Chillin' in the beach town of Mui Ne

December 13, 2010

You’ll be shocked at how short this entry is, but I wanted to write one. I took an early bus to Mui Ne, a beach town, about 5 hours up the coast from Saigon. The weather is overcast most days, but the temperature is nice and the water feels good.

I wandered the beach and rode a bike along the main strip and had two interactions with locals that were in stark contrast. Walking along the fishing area I took a picture of this man in his round boat coming to shore (I’d never seen a round boat before!). Then he walked away from the beach, later I realized to get friends help him carry the boat up on the beach more. As I snapped a photo of his boat I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked that direction and saw no one. He had moved to the other side having a fun joke on me. I spotted him and his playful smile. He spoke no English and my Vietnamese is limited to hello and thank you, but he got a kick out of me saying even those. Later I was bicycling and saw a sign for a nice hotel having a discount on rooms. I figured it still would be out of my price range, but I thought I’d check because where I am is a bit far from the center of things. I ask the man about prices for his basic rooms and he offers to show me one, but doesn’t tell me the price. I ask again to know the price first and he yells repeatedly, “FUCK YOU! GET OUT OF HERE!” Are you as shocked as I am? So I turned to leave and just wondering if he was playing a terrible prank I turned back around and got another earful of “GET OUT!” Not sure what that was about, but not what I expected.

My room is fine and actually has hot water and air conditioning all for $8. I found another guesthouse room for the same price closer to the center, but with a fan and only cold water. I can deal with both of those, but not sure if I’ll bother with the trouble of moving for just tomorrow night. I plan on getting a motorbike tomorrow anyway – to see some sand dunes – so I can get around easily. It was nice bicycling today and it’s easy here because the terrain is flat. I lounged at a beachside café and drank a fruit shake. It’s a nice break after the whirl of Saigon.

For my last day in Saigon I slept in and then went to their art museum. It was small, but had some contemporary pieces I enjoyed. Then I went back to the main indoor market and found myself a hat. I snapped a few pictures and you can see how tightly packed the place is. You can find anything at the market it seems and you can also eat there. Another tourist said he say a woman in her stall crying and realized it was because her high stack of clothes had just fallen over. I didn’t see any of those disasters, but did see stalls selling cloth so clothes could be custom tailored.

I saw another two minor accidents – I’m averaging 2 a day in Saigon. Some intersections are quite scary to cross, especially the massive rotaries with no lights. I just hold my breath until heaving a sigh of relief on the other side. I reconsidered my plan to kiss the ground. At one spot in front of the market a tourist police officer escorted me across the street. That was a relief. This is the same area I saw an accident later.

I posted a picture of a group of people in the park. This is what happens when I tourist sits down in a public place. You can see a few tourists have been swarmed by Saigoners/Saigonians (what do you call people who live in Saigon?). I had wanted to sit and read my book, but knew I really couldn’t. Most I’m sure just want to practice English, but I’ve heard enough scam stories that I’d rather not put myself in the situation. One young Japanese tourist got scammed out of $100 USD!

In the evening I happily retrieved my headlamp! I bought drinks for the people working in the hotel/travel agency and people watched. Then for a little culinary variety – and it was cheap - I had a gyro, which was pretty good. It was a little street stall with squatty tables and chairs to sit on. Speaking of food, I’m going to go search some out….