Pete & Rach's Big Trip: Mui Ne: 4-8 Nov 2013

Just after sunrise at the White Sand Dunes

Rach says:

The train to Mui Ne was the dirtiest of the trip so far. Being really tired it didn't bother me too much and I got under the covers anyway and snuggled down to sleep. Then I felt something brush my arm. I opened my eyes ready to search out and deal death to the pesky mosquito... but a split second later, I was leaping and up and yelling "There's a RAT in the room!!" kicking the bedding away and
huddling in the middle of the mattress. I had come eye-to-eye with it under the table! The next 10 minutes were spent rat-hunting, but this unfortunately just revealed further filth and old food under the beds and a serious infestation of cockroaches. Pete went to investigate further down the carriage...

Mui Ne beach

Pete says:

There were two younger lads sharing our cabin (both from England) and they seemed quite shocked by it all. As I walked through the carriages I passed another cabin where a Canadian couple were up on their beds crushing cockroaches all over the place. I eventually found a guard and he was quite drunk. I managed to get him to follow me to the Canadians' cabin where they pointed out the insects and he just laughed and gave a gesture we took to mean "Oh yeah, they are cockroaches" before he went back to bed. I decided to go and look for a seat, as we couldn't stay in the sleeper carriage, and there were a few spares so Rachael, me, and the two English lads went an took up our seats for the 17 hour journey ahead.

Mui Ne is a beach resort very much like any other. A long beach with a long road full of hotels and restaurants next to it. Kite surfing seemed to be the thing to do here. Looked like a lot of effort to me but people seemed quite proud of doing it.

It is full of Russian tourists and it seems to be their version of Mallorca. Signs and menus were all in Russian and it is the only place I have ever seen vodka for sale by the bottle in restaurants. One night, two couples with two children sat next to us, finished their dinner and beers and then ordered a big bottle of tequila to drink for dessert!! It seems that Russian men never smile, they all seem to be having the worst time of their lives.

Crocs in various forms

There were a lot of crocodiles; either entire skins being sold, stuffed baby ones in comedy poses or roasting on the barbecues outside restaurants. One restaurant received a delivery while we were sitting eating a very tasty barbecued beef tenderloin steak. It was a big sack of live snakes.

On our last day we got up before sunrise (very traumatic) and got a jeep to take us to some sand dunes that were a few miles away. The journey was hair raising but it was quite nice at the dunes. Sort of strange to have this mass of sand surrounded by tropical landscape. There were snake tracks on the sand so I regretted wearing my flip flops.

Rach says:

We also visited a red canyon, red sand dunes, fishing village and the 'Fairy Stream' which ran through red and white rock formations. It made me think of photos I have seen of the American Southwest - quite different to the jungle-like feel of the rest of the country. We were so glad we decided to give up our much needed lie in, as this one morning transformed our Mui Ne experience, which would otherwise have been a generic beach break in a generic resort. We felt we had completed a full day of activities by midday (this is a new feeling for us!) and I had a short nap at the train station whilst waiting for our 4 hour train to Saigon.