Beach time!! HCMC was busy and humid, so I decided to hop on a bus and head up the coast to Mui Ne. (As a side note: Vietnamese buses are amazing!! I will try to get a picture on my next bus trip. Comfort. Cheap. Roomy. Simply wow.)
I don't know how I feel about Mui Ne. It has the feeling of a ghost town. The beach is about 10 kms long and lovely, yet the strip of hotels and restaurants on it's side were completely empty. I was alone in my hotel for the first night, a very strange feeling. Eating alone is one of the most difficult things of traveling alone. Being the only customer makes things even harder. You feel like a lonely goldfish in it's bowl. I noticed that I wasn't the only one feeling this way. I would tend to go eat in a restaurant that had another tourist in it. Then, as the meal progressed, more and more groups would arrive. You'd feel like there was life in Mui Ne after all! However, at the end of the meal, you'd step out into an empty street and walk by empty restaurants all the way home. I know it's the low-season, but this was simply bizarre.
On a more cheerful note, I bought myself a new camera! (I forgot mine in Montreal.) A very friendly and helpful hotel employee directed me to what she called a supermarket called CoopMart. I took a local bus to get there and was surprised to see a three floor shopping center! New camera means pictures for you all -- finally! Here are some of Mui Ne beach, Fairy Stream (surrounded by red canyons and rhinestone), red sand dunes, and a couple typical Vietnamese fishing boats. The final picture is of a local fishing catch that happened right in from of my beachside bungalow!
I don't know how I feel about Mui Ne. It has the feeling of a ghost town. The beach is about 10 kms long and lovely, yet the strip of hotels and restaurants on it's side were completely empty. I was alone in my hotel for the first night, a very strange feeling. Eating alone is one of the most difficult things of traveling alone. Being the only customer makes things even harder. You feel like a lonely goldfish in it's bowl. I noticed that I wasn't the only one feeling this way. I would tend to go eat in a restaurant that had another tourist in it. Then, as the meal progressed, more and more groups would arrive. You'd feel like there was life in Mui Ne after all! However, at the end of the meal, you'd step out into an empty street and walk by empty restaurants all the way home. I know it's the low-season, but this was simply bizarre.
On a more cheerful note, I bought myself a new camera! (I forgot mine in Montreal.) A very friendly and helpful hotel employee directed me to what she called a supermarket called CoopMart. I took a local bus to get there and was surprised to see a three floor shopping center! New camera means pictures for you all -- finally! Here are some of Mui Ne beach, Fairy Stream (surrounded by red canyons and rhinestone), red sand dunes, and a couple typical Vietnamese fishing boats. The final picture is of a local fishing catch that happened right in from of my beachside bungalow!
Oh love! You cut your hair!! I just wish I'd gotten to play with it before you flew off.. kisses! :p
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