Originally written on December 6, 2004

We slept in till 11am, and had a snack before lunch, as the only kitchen close by was at our bungalow complex and it was closed from 11am-12pm. We ate lunch, then rented a motorbike and headed into town. Poseidon did not have room for us after we returned from our snorkelling trip, so we needed to go into town and make a reservation at another location. The first stop in town was the bank, to get enough money to pay our snorkelling trip up front, and save the 4% charge for using a credit card. Next, we visited three recommended hotels/resorts. Pricier than Poseidon but 2 of them had pools and restaurants by the beach, quite nice. We settled on one, as it was the only one that had room for all 4 nights, and luckily it was a nice resort with a pool (even had a swim up bar, fancy!). Back at Poseidon in time for a sunset swim, then dinner and back to the room to pack for our trip.

Originally written on November 13, 2004

In the morning we had our free breakfast of eggs juice and tea (eggs, extra salty just they way mom never made because we would have run out of a whole box of salt in a week). We hopped on the bike and headed out to find ‘fairy spring’ and never found it. We headed down the road to find red dunes (never found), saw fishing village, great beach, beautiful views. On our way to the dunes we stopped at an internet cafe to download some pictures onto the mp3 player and to look up departure methods and times from Mui Ne to Saigon. The women running the cafe/internet told us that she operates a morning minibus. Later, we asked all around town and no other designated tour company leaves Mui Ne in the morning, so we thought that her deal was shady or more likely a crappy local ram jammed minibus ride from hell.

We decided to turn back, as it was late afternoon and still many km’s from the white sand dunes. We had a great swim in the ocean waves, watched the kite surfers and drank our beer. MMMM…

We wanted western food (hadn’t had pasta since we left) and went to an Italian restaurant. What were we thinking?!!! It was very disappointing: garlic bread, cheese ravioli, spaghetti in tomoto and bacon sauce (hardly any sauce and not crispy bacon). To make up for the meals shortcommings we destroyed the parmesean cheese that was free FU ‘Good. Movies before bed, then sleepy time.

Originally written on November 12, 2004

We arrived in Mui Ne after our 4 hour bus trip from Nha Trang at about noon. As per usual, we were dumped off at the place where the bus company get some commision if we stay. It looked OK, but it wasn’t near any restaurants so we would have to eat there or catch a cab every day — not bloody likely! So, I left Heather with the bags in the hotel restaurant and went out front, rented a motorcycle of some guy for 5 bucks (he filled it up with what he said was gas from a green 7up bottle, said see you tomorrow, and drove south looking for a good place to stay. I checked about 5 places and all were either OK and expensive 50US or more, or crappy and expensive. Except for the Rachua dua which was nice and only 25 US. We got a pretty decent AC room, 30 seconds from the beach, and the place had a pool. I probably could have gotten the place next door for cheaper, but it didn’t have a pool. We arrived, had a quick shower as is the custom to rid the travel sweat, and headed out on the motorcycle.

Where were we going you might ask? Question: where would 2 canadians go who were living on the cheap? Answer: to get beer! No need to pay ridiculous hotel prices. We headed into the town of Phan Thiet picked up some beer. This was also where we had our first really good whiff of Nuoc Nam, or fish sauce. Let me describe the smell: first a smooth sweet smell, like old honey or weak maple syrup followed by a puzzling, if not quite shellfish-ish then certainly fishy, but definatly pungent after smell. The first smell is good the second is bad leaving you feeling the need to constantly inhale to keep the sweet smell always going through your nose. Sadly, this is not possible. We got out of there quick, it really stinks.

On the way out of town we noticed two cham towers on the hill overlooking the place. We found our way there and after paying the 2000 dong toll we rode our motorcycles right up the ancient structures. There we were greeted by two young girls who happily guided us around and told us of their family. Li and here sisiter (sorry li’s sister, wher you May?) also showed us some berries they were eating. We enjoyed one or two only A)because its wrong to just ‘eat some berries’ and B) they where growing on an old military outpost which we also toured. Not nearly as exciting as the Cham towers, but certainly more dangerous. With daylight fading, and the camera batteries giving out, we headed back to our resort stopping along the way for some dinner, then to bed. Below is the original message (the sunset was from tonight):

We are currently in Mui Ne, Vietnam and still the internet is ass. We have been keeping up to date and hopefully when we get to Saigon next week we will be able to update pictures and the daily events. Here is where we are staying: http://www.elephantguide.com/hotels/phanthiet/tropico.htm Cheers for now. Sunset at Mui Ne last night…

Originally written on October 26, 2004

After a somewhat restless sleep, to be expected the first night in a new city we began our day. First, free breakfast downstairs. Eggs (scrambled with cheese or onion, fried, french bread, pound cake with cream filling, fresh fruit (orange, pineapple, papaya, miscellaneous!), freshly squeezed fruit juice (taste like mango but has different seeds?), ham, bacon, spring rolls, fried rice, and these awesome crispy donut like pastries.

We ventured onto the street to begin our walking tour (map from hotel). We quickly learned that sidewalks, and the inside of stores are for motorcycles, not pedestrians/shoppers! Crossing the street you do in blind faith. There is next to never a break in the busy traffic, with the exception of other people walking into traffic to also cross the street. We hold hands, look for a slower moving group of motorcyclists, and then enter the intersection. To succeed in crossing the street you must move at regular slow pace, don’t look left or right because you may freak yourself out about how crazy such a simple thing as crossing the street should be. We learned that even small, minor streets can be hazardous. » Read the rest of the entry..

While eating breakfast (banana pancake, more like a crepe really [for Kirk] and french bread with butter and jam [heather]) we learned that the ministry of health was coming by shortly to ‘fog’ the area for mosquitoes. Apparently, a little girl down the way a bit caught dengue fever, so when the Thai government hears that, they come and spread poison everywhere. Our plan for the day was to rent a motorcycle and head out to a park near Ban Phu, where there are some crazy rocks, and a great view. Just before leaving we learned that another guy was doing the same thing so we decided to go together in a convoy. His name was Francois and he is from France, near Geneva, a nice guy.

Anyway, renting the bike was easy, we walked to the end of the lane (soi) and paid Noui (a man) 200 baht for the use of the bike for the day. I took the bike for a short spin (30 seconds) to learn how to ride, change gears, steer, etc and then Heather got on and we started on our way. Soon I started looking at the various dials and readouts on the bike and discovered that we had no gas. We stopped and asked directions to the nearest petrol station and quickly filled up the tank for less than 2 CDN (50 baht). Once again on our way, I quickly figured out that it was best to constantly watch to make sure that the ditch was always on my immediate left (they drive opposite here). The other main concern was the rather large potholes that happen every so often. Some of them would be very damaging to hit. But I managed to steer around them. » Read the rest of the entry..