Wouldn't recommend Tam Hanh buses (Saigon - Mui Ne). Before you get to your destination, they start taking on new passengers. If there is no room on the bus, they ask passengers where they are staying and then persuade them to get off miles from their hotel. I had done a reccy on the location of the hotel, but was still convinced by the guy as he pointed ahead to Rang Church which was by our hotel - he lied! We got a local bus anyway - not the end of the world. Mui Ne is popular with holidaying Australians, Russians and Japanese. Mui Ne is the cover all name used to describe three towns, Phan Thiet, Han Tien and Mui Ne (actually a fishing village with only a couple of posh resorts). Most of the action runs between Phan Thiet (the administrative capital of the province and a fishing port) and Han Tien, where we are staying, which has the majority of hotels, restaurants and bars. The resorts are known for windsurfing, kitesurfing, red and white sand dunes and a phenomenon locally known as the fairy stream (a miniature Grand Canyon).
On our first day, we headed out to the Fairy stream, which is a 15 minute walk along the main road from our hotel. The stream is brown from the red sand and God knows what else. You have to wade ankle deep in the stream to view the canyon. The first bit is a bit smelly, there is a sweet, rotting, refuse smell. I had to get over myself, roll my trouser legs up and get on with it! After a short walk, the jungle stream path opens up to reveal the canyon. The stream is lined with limestone karsts, set against the red dunes in the background. Paul took lots of photos. It was surprisingly impressive and the further we walked out the less tourists there were, but the views remained great. The next day we hired bikes from our hotel for $2 each for 24 hours. We decided to cycle the 7kms along the road to the red sand dunes. Paul is a confident cyclist, but he was somewhat held back by me. It is customary here, for drivers to beep you to warn you that they are there or when they overtake you. My nerves were shattered after constant beeping, overtaking parked vehicles and weaving out of the way of mopeds who pull out without looking. I also had to brake suddenly to avoid hitting a cow that had decided it suddenly wanted to cross the road. After 30 minutes of adrenalin and fear fuelled cycling and photo stops we stopped off in Mui Ne for our usual iced coffee. My hands were shaking. After a brief stop, we pushed on to the red sand dunes. We skipped the opportunities to buy a sand slide or to ride an ostrich on the dunes and headed out to the relatively tourist free dunes. Feeling like Lawrence of Arabia, we enjoyed the expanse of dunes and the distant views of sea and hills (see photos). On the way back, I noticed that the freeway was completely empty - a good alternative to the road we had come along, I thought. We took the expressway back to the hotel, unfortunately, I had to walk the bike up most of the hills. Coasting downhill was fun though. My lovely Paul had looked after me on the drive and protected me from harm. Afternoons have been spent relaxing by the pool at our hotel or drinking Saigon beer and eating seafood spring rolls on our balcony. Our hotel, Sunrise Village Resort is £19.50 per room per night including a huge breakfast. Our best hotel so far. Other adventures have had us avoid the bustle of the road. We walked along the beach to the nearest part of Phan Thiet, around 7kms away. We passed the heavily developed resorts. Such a shame that they have cut down the beautiful 50 foot tall coconut palms only to replace them with concrete hotels. Some places have got it right though, they have kept the palms and have built low level bungalows and shaded walkways to the beach. Boy were there some sights on that beach. This season, the Russians are resplendant in thongs and Speedos - suits all sizes and shapes - lovely. The next day, we walked in the other direction along the fishermen's beaches to Mui Ne. I remarked that there was a lot of dog muck, just like New Brighton. Paul advised that it wasn't dogs. He was right, the fishermen's shacks along this stretch did not have toilet facilities. This stretch of the beach is strewn with sea shells, damaged nets, discarded sea creatures and parked coracles. In addition to the larger painted fishing boats there are also blue plastic coracles - like big bath tubs. Paul revisited his childhood on Formby beach, searching for shells to photograph. We passed huddles of people bartering with the day's catch of weird and wonderful sea creatures. Evenings have been spent at local family eateries. We have sampled lots of the local seafood - shrimps, scallops, squid. Paul has also had wild boar on a couple of occasions at a restaurant near our hotel. The owner sits with you and cooks the wild boar on a little barbeque - a little intrusive, but fun. See photos. Please take look at our video tab too. Thanks for following us and for your messages, We hope you are enjoying our adventures too!