Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Mui Ne morning
Since I shook off the evangelist in Saigon, I joined the Vietnam tourist bus trail north. My first stop was Mui Ne. A beautiful beach but too quiet and couple-populated for a newly solo traveller like me. I woke up at 4.45am for a sunrise tour of the massive Mui Ne sand dunes. The bungalow resort place I was staying at had big gates which were sensibly locked at that time of the night. I forgot to tell them the day before I was doing a sunrise tour and couldn't see anyone around. So, with my jeep driver and a Belgian waiting on the other side, I climbed over the fence. It was dark and I was still half asleep and I cut my hand on the way down (not badly). A bit too much action for pre- 5am.
As we approached the sand dunes, I thought we were driving into a mob of early rising local children protesting with banners. 'Save our dunes', 'No child exploitation' etc. Very wrong. They were holding up slippery plastic sheets which are forced under every visiting bum to assist your slide down the sand dunes. So much for 'Save our dunes', more like 'Give your dong' - (Dong being the Vietnamese currency for anyone who thought I was saying something else).
I was really looking forward to peacefully watching a glorious sunrise after a quiet trek up the dunes. No such luck. Tom from Antwerp and I were escorted by four of the young 'demonstrators' who periodically raced each other down the side of the dune only to come running up moments later. Certainly, this must be one of the more fun ways for kids in Vietnam to earn a few dong. The sun rose, as it does, and I succumed to the 'madam you slide' mantra, as I'm sure everyone eventually does. It was fun but my white top still carries traces of the red sand. The colour of the sand and topography in the area was so familiar, I felt like I was at Mungo National Park in NSW!
What didn't feel anything like Australia was the fishing village we then visited at 6.30am. The market was at its chaotic and colourful peak. The fishing boats were moored just off shore and there were baskets everywhere on the beach containing the night's catch which was being weighed, peeled, gutted etc by women in conical hats. There were even buffalo-drawn carts on the beach ready to take the fresh produce off to the market. It was very photogenic. I'll try to post some photos soon. I'll write more soon about my couple of weeks in Dalat, Nha Trang, Hoi An and Hue. I'm off to Lao in a few days too so stay tuned!
As we approached the sand dunes, I thought we were driving into a mob of early rising local children protesting with banners. 'Save our dunes', 'No child exploitation' etc. Very wrong. They were holding up slippery plastic sheets which are forced under every visiting bum to assist your slide down the sand dunes. So much for 'Save our dunes', more like 'Give your dong' - (Dong being the Vietnamese currency for anyone who thought I was saying something else).
I was really looking forward to peacefully watching a glorious sunrise after a quiet trek up the dunes. No such luck. Tom from Antwerp and I were escorted by four of the young 'demonstrators' who periodically raced each other down the side of the dune only to come running up moments later. Certainly, this must be one of the more fun ways for kids in Vietnam to earn a few dong. The sun rose, as it does, and I succumed to the 'madam you slide' mantra, as I'm sure everyone eventually does. It was fun but my white top still carries traces of the red sand. The colour of the sand and topography in the area was so familiar, I felt like I was at Mungo National Park in NSW!
What didn't feel anything like Australia was the fishing village we then visited at 6.30am. The market was at its chaotic and colourful peak. The fishing boats were moored just off shore and there were baskets everywhere on the beach containing the night's catch which was being weighed, peeled, gutted etc by women in conical hats. There were even buffalo-drawn carts on the beach ready to take the fresh produce off to the market. It was very photogenic. I'll try to post some photos soon. I'll write more soon about my couple of weeks in Dalat, Nha Trang, Hoi An and Hue. I'm off to Lao in a few days too so stay tuned!
