After a hectic week of exams, marking and grading papers it was time for a well earned break so with a long weekend in hand I headed to the beach side town of Mui Ne

Northeast of Phan Thiet the coastal road climbs over the slope of a Cham-Tower-topped hill and descends onto the long, sandy crescent of Mui Ne Bay. The formerly little-inhabited
beach south of the fishing village of Mui Ne proper has seen some serious development in the last 15 years. Now it is a 15 km long strip of resorts that line up like pearls on Nguyen Dinh Chieu street, shaded by coconut palms. The main resort strip is actually named Ham Tien.

Given the choice, nature would move the sand around, much to the dismay of some developers. Beach sand tends to migrate up and down the coast seasonally, leaving some (but not all) spots with just a concrete breakwater rather than sandy beach. There is always a good sandy beach somewhere along this 10 km beach.

We headed off on Friday morning and after an arduous 6 hour car ride arrived in Mui Ne mid afternoon. After checking into our hotel we quickly headed along the strip to find a nice bar to have a celebratory drink. Champagne corks popped at the Sankara as we sat on comfy lounges looking out over the ocean watching the kite surfers doing their thing. After a few hours we headed off to find a place for dinner. There is a plethora of restaurants so we walked along until one took our eye.

Being by the seaside demanded we eat seafood of course!! Unfortunately this area has just about been "fished out" and we were disappointed by the choice available and the cost. Holy hell they wanted $60 USD for a lobster and we could not be sure it was even fresh - hence decided to forgo that one!!! Settled for a nice meal of shrimp and fish.

A first for me was to try a Shisha - a syrupy tobacco mix which is smoked in a hookah - we had a mint and strawberry concoction I think. Cant say it did much for me so I guess I can say "been there, done that".......but it is always fun to try new things!!!!

After dinner we headed out to a few bars for more drinking.....cocktails (including a pornstar martini)...shots(we are still not sure what was in them).....oh dear :( Not really...we had a blast of a time and spent most of the night in fits of laughter. Finished up the night at a bar with live music where we sang our hearts out.

Saturday morning we got up, had breakfast and headed out to get some serious pampering at one of the myriad of spas available.......feeling utterly relaxed after a 90 minute thai massage which got all those kinks out of my muscles and a facial it was to find a restaurant for lunch. After living in the middle of nowhere it was just so nice to be among people, shops, spas, restaurants etc

After lunch we hired a jeep and driver to take us to see some of the sights. First stop was Fairy Stream. The stream has carved its way through dramatic dunes and meanders along through a magical landscape. We were fortunate that there were very few people there when we arrived....so much so that we seriously wondered if we were walking in the right direction!! Never fear we soon saw a crowd of other tourists just as we were heading out.

We then headed along the coastline to the Mui Ne fishing village which is essentially a congregation of brightly painted fishing boats of all shapes and sizes. It was so nice just to breath in the sea air and watch the boats bobbing up and down in the water.

Back in the jeep we headed out of town for about 30 kms to the White Sand Dunes which are regarded as a famous photo opportunity for couples and pop musicians in Vietnam. As we were heading along a dirt road to get there we saw the strangest sight....a man on his bicycle selling feather dusters!!!! Could not work out for the life of me what he was doing in the middle of nowhere and cant imagine he gets many sales......but then again after being windswept in the open jeep and feeling like my skin had been sandblasted maybe one might have been a good idea! The dunes seem to undulate forever before finally plunging into a lake lined with lotus plants. Unfortunately for us they were not in flower but I can imagine how beautiful they would look. The only downside to this area - which is supposedly being protected with "eco-tourism" signs up everywhere - is the large number of dune buggys available for hire. The peace and tranquility is spoilt by the sound of the motors and the fumes of the fuel.

Our final destination for the day was the Red Sand Dunes which are not regarded as being as spectacular as the white ones but I thought they were beautiful. Climbing to the top o the dunes at sunset was magical....once we avoided the gaggle of children trying to sell us a plastic sheet to slide down the dunes. Looking in one direction was just dune after dune like being in a desert and in the other direction we could see the sea in the distance...pure magic.

Headed back to the hotel for a dip in the pool and drinks by the pool before heading out for dinner again.....the joy of not having to cook in indescribable!!! After dinner we went for a walk along the strip looking at the markets that have been basically set up to draw in the tourist dollar. Along the way we spotted so many Christmas decorations which is rather bizarre given that it is not celebrated in Vietnam!! We then headed to a different spa and decided to treat ourselves to a reflexology foot massage...what a way to finish off a wonderful day.

Sunday I woke up to the reality that this was our final day before heading back to the isolation of our apartments but I was determined to make the most of every moment left. Had breakfast at the hotel and headed off to a spa for some final serious pampering. massage- tick, facial - tick, manicure - tick, pedicure - tick. 3 hours of pure bliss.

Back to the hotel to quickly pack and have some lunch before the car came to pick us up to head home. We were very subdued in the car but know that we only have to tech for a week before we head off for our next adventure!!!! YEAH holidays are almost here.

Bye for now. xxx