Maple Bear, the kindergarten I was working in, has fallen to finance. The boss (a Vietnamese Canadian) had found that profit was slow coming, so decided to shelve the idea. There are advantages to having your hours cut, well at least for me anyway. I left James at home working a few weeks ago and took off with Leigh, another Australian nurse pretending to be an English teacher. We caught an early bus to Mui Ne Beach, a 20km stretch of white sandy beach about 4 hours north. The bus was cheap ($8US return) but really good and delivered us to the door of our hotel.
A small, modest, family run establishment, it was right on the beach, I mean rooms literally overhanging the sand. Again inexpensive, $20US for a twin room (Prices are for those of you planning a holiday, so you can get an idea of costs) I was excited when I realised it was an inner-spring mattress, we have solid foam at home. But when I looked and saw the tiled bed-head, I checked out the base and it was concrete with pretty tiles. They are big on tiles here. Never mind it was comfortable and we had the sound of the waves to lull us off to sleep.
We were eager to explore so out we went to the nearest tour office. Here we hired a jeep for $30 and a private tour. By this time it was 1pm so all the bigger tour buses had done their thing. First stop was the lying Buddha on top of TA Cu Mountain. Yes, on top. A cable car took us most of the way, but then I found out how unfit I am as Leigh climbed ahead of the millions of steps. The advantage being that I kept stopping to take in the view, and how spectacular it was. We could have had a good view from the cable car, but with Vietnamese logic, the windows were covered with advertising stickers.
The big white Buddha at the top made the climb worth while. We were the only ones there, perhaps the climb put others off, but it was so serene, a cool breeze and no noise. No wonder Buddha was asleep. I think that was the highlight of our little holiday. You can just see Leigh standing next to his toes in the photo, so you have an idea of how big he is.
Back down the mountain, much easier, and on to some Cham Towers just out of a town called Phan Thiet. This town is the fish sauce capital of the country and boy, did it pong! Like dirty undies and sneakers mixed together. Fortunately we moved quickly through here on our way back to Mui Ne.
Next morning up at 4.30 for sun rise at the Red Sand Dunes. Not too spectacular but had fun talking to kids trying to convince us to ride down the sand dunes on plastic sheets, of course, for a fee. Imagine that, me sliding down a sandy slope, I had enough trouble walking down them. This holiday gave my ankle a real work out. In the back of the jeep again and onto the White Sand Dunes, more worth the trek around a lake and up the hills. Just beautiful. In the distance we could see a bride and groom having their wedding photos taken, that would be great. Apparently, a few weeks before the ceremony, the bride and groom dress up, the whole bit and have their photos done. Then at the reception, the photos are on show. Guess you get everyone to see them that way. The soil around here is so diverse, white through to red, more like central Australia.
Back towards the hotel, through Mui Ne village and we stopped to look at the hundred of aqua blue and red fishing boats in the bay, quite a sight. They also have boats called coracles. These are big round woven baskets, paddled with one oar. Buggered if I'd go out to sea in one, but they are obviously efficient.
When we were back at the hotel, we had nothing to do but sit on the beach and wait for the bus. Leigh went for a dip but said she was sharing the waves with plastic bags etc so I stayed where I was. It was really relaxing and even better to have that nice clean air to breath.
The bus picked us up and we were back toward town. James had been working away and still wasn't home from work when I got there. He now has a part-time job with RMIT (Vietnam's Australian university) so hopefully that will be more his style than little kids who need help to the toilet.
We are still finding new things to see and do, saving lots of ideas for those who wish to visit us here. Our roof top garden has several chairs now, so we can have visitors relax up there with a beer. And we have fairy lights for night time. The wet season is slowly finishing and we have noticed that the days and nights are cooler.
James has had his first accident on the bike, got hit by a guy going around a round-about. Took a roll and, fortunately, was missed by the other bikes and is safe and sound. He was very lucky. I've given my Honda driver the sack, swapped him for one who doesn't drive like a maniac or smell of alcohol. The other guy was just too scary.
But apart from that, there is not a lot more to say. So it is bye till the next blog.
Di and James
