To get from Hoi An to Mui Ne we had to take a 20 hour bus ride on a sleeper bus. We had been told to be at our hotel at 6pm by reception. Joey and I decided it would be a good idea to eat at the Indian restaurant we had been to earlier in the week. As we're walking to our hotel we see a sleeper bus drive by. Joey was like "I hope that wasn't our bus...." When we get to our hotel (It's 5:50pm) There is a man waiting outside saying that we need to follow him NOW because our bus has already left and we need to meet up with it. We're running through alley ways in Hoi An trying to catch up with the bus. When we catch up with it, there are about 4 guys grabbing our bags and yelling for us to get on the bus. I made the mistake of not taking my shoes off before I entered the bus, and got an ear full from the driver. Sorry I'm not familiar with Vietnamese bus etiquette.
Obviously we choose the worst seats on the bus. Joey still has the school bus mentality that it's "cool" to sit in the back of the bus. We're in this little corner on the back wheel of the bus. I can feel us driving over pebbles on the street. The A/C didn't work down there so it was blistering hot. Plus the beds we're in don't full recline, and they're so inclined that I kept sliding down. I lasted about 2 hours there before I couldn't take it anymore. As much as I would have liked to be with Joey for the journey, my sanity and beauty sleep are more important.
20 hours later: We arrived in Mui Ne. We had already decided that we were going to stay at the Watering Hole Resort which was rated highly by our Rough Guide book. It was supposed to have a restaurant, a beauty salon, a bar and a travel office. Non of which were open when we arrived. $20 a night bought us a room with 2 of the hardest beds my tush has ever experienced. We were also accompanied by many friends. Ants were everywhere. I took the initiative to use toothpaste to plug up the holes they were entering the room through. Much to my dismay, they'd make another hole somewhere else. I gave up pretty fast. We upgraded the next night to a room directly on the beach which has less ants.
The beach in front of our resort was covered in garbage. Obviously this is a 1 star resort, but still not what we were expecting. Walking the beach involved not getting plummeted with brown waves, and not stepping on articles of clothing, dead crabs, and fishing net. Grrrrrreat. The construction site two doors down really added to the ambiance.
Mui Ne is a weird place. It's definitely set up for hordes of tourists and could accommodate thousands of foreigners if need be. In reality, it's a ghost town. There weren't that many tourists here. Restaurants line the main drag of the town, and pretty much all of them are empty. Most travelers take the precaution of not going to a restaurant with no people, so the vicious cycle continues until one brave soul bites the bullet. Joey and I didn't want to be that brave, so we followed a family of four on their venture. They settled on a place that looked like a little hole in the wall. We were skeptical but after a look at the menu and it's cheap prices we were sold. Other travelers on the road followed suit. Next thing there were 10 people in the restaurant. That's the way it works here. We were greeted with such a kind, warm smile of the owner. He was excited to have customers and even told us that we had made him really happy to have us. Pin spoke very little english but his smile and enthusiasm made up for it. The food was really good and Pin even gave us a special complimentary dessert. We went back there the next day.
We decided that it probably wasn't worth spending a full day on the beach, so Joey and I rented a motorbike for $5. There were lots of jeep tours to the sand dunes outside of town, but much to Joey's disappointment, they wouldn't rent out a jeep to us. It had to be on a tour. The bike would have to do. The bike was a standard and Joey scared me a bit at first. It took him a couple minutes to get used to the shifting. After a few bumps and high revs it was smooth sailing. We made our way to the White Sand dunes which were about 20-25km away from the beach. It was so nice to be doing something on our own instead of a tour. We can stop whenever we like and go wherever we like.
The sand dunes were far more impressive than Joey and I could have imagined. Alluring white mountains of sand with a lush blue lake at the foot. Who would have thought that Vietnam had a desert? This wasn't anything that we had thought we would find in Vietnam. We rented crazy carpets from some boys at the parking lot. 30,000VND wasted. Those crazy carpets did nothing at all. I was quite bummed out because I've gone sledding down dunes before and it's very fun.
We wanted to get back to town before the sun set because we had to drive through a couple of towns, and didn't want to in the dark. I feel pretty safe in Vietnam and there hasn't been a situation where I have every felt threatened, but there's no harm in being cautious.
That night we went for dinner at a place called Luang Tom's. It was recommended in both the Lonely Planet and Rough Guide for it's fresh, cheap and tasty seafood. Probably not recommended for their service. One concept that I don't think Vietnamese restaurants have grasped it strategically cooking meals so that every one at a table can eat at the same time. Joey's always the lucky one with his food arriving first. This time, he could have eaten his entire dinner and had dessert plus a beer, by the time mine arrived. It was alright, and probably not worth the wait.
The next day I spent the morning laying on the beach while Joey worked. He had planned to do the same as me, but work got in the way. By the time he was done, it was time to pack up and check out. We had a bus ticket to Saigon that afternoon. Once again we said goodbye to the beach and soldiered on.
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