Mui Ne

12/03
We leave HCM around 9am, hard to get up as we went out so late last night...We wait for a while for the bus that takes us to Mui Ne. We arrive around 1pm, a long trip, we see the country, the bus ride is crazy...vietnamese driving...but we go along with the flow, we then walk struggling with our bags to find a nice place on the beach, many of them but expensive...finally we discover a cheap little resort with nice wooden bungalows, quite basic but very near the beach, with hammocs on it and a nice vibe. Then as we check in, we discover it is full of kitesurfers!!!! Some pros come here to surf and stay for months...a fit atmosphere here!!! Boys and girls with amaxzing bodies around...The town itself just consists of one main road, with small hotels spaced some distance apart, punctuated by small restaurants and tiny souvenir shops. Nice enough but not much to do...it will be perfect for a little break.

13/03
Fab decides to learn kitesurfing and today is the start of his training, he spends most of the day on the beach learning to control the kite, on land instead of learning in the water, there are many kites here and it is nice to see them floating, flying...like butterflies in the sky...The beach here is shaping up to be the kiteboarding center of South East Asia, with waves and wind year-round!!
I am also impressed by the skills and style of the kiters, I notice many people doing the same as me, being distracted from their book and spending hours watching them....I go for a walk along the beach, an amazing 10kms of white sand beach with red dunes around. Fab comes back, he had fun but there is a lot to take in, we go for a walk, we see a really beautiful sunset, the colours are vivid here and the sky is red, burning, then pink, then mauve...amazing views...

14/03
Fab spends most of his day hoping for less wind to continue his kitesurfing training, I read, we go for lunch, we walk, then it is dinner time again...the day goes quickly, not doing much, dreaming, observing the pros in the water. We go for a stroll along the street and discover that Mui Ne is full of shops and restaurants, many for Russian tourists...funny, there are many Russians here on holidays, as they don't need a visa to get here and it is easy and cheap for them....It is lively but seems artificial, a little resort created for the tourists. The day goes like that, we chat with the lady in our resort, she has a little dog Coco, she loves him to bit, funny to watch her play with him, treats him like a baby...Again our impressions of Vietnamese people are very different from what we've heard, people are nice, smiling, direct, yes, but nothing more than the French!!!

15/03
Another quiet day again on the beach in Mui Ne, Fab continues his kitesurfing training, we walked in the morning, early before the waves arrive so we can swim. I spend my day, reading in the hammoc, watching the kitesurfers, the wind, the long beach. We chat with some French people here for the weekend, Mui Ne is a popular place for expats at the weekend, they come for the sports and the beach and it is only 4-5 hours from Saigon...convenient...Benjamin is working in Saigon and has some friends visiting, nice to chat, to talk about life in Vietnam as an expat, seems like a good experience to be living in Asia.

16/03
Our last day here as we have decided to move again ad go to Hoi An in the centre of the country, slowly making our way up to Hanoi...another day on the beach for me, hot day, wind, waves, walk, swim, reading in the hammoc, I start feelin restless and realise that I cannot be still for more than few days...funny this tension between sightseeing, discovering and chilling out...we both feel we should move on, see more, explore more and at the same time, we want to stay put...Weird...and still unresolved...
Fab is in the water, kitesurfing, I observe him, struggling with his board, succeeding with the wind, the kite, up, down, sometimes, he even starts to rise off the water, trying to steady the kite overhead with one hand while holding the board with his other and trying to wiggle his feet into the board's foot straps. Interesting!!!! At the end of the day, he manages to kite for a bit, he is happy of his achievements and full of adrenaline, it is a good sport, he likes it and wants to do some more...good good... last dinner in a cheap place on the beach, and off to bed, tomorrow morning we are up early...

17/03
Last morning on the beach before taking the bus for Hoi An at 1pm...we rise early, go for a walk, a swim, it is so nice to stroll on the sunny beach....it was nice to be here chilling out for few days, being quiet and resting...now another adventure starts...an 18 hours bus journey up to Hoi An....We say our goodbyes to Saiho and her dog, it was nice to be in this relaxed atmosphere and head to the bus with Mike a Canadian guy, kitesurfer who has been staying here too....one of the pros...he gave Fab some useful tips and is on his way to another beach before heading home...the first part of the journey is fine, 6 hours in the sleeping bus, until Nha Trang, another beach place, funny to be lying down during the day, the bus is quiet, few people, I listen to the iPod, Fab chats with Mike and it goes quickly, watching the country, staring out the window at rice-fields, and Mui Ne's sunshine fading behind us...The bus driver is mad again, crazy ride towards Nha Trang...We reach this city at 6.30pm, we have 1/2 hour break to eat, go to the loo then jump in another one this time for 12 hours to reach the centre of the country...HELL...We say goodbye to Mike, then find ourselves in a bus packed full of bunkbeds! The beds are very small, typically built on an ‘Asian’ size scale, the over-night trip is completely stuffed, making an uncomfortable night nearly unbearable. There is a mix of Vietnamese and travellers, we may be 30 people here, the drivers shout I feel very anxious and hate it...trying to stay positive as it is all part fo the experience but I already know it is going to be a sleepless night for me...Fab seems a bit more Ok despite the size of the bed...The bus makes a dozens of stops for all sorts of unknown reasons during the night...Picking up people and cargo in the middle of a dark night was the norm for the rest of the evening. Crammed people sleeping on the floor, bags around us, one driver close to Fab in a hammoc and...to finish: a girl pucks just behing us!!!!! HELL!!! Her friends try to clean it up but we wil have to put up with vomit smell for 12 hours...I feel slightly unsane and agitated!!!! I try to remember it’s just a test of patience and Buddhist calm!! No sleep of course, Fab manages to sleep few hours...Quite a funny scene at sunrise when I am able to survey the whole disorganised lots, but I am rewarded by an amazing sunrise close to Hoi an, rice fields, red sun rising slowly...it feels peaceful...so glad to arrive!!!