Loads a' Mui Ne!
Trip Start
Mar 24, 2011
1
26
34
Trip End
Sep 28, 2011
Mui Ne, Kon Tum, Vietnam
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
I dropped my stuff in my room and went for a walk to find my bearings. There is only one long road in Mui Ne with bars and restaurants on the sea-side and hotels and guesthouses on the other. I walked for about an hour and a half, most bars were empty as it is low season although one bar was full so i popped in and grabbed a beer.
I saw a familiar face, Natalie who was working in JJ's in Sihanoukville was next to me at the bar! we spent the next hour or so catching up on the last month's adventures until i saw Rob who was in the hut next door to mine in Dondet (Laos) a small group formed with others from their guesthouse and we agreed to all meet up the next day.
At 2am i called it a night and headed back to my hotel.
I woke up around midday and walked the 200m to the guesthouse that the other were staying in, it was one of the only ones that backed on to the beach. There was a grassy area at the back where the others were playing chess, sunbathing or swimming in the sea. No one was really up for doing much apart from Natalie, so we arranged to go to find the sand dunes. I rented a bike and we drove to the 'Red' sand dunes (there are two sets of dunes here, the nearest of the two has red sand and the other has white sand). It was a twenty minute ride to the dunes and as soon as we pulled in there were loads of kids surrounding the bike trying to get us to rent plastic 'sledges' to slide down the dunes on.
We stopped to get a drink before having to deal with bartering with a load of kids. Ten minutes later the deed was done, we both had a sledge for 20,000 Dong(60p) each and we walked into the dunes. One of the kids followed us and was eager to show us the best dunes to 'sledge' down so he became our guide and photographer. It was hard work climbing the dunes in the heat and after about half an hour we were exhausted so returned to the bike and headed home.
I went for a swim in the sea before returning to my guesthouse to get rid of all the sand!
Later that evening we all met up in a bar with a pool table and chatted the night away before returning to the guesthouse for more drinks and schmokes. I ended up calling it a night around 4am.
A lot of people left today and others were in bed til late so i decided to go for a drive to find the white sand dunes. I drove for four hours sometimes completely alone on dirt tracks for half an hour at a time, the scenery was spectacular and completely different from what i have seen in Asia so far, red and white sand forms the basis of the landscape with villages and oasis' dotted here and there.
After about four hours i gave up on finding the white dunes and turned around to make the long journey back, it was starting to get dark as i got back to my hotel and began to rain, i couldn't have timed it better.
That evening everyone met up at the same bar again, it really was the only place with anyone in. more drinks, drinking games, stories, schmokes and songs later we all parted ways at about 4am again.
Determined to find the white sand dunes, i set off again this morning and made sure i had reliable directions. After about an hour of driving i realised that these directions were difficult to follow due to the number of 'almost' roads (they are almost a road but are more like a bridleway) so when counting turnings it made it almost impossible. I did away with the directions and drove to the top of a hill to see if i could see any white sand. Right ahead of me were the dunes i had accidentally got the right road!
As i pulled up to the car park there was a guy renting out quads for 150,000 Dong (£5) for half an hour. So i spend the next half an hour ragging it around on the dunes which were pretty much deserted.... Awesome!
The ride home was pretty uneventful and i grabbed a burger (i was craving junk food) before spending the rest of the night in front of the tv watching movies.
Today i was determined to ride an ostrich and to walk down the 'Fairy stream', so called due to the sandstone formations along the length of it. I had to stop every five minutes and ask for directions to the start of the walk as it was hidden from the main road, i finally found it between two shops (the small bridge should have given it away, but it really didn't look like a river walk)
Two kids followed me and wanted to show me the way for 10,000 dong each (30p ish) so i agreed and we stepped into the shallow (ankle deep) warm water and walked for about an hour upstream, the river wove its way through sand formations and dunes so the scenery was spectacular.
On the way back i asked the kids where the ostrich place was, about halfway back they stepped out of the stream and walked into the trees. A small path lead to a pen of two ostriches, 40,000 dong (£1.30ish) was the fee to ride one so i climbed some steps and got on the ostrich's back. As soon as my weight was on, it took off like a rocket and ran around the pen at random much to the amusement of the guys looking after it. It finally calmed down and slowed to a comfortable pace and after about fifteen minutes the guys led it back to the steps so i could get off. I have now ridden an ostrich!... you dint get that at home!
I drove back to the hotel and tried to book a bus to Hoi An but i was told that the buses were full for two days! so i opted for a bus to Nha Trang, at least it was in the right direction.
I got an early night as the bus was at 7am the next morning.
