My stay in Muy Ne has come to an end.
The last couple of days have been great as we finally found a way to
move around the resort with an ecological and cheap mean of
transportation: rented bicyles. They first costed us 30 000 Dongs
(little more than a euro) for three hours from a guy offering them on
the street. Later we realised that the rate from all shops around was
30 000 Dongs per day. That's what it is like to be a tourist around
here. Eventhough I prefer to get good value for money, I realised by
talking to our local guide that tourism is really helping people to
make a living in Mui Ne. Without it, fifteen years ago, her family
(of 2 parents and 8 children) did not have anything to eat other than
sweet potatoes at all meals. Quantity was also less than required
amount. With the arrival of tourism, people now have jobs. In that
light, I don't mind paying a little more to contribute to the local
economy. Tourists always pay more regardless. Locals are very
cautious to not reveal what the local rate is for vietnamese people.
As a rule of thumb, to bargain, I usually make an offer at half the
price offered by the merchant, which he usually refuses and then
slowly work the price up to two third of his initial offer while
smiling and repeating « Ho Yé Makoi »
(« It is two expensive). I also realised that it is better
to know the tourist market price by asking around before making a
decision to buy. Sometimes merchants really come up with hilarious
prices.
I finally gave up on kite surfing
lessons and rented a winsurf instead – was great fun as the place
gets great wind exposure and I have enough basics to enjoymyself and
get a good work out. I still want to get around learning to kite surf
someday though.
On our last day, we booked a tour
around Mui Ne and had to wake up around 4.30am. If you know me, you
know that it takes some pesuasion skills to get me out of bed at this
time.Yet, the tour was well worth it and we saw:
-The white sand dunes at dusk: we
watched the sun rise over white sand dunes that looked like the
Sahara around 5.30am. We also sled down the dunes sitting on rented
sledges made by locals. It was very similar to going down a green
snow slope on a plastic bag except the temperature is about 20°
at this time of the day.
-The red dans dunes: just after the
white sand dunes, we saw the red sand dunes which are smaller. Still
very nice to walk around and we also saw a tiny scorpio.
-The fishing village: on the road back
to Mui Ne, we stopped in village that lies by the sea and got to see
the work that these people do for probably very little salary: waking
up at 4am (I could never be a fisherman) and coming around 9am to
unwind their giant fishnets, tying up crabs with little yellow
elastics, drying up fishes. They stop around 11am for few hours break
before going back to it around 3pm until late in the evening.
-The fairy stream: this is a little
river in Mui Ne itself that we would never have found ourselves. It
is a beautiful walk upstream walking in orange and white sands
carreers and discovering the wild life. It was so beautiful, I would
love you to see it!
Unfortunately, both William and me ran
out of camera batteries at the white sand dunes. No pictures but
great memories for sure !
Well that's all for this post which has
been longer than usual. I am now sitting on a « sleepers »
bus waiting to arrive in Nah Trang, working my way up the vietnamese
coast. You can see what such a bus looks like from the inside at the beginning of this post. William has left to Saigon and will be back to Switzerland for
Christmas. It has been great travelling with him as well as seeing
him again. He has been a great host and a great companion. I am
already looking forward to seeing him again. In Nah Trang, I will
meet a new friend I met in Mui Ne who ges by the name of Jobst and
comes from Germany. Very cool and friendly guy, I had great fun
sharing a few beers with him two days ago.
As for you all, this is now the end of
my rant. Feel free to leave comments, I don't reply to each directly, yet I love to
read them :)
Talk soon
Cédric
