Monday, April 19, 2010

Mui Ne (pronounced Mew Knee) - Puuuuweeee (pronounced Puuuuweeee)

Arrived to the seaside town of Mui Ne, which is basically one long street with lots of resorts and guesthouses offering beachside relaxation. We stayed at the Vietnam-Austria guesthouse, which according to John the Aussie Korumburra expat, the sign was stuffed up and it should have been Vietnam-Australia GH, ooopsies.  Either way it was great to have fellow Aussie to offer advice of good eateries and sights. Due to a slight stuff up and to my delight we ended up in the most expensive room ($25 a night) - sea views with an airy sun filled space, cable, internet, fridge and a table to sit and contemplate life while watching the ocean. In the end we decided not to downgrade after I grew too attached.

Dave relaxing and blogging
On closer inspection the relaxation also includes some sort of cigar and beer
View from our room

The beach in Mui Ne is not quite as stunning as Otres but none the less it was sunny, warm and relaxing. Dave got in some rays and I slathered myself in sunscreen and read on a sun lounge in the shade. Not a bad way to spend a Monday.

Day 3 we decided to get off our bums and hit the road on a scooter that a random man had offered us to hire the day before while we were riding push bikes down the street. It was delivered at 9am and we set off around 10am in search of huge Sand Dunes which you can apparently slide down. The first 10 kms you are blessed with the smells of Fish Sauce, Mui Ne being the epicenter of Fish sauce production and the odour certainly stings the nostrils! After passing the stench and driving 50km to a rather random town we decided to give up and call it day, considering the scenery had been stunning, the roads deserted and well maintained (plus we have sand dunes at home) we were happy to return home. 

 Fishermen in the traditional fishing baskets..they are tiny!
A mothership picking up a fishing boat (basket), up to 8 are attached once they have picked up everyone

The rather good roads and lack of traffic was also a great opportunity for Dave gave me my first scooter lesson (manual thank you very much) with Dave pillion, me on the front. After a couple of shaky starts, I was driving us up the road at a top speed on 35km/h, which I was pretty chuffed about and gave me some good practice for when I buy a Vespa back in Australia (uh oh Mum!).
Preparing for a bike lesson (ridiculous)
A stop off at the fishing village..
A stop off on the way home from attempting to find the Dunes
Dave got off here to swim as well

That night we went out with an alcohol/lady crazy Irishman, a Finnish guy and some Giants, a 6’7”  (and a half ) 20 year old Finnish and a 6’4” German - which was of great entertainment for Dave, myself and Gaz another fellow Aussie from Richmond. Kitten stomping Giant jokes never got old that night. Next day we slept in, had a swim and packed ready for our 6 hour bus trip to Nha Trang and bid our farewell to John.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

looks very beachy holiday and amelia you look like an american traffic cop in the helmet

mum.

vespa up canterbury road ummm?

jez said...

Another great pictorial chronology(huh). May cancel my trip..enjoying my vicarious travels that much(huh).I must correct your pronunciation... it's POO(caps lock off) and WEE(you guessed it). If I was living in Korrumburra, I'd become an ex-pat too!Are you sure you're not in Hawaii? You and Gaz could have used those tourists for some goal kicking practice.Keep enjoying. See you in 7 sleeps and...sorry about the toilet humour.Love papa.

Amelia and Dave said...

ahh a Vespa would be great in blacky south...and I thought my helmet was quite equestrian :)

Amelia and Dave said...

ha ha Jezz you are quite right POOWEE would have been much better! I promise we are not in HAwaiiiii, the smell surely doesn't belong there..yes we kept telling the Finnish lad he was the size of a ruckman :) see you soon!