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Mui Ne Beach Weekend

I've been so busy lately! Sorry for the weeks of no contact!

Last weekend I went to Mui Ne Beach and it was fabulous! The weather was absolutely perfect, the beach amazing, the ocean was like bath water and more clear than beaches in the States but not like the Caribbean. The food was good and the company even better. I went with friends, Rachel, Dan, Jered, and John, all North westerners. We stayed in a nice hotel (after taking a bus from HCMC and arriving at 1:00am) that was literally right on the beach! The first night we all stayed up until 4:00am and had some drinks on the beach, got to know each other better, and took a dip in the ocean. Everything was so laid back and quiet. I think I forgot what quiet really meant. And none of the Vietnamese people hassled you or wanted to sell you goods and/or their services. I was also amazed at how well everyone spoke English there, which is strange since its just a small town. But they were amazing compared to the people in the City in my opinion, and it made things even easier.

The second day Rachel and I woke up really early and laid out on the beach for a while. Then we had a really good breakfast at our hotel and coconuts that they pulled off the tree right next to us. It was really like a postcard, or a goofy tv commercial for an exotic resort. Yet my hotel cost $4 a night per person! Then we took a nice walk on the beach, collected seashells and starfish. We drank fresh mango smoothies and laid in hammocks and read books. You just can't get more relaxing than this! All five of us ended up falling asleep even! After, we went for lunch and had a good meal and then went to a restaurant where they make their own rum. Unfortunately Rachel and I got caught in a 10 minute torrential rain storm. But it was really fun, although cold, and we were completely soaked so we went for a swim in the ocean. There was no where we needed to be really and no obstacles. It was a great feeling since you just never get that in the city.

At the Rum restaurant the five of us drank 3-4 bottles of rum (its only 20% alcohol I think), and each bottle was only 30,000VND so less than $2 a bottle. Its not the best unless you doctor it up with lime, sugar, juice, or soda. But we all had our own special concoction! It also takes some getting used to, but my personal favorite was rum with a splash of Coke. We had dinner here too, which was really good. I had squid for the first time (besides fried calamari) and the meals were another $2 or less a person!

On Sunday, Rachel and I did our routine from the day before. We walked up the Mui Ne strip and got fresh fruit from a stand: pomegranate, pomellos, and mango! Delicious! I'm so spoiled! After everyone else was awake, Rachel, Jered, John and I rented motorbikes (2 between the 4 of us) and drove to the Red Sand Dunes and White Sand Dunes (45 minutes by motorbike!) in Mui Ne. We first went to the Red Sand Dunes, which had reddish-orange sand. There we met these really cute Vietnamese girls. We had a lot of fun playing with them, and jumping off the dunes (I didn't haha). They spoke amazing English. I forget their names but they were friends and ages 7 and 10. After we took them to get Pepsi's and stuffed them full of Oreos. It was really a lot of fun! They were particularly fascinated by my freckles which I thought was funny.

After this we drove the remaining 30 ish minutes to the White Sand Dunes which was even cooler. We went to the top which proved to be a bad idea because the sand hits you so hard when the wind blows it. It really hurt! After this wer had a long bike ride back and stopped to get "the best burgers in Mui Ne", which were okay. And we made it back to the hotel to collect our things with just 15 minutes to spare before our bus back pulled up. I will definitely be repeating this trip again! And just to make you jealous, the entire weekend with all food, accommodations etc. only cost $43. Wow!

Posted by lchallman on 2009-10-29 10:39:04 | Rating: