August 20th: Mui Ne Beach
I was so happy when we arrived at Mui Ne Beach after our 4 hour bus journey from Saigon: our room had a balcony which overlooked a beautiful beach (only $7 a night each), there were palm trees everywhere and a place across the road sold fruit smoothies. What more could we want after our city onslaught of Tokyo, Hiroshima, Hong Kong and Bangkok? At last we had escaped the noise, mopeds (well, there were still some but you didn't feel like you were risking your life crossing the road) and the rain, which seemed to have prevailed over us up until now along with the sky scrapers. Indeed, it felt like we were actually on holiday and not just travelling. I spent that first afternoon reading on the beach, listening to music and watching the kite surfers of which there were both what I took to be skilled locals doing fancy flips in the air and tourists being dragged through the water with their kite trainers flapping their arms and shouting instructions from the beach which I doubt could have been heard by the poor tourist bobbing in the water. The water felt to be the warmest I have ever swam in and for the first time (I think ever) I didn't get out because I was feeling cold. The day came to a close with Mojitos (not usually affordable with our budget but it was "two for one"), Vietnamese rice paper rolls stuffed with prawns, grilled tuna with garlic and chilli and banana pancakes with chocolate sauce. Apart from our day at Disney Land in Hong Kong, I think this was the first day in a month when I hadn't eaten rice (if you don't include the rice paper rolls). What indulgence! My, was I a happy bunny!
August 21st: Trip to sand dunes
It was an early start for me as I had booked a jeep tour to see some nearby sand dunes at sunrise. Crawling out of bed at 04:30, I left a grunting Robbie, who didn't fancy it, and sneaked out into the night. As I suspected when the pick-up time was changed from 04:30 to 5am, we didn't actually get to the dunes for sunrise (defeating the whole point of the early start) but it was lovely to see the night sky disappearing as we drove along the coast. When arriving at the dunes, our guide left us to be taken up to "sand sledge" by a thirteen year old boy. After a couple of descents on our stomachs and then attempts on our feet, we had a coffee at the bottom and I got to know my boarding buddies - Linda and Richard, an Irish couple on their honeymoon. We returned to the jeep, pockets full of sand, which I went on to find in my rucksack and all my clothes for days after, and were then taken to some more dunes, a red canyon and a fishing village (which was absolutely fascinating) before being deposited at a stream. Again the guide didn't actually guide us but left us with another child to bring us up the stream. So it was shoes off and away we went. We were not actually sure where we were going but the young boy made the odd remark like, "here you take photo", "very beautiful", "river, rock" and we nodded and smiled appropriately.
I got back to our hotel at 9am, perfect timing for joining Robbie for breakfast. It was then another blissful day of lying on the beach (or in Robbie's case sitting in the shade on the balcony), reading and listening to music. In the evening I introduced Robbie to Linda and Richard and, after eating, left him to drink with his fellow countrymen while I slipped away to bed.
August 22nd: Mui Ne Beach -> Nha Trang
I got up at 6am to go for a run along the beach and it was truly wonderful. There were quite a few people around, all locals, sorting out fishing gear and the fish they had caught. I was starting to think that the distance back from the end of the beach to our bungalow was much longer than it was when I set off when it dawned on me that I must have already ran by our resort. On turning around, all I saw was a line of palm trees and I then started to doubt myself again, thinking that surely I would have seen it. In the end I must have ran for an extra 30 minutes and got back to the hotel to a bewildered Robbie: "wow, you go running for a long time." I reluctantly had to explain I had been running up and down the beach for the last half hour trying to find where we were staying.
We took the "sleeper" bus from Mui Ne Beach to Nha Trang at 13:00 (we didn't intentionally choose that style but it came in handy after two early morning starts). I had never been in such a bus before and was pleasantly surprised. You have to put your shoes in a bag when you get on so the floor is nice and clean. Each person has their little bed-like section with a cupboard for the shoes. Some may find it claustrophobic but I enjoyed being able to sit back on the top bunk and watch the Vietnamese landscape go by (or better said, watch it while we went by). We passed rice fields, fishermen, mountains, lush vegetation on one side and desert-like scenery on the other. We got a puncture somewhere along route and got chatting to Mary and Ciaran from Ireland who, as it happens, knows someone Robbie knows from university! We were soon playing cards with them back on the bus but didn't see them thereafter as the bus arrived in Nha Trang and they were hauled into a taxi. We, on the other hand, spotted a lady with a sign with the word "Jabi" on it. I guessed that was meant for us. Before we knew what was going on, we were told to get onto the back of two mopeds and didn't have the chance to really worry about whether our rucksacks stored between our drivers' legs would be secure. When Robbie's moped turned off in the opposite direction at the first juntion, I did wonder if I would ever see him again. A few minutes later, we were, however, united at the hotel so that we could both greet the family together and share in seeing our first bedroom cockroach. As it was already evening, we ventured out just far enough to get a bite to eat and spot the local rats scurrying across the streets which complimented the bats flying over us and the cockraoch in our bedroom at the hotel. I guess we had left paradise back in Mui Ne.
August 23rd: Nha Trang
We spent the day pottering around Nha Trang as our train to Quy Nhon wasn't until the evening. Whilst we were trying to decide whether to go into a cafe, we got tapped on the shoulder and found Linda and Richard (the Irish couple from the sand dune trip) greeting us. I suppose everyone does a similar travel route in Vietnam. We ended up having brunch with them and they filled us in on their bus journey to Nha Trang and their change of hotels that morning.
On reading horror stories about the border crossing between Vietnam and Laos, we decided to spend the afternoon looking for a flight between the two countries. All our efforts were unfortunately in vain as Vietnam Airlines seems to have a monopoly on the route and we couldn't find anything cheaper than $180. We decided to leave it and try and find some other travellers along route who could advise us on how to cross. We still have a couple of weeks in Vietnam before our visas run out.
We got the train at 8pm to Quy Nhon. The train was old, busy and noisy. Surprisingly, they sold hot rice even on the train, scooping it out of huge containers on trollies. It had a number of takers but I had had my rice filling before getting on the train so just absorbed myself in my book.
August 24th: Quy Nhon
After the cockroach hotel in Nha Trang, "Barbara's Kiwi Hotel" in Quy Nhon seemed like a palace. We got a room on the 3rd floor with a balcony overlooking the beach for 300,000 Dong. We didn't turn the light off until 3am after arriving as we got a little too into watching the gymnasts in the Olympics on TV and were awoken at 8am by builders banging on the roof. The sea views from the balcony, however, made us soon forget the fact that we had only had 5 hours sleep.
After a bacon sandwich (we just couldn't resist some fat intake!), we hired some push bikes and headed off to explore. I absolutely loved being on the bike, whizzing along the coast past homes, shops and people lying in the shade, whilst trying to take in all the sights to build my first impressions of our new town. When we reached the end of the town, we were curious to see the next beach and were soon sweating and gasping as we struggled with our city bikes with baskets on the front up a road which twisted and turned upwards somewhat deceivingly. On the descent, our breaks squeak almost unbearingly and we finally ended up at the other side of the hill to find a hospital for people with leprosy. Confused about the admission fee, we paid and entered the gates to find a beautiful private beach. We spent quite a while there, Robbie lying in the shade trying to catch up with sleep, me thinking, dreaming and reading, until we couldn't put off climbing the hill back over to Quy Nhon any longer.
After a shower back at the hotel, we get back on the saddles to track down Barbara's favourite eating joint. We find it but discover all its' occupants asleep on the floor inside so decide to opt for the restaurant next door. I ordered "melon and ham" and would never have taken the dish to be mine if it wasn't for the process of elimination. The 'ham' was similar in appearance to bits of carpet fluff or brown, lumpy, candy floss. The "melon" was green slices of what I would have described as a vegtable and arrived with a pile of ice about 5cm thick on top of the cling film which covered it. Robbie smirked and told me that's what you get if you don't play the safe "fried rice" card.
After lunch we found a craft shop which sells products made by children with special needs. We were very quickly brought from the shop upstairs to meet the lady who established the centre attached to the shop. She showed us the sewing and art rooms where the children produce clothes, paintings, jewellery and cards and explained to us that the centre has had to move five times because the government kept reclaiming the different premises from them. Her story was moving and we arranged to return the following day to meet some of the children. She tied a friendship bracelet around each of our arms as we went out of the door.
August 25th
We strolled around the streets of Quy Nhon during the morning. The heat was very intense so we looked for somewhere near the water for a drink. We ended up going on board a ship where there were some locals well into a few crates of beer. They invited us to drink with them and, out of politeness, we accept. For some reason they found it very amusing that Robbie and I were travelling together but are not together. "How can that be?" they asked.
Our return trip to the centre for children with special needs was just as wonderful as I thought it may be. We were introduced to a blind boy who lost his sight at the age of 12 and struggled to come to terms with what had happened. He played the keyboard and guitar for us and broke into a wonderful smile when we clapped at the end of each song. He passed me the guitar and my rendition of "Let It Be" brought another huge smile to his face ... probably because it sounded so terrible! When I went to say goodbye to some of the other children later, he heard my voice and started singing "Let It Be". Some of the deaf children danced for us and it was endearing to see them dance away when the music had stopped. I tried to imagine what it must be like for them to dance in silence. Whilst we had been watching all of this, one of the girls had been sat drawing Robbie's profile. What with the pictures hanging on the wall, the clothes and jewellery they made, the music and dancing, I came away thinking that the children should perhaps be referred to as "special children with different needs" instead of being labelled "children with special needs".
After a bite to eat that evening, I told Robbie that I was going to check my e-mails at a local internet place and would see him in the room. When I get there, the place was packed with children playing computer games, volumes on high. Delightful. I got a computer after a while and stayed a couple of hours. I didn't think this would be a problem until I got back to the hotel and found it locked up with the gates outside (with spikes on) also closed and Robbie, of course, inside. There was nothing to it but to climb over the gates, getting my trousers stuck on the spikes but being able to despike them without any tears. I then knocked on the door to wake up the receptionist, apologised and got to our room to find a somewhat grumpy (to be read concerned) Robbie. Whoops!
