Mui Ne

Was so happy to find a nice little guest house right on the beach at Mui Ne, what a beautiful place! The beach is about 11km long lined with coconut trees and lovely warm water. I stayed at Saigon Cafe Guest house good room with shower for $9 only few meters from bed into ocean in the mornings. I bumped into a nice girl Martina on the beach, I originally met her on a bus in Laos, she recommended a guide Mr Water who does sunrise tours to the massive sand dunes out of town and offered to introduce me later that evening. I met another couple of friendly travelers Vathson and sybilla who invited me to a seafood BBQ later on as well. Spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach and watched a beautiful sunset. Later walked up the beach to Mr Water's house, instantly liked him, so friendly and generous I arranged day trip for the next day with pick up 5am in the morning. Went to seafood BBQ with Vathson and Sybilla who I met earlier had one of the best meals! fresh cooked Scallops, prawns and fish with a delicious seafood rice soup was such a great meal and the guys were so friendly and had so much great travel advise to share. My day trip was great, the massive white sand dunes were really breath taking, watched the sun rise over the dunes, slide down a massive slope on a piece or plastic board, very fun! also visited some red dunes, the fairy springs - a river carving its way through the sand dunes with beautiful coloured sands exposed. I saw how they dry anchovies on the road side to use in making fish sauce (tasted a couple) and visited a fish sauce factory tasting fresh fish sauce out of a barrel (yum!!!). We also had a quick walk around the fish markets which were amazing! every kind of seafood imaginable and so cheap!! We picked out a big spotted eel which Mr Water offered to cook me for lunch. Was dropped back at my hotel had a swim and shower then walked up to Mr Water's place for a fantastic lunch on the beach we shared a big bottle of rice wine infused with honey and grilled banana had a few swims and shared some laughs. His family are so lovely, his wife kept bringing out fruit drinks and fresh fruit all afternoon. I had mentioned I liked mussels while we were at the markets so when I left that evening Mr Water invited me back for lunch (fresh BBQ mussels) the next day. Lunch the next day turned into an entire day full of BBQ seafood, fresh fish, mussels, clams and other shellfish, I spent about $6 all day. Later on a lovely Vietnamese family arrived for dinner and asked me to join them for some Scallops and a couple of beers. They were such a funny family, we managed to communicate using my very little Vietnamese and their much better English they refused to take any money from me. On the way back to my room a bunch of young guys called out hello! and waved me over to sit in their circle for a few more shots of rice wine and a laugh. Had such a nice day eating and drinking with local Vietnamese people, I found them so friendly and giving I felt very lucky to have had that experience. I arranged for a 3 day motorbike trip with Mr Water around the central highlands leaving in the morning, luckily I felt fine in the morning.

Drinks With Vietnamese Guys, Mussels, Mr Water and His Wife, Fish Drying for Fish Sauce, Eating Eel with Mr Water, Fish Sauce Farm, Sundried Fish, Sand dunes, BBQ Seafood, Mui Ne Beach, Fairy Springs, Sunset on Main Beach.