Day 178 (Mon 1 Jan) - Mui Ne
Up quite late (but no hangovers, which is unusual for the first day of the year) and had breakfast.
Wandered down to the travel shop were we confirmed our bus for Saigon t'row. Also booked a whistle stop tour of the dunes at 2pm this afternoon.
Done a little blogging and then had lunch at a small restaurant where the waitress frankly cocked up our order.
Wandered back to the hotel, changed gear and waited for our jeep to pick us up at 2pm.
Bang on two the jeep arrived and we drove off to pick up another couple, Michael and Han. Australian, but of Vietnamese origin, they had not been back to Vietnam since their early childhood. Really nice couple that had recently sold their house in Australia and decided to go travel for 2 years!! Good on them.
Off the main road running through Mui Ne, we walked up Fariy Stream, a shallow river looking at the red sandstone rocks around us ( [1], [2] ). Quite tricky walking as in some places the river became deeper without warning. As we walked local children tagged along and at one point we each seemed to have a child holding our hands.
After the river, we travelled towards the white sand dunes passing the immense fishing village on the way. Really, really busy and colourful.
Went to the dunes, nestled by a lake (very odd) ( [1], [2] ), we tried our hands at sand surfing. Sarb managed to ingest about a half pound of the desert's finest and ended up just rolling down the hill. Jo was made of stronger stuff and managed a fine surf. We were absolutely covered in sand!
The little boys (aged about 6/7) that were handing out the bits of plastic (ie surf boards) and our guide then engaged in a very heated discussion as to how much we should be charged. Clearly the marketing director of the outfit felt that 10 Dong should suffice, clearly with an eye to expanding the business slowly, whilst the Finance and Managing directors, paid up members of the 'smash and grab' school of thought, wanted 15 each.
In the end we gave them 10 Dong from each of us, so the marketing director won the day. However things were not all rosy in the boardroom and this was made violently apparent. Our friend from the marketing department was cheerfully walking along with us back to the van when the brooding MD appeared and thwacked the younger boy squarely on the kisser. Naturally this sort of behaviour cannot be condoned (even when working in London) as our guide forcefully pointed out to the young go-getter.
We left the fledgling organisation to settle its issues and wandered off to see a stunning canyon of red rock formations. Later we headed back towards Mui Ne stopping off at another set of dunes (the Golden Sand Dunes) where we would watch the sun set. Unfortunately it was very cloudy so didn't get to see a great sunset although the views out to sea were excellent.
Got back and had an excellent supper at an Italian place called Luna d'autunno.
Wandered down to the travel shop were we confirmed our bus for Saigon t'row. Also booked a whistle stop tour of the dunes at 2pm this afternoon.
Done a little blogging and then had lunch at a small restaurant where the waitress frankly cocked up our order.
Wandered back to the hotel, changed gear and waited for our jeep to pick us up at 2pm.
Bang on two the jeep arrived and we drove off to pick up another couple, Michael and Han. Australian, but of Vietnamese origin, they had not been back to Vietnam since their early childhood. Really nice couple that had recently sold their house in Australia and decided to go travel for 2 years!! Good on them.
Off the main road running through Mui Ne, we walked up Fariy Stream, a shallow river looking at the red sandstone rocks around us ( [1], [2] ). Quite tricky walking as in some places the river became deeper without warning. As we walked local children tagged along and at one point we each seemed to have a child holding our hands.
After the river, we travelled towards the white sand dunes passing the immense fishing village on the way. Really, really busy and colourful.
Went to the dunes, nestled by a lake (very odd) ( [1], [2] ), we tried our hands at sand surfing. Sarb managed to ingest about a half pound of the desert's finest and ended up just rolling down the hill. Jo was made of stronger stuff and managed a fine surf. We were absolutely covered in sand!
The little boys (aged about 6/7) that were handing out the bits of plastic (ie surf boards) and our guide then engaged in a very heated discussion as to how much we should be charged. Clearly the marketing director of the outfit felt that 10 Dong should suffice, clearly with an eye to expanding the business slowly, whilst the Finance and Managing directors, paid up members of the 'smash and grab' school of thought, wanted 15 each.
In the end we gave them 10 Dong from each of us, so the marketing director won the day. However things were not all rosy in the boardroom and this was made violently apparent. Our friend from the marketing department was cheerfully walking along with us back to the van when the brooding MD appeared and thwacked the younger boy squarely on the kisser. Naturally this sort of behaviour cannot be condoned (even when working in London) as our guide forcefully pointed out to the young go-getter.
We left the fledgling organisation to settle its issues and wandered off to see a stunning canyon of red rock formations. Later we headed back towards Mui Ne stopping off at another set of dunes (the Golden Sand Dunes) where we would watch the sun set. Unfortunately it was very cloudy so didn't get to see a great sunset although the views out to sea were excellent.
Got back and had an excellent supper at an Italian place called Luna d'autunno.
posted by Jo and Sarb at
1/01/2007 05:06:00 am
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