One Rum, Two Rum, Three Rum, Floor..........
Trip Start
Sep 28, 2009
1
37
92
Trip End
Apr 22, 2011
Where I stayed
Mui Ne, Vietnam
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Lynne........
Unfortunately we have a nasty habit of saying we are going to stay in a place for a set amount of days and then adding to them. It's not usually a problem, that’s what travelling is all about but when you have a plane to catch and a whole country to travel up then it’s a bit of a concern. Our next country is Singapore and we have a flight leaving on the 28th May from Hanoi. On the way up to the Vietnamese city we are probably going to stop in about six towns.
The first is Mui Ne were we found a comfortable guest house, fun company and a fabulous pool. It all started with a normal bus journey, nothing too different from the last 200 journeys we have been on. At the rest stop two hours into the journey we got chatting to an Ozzie guy who lived in Cornwall and was over here to ride a Harley Davison through Vietnam. It was only a quick chat but it was long enough for us to realise he wasn’t back on the bus as the bus pulled out the rest stop. We stopped the driver and that was the start of a beautiful friendship.
The bus stopped outside our preferred Guest House and we went in to find out what we were going to get for our £10. The room was clean with nice little touches like the cover had been set out with petals on. Loz the Oz had sorted his room out and came over to tell us about the pool. Situated right on the waterfront the pool was clean and coolish and perfect after days of being in cities and towns.
With the bags safely stored in the room we sat round the pool with a couple of beers chatting to Loz and swapping stories. Gary had a lot in common with him, they both liked a drink, they both played rugby, they both are fond of a drink, they had a similar sense of humour and could tell a great story and did I mention they both could drink!!! We went out for dinner that evening in the village and ended up back on our balcony for a few beers.
We spent the next day round the pool, topping up the tan and enjoying a real holiday feeling. That evening it was back on our balcony a few more beers and some more new friend, Vic and Rich, a couple of newlyweds on a four month honeymoon. We had every intention on hiring a scooter the next day and driving out to the sand dunes, but the pool called us in the morning and we never left it after that.
This place is obviously contagious there is an Australian couple in their sixties who have been here for 4 months, they had a bit of a daily routine which started with a swim in the morning, then breakfast and wonder out during the day. Come the afternoon they were perched on their first floor balcony overlooking the sea and the pool with a bottle of wine and a few beers. By the end of the evening, once dinner was out the way, the local rum would come out and numerous bottles were consumed. Still it’s a good life if you can get it.
The rum gave the boys good idea, buy a bottle and some coke and make an evening of it....another one. Being fairly keen on rum myself I didn’t argue with their plan. The rum was local and very watered down, even after the fourth bottle the boys and I were only very merry and not the drunken mess you would expect on four bottles of rum, mind you what do you expect at only 75p a 70cl bottle. We did however spent the later part of the evening watching the 20/20 cricket game on the BBC live written report, ball by ball from beginning to end..... and had great fun doing it..... so maybe we were a bit more gone than we thought?
We are now on day four, we were meant to spend only two nights here, but these things happen. We got up and booked a scooter for the day, determined to go see these dunes. Vic and Rich also hired a scooter so we headed off together to explore. I won’t go in to details about how we both lost each other twice going down a straight road but we got to the dunes and prepared ourselves for the onslaught of kids. The kids want to sell you a ride on a sheet of plastic down the sand dunes, Gary was up for doing it at the right price but the kids wouldn’t barter and the price was too high. So took some photos, burn our feet on the sand and headed back.
Our last night in Mui Ne and we all went out for dinner together, Loz was going to stay one more night and then go back to Saigon to pick the bike up, Vic and Rich where heading to Nha Trang with us in the morning. It’s good to make new friends and finally find some that are going our way. Facebook is unavailable in Vietnam, the government have blocked it for some paranoid reason, but Loz found a work around so we can keep in touch with him and his trip and hopefully catch up with him again further up.
I am writing this on a very bump bus on its way to Nha Trang, as I look round the scenery is beautiful, green fields as far as you can see with tiny little houses scattered at the side of the road. We are loving Vietnam it is an effortless place to travel.
