same "popular" restaurant 2 or 3 times a day. Hard work! At night we could get take-away crates of 450ml beer from our local and would simply sit on the beach playing cards, sharing stories, looking at the stars (!). We didn't quite have the guts to put together a bomb-fire, despite talking it up a fair few times! Each night we would be bumping into new people, so again it was altogether a social time...On the thursday it was Andy's bday (one of the crew, from Sydney) so it was yet another excuse to party haha. Can't complain!!
In other incredibly important news nicky had a massage on the beach, and we all had an attempt at mega-sandcastle-building (which didn't quite get finished, the beer was calling...). In odd news, almost all locals seemed to own tiny miniature dogs - another form of entertainment for us spectators...Mui Ne was the time to put our feet up, soak up the sun (atlast!) and eat copious amounts of fresh fresh seafood and other yummy delicacies....All in preparation for the crazinesss of HCMC which awaited us on Friday night...
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