As I mentioned in my last post, life in Vung Tau was pretty slow. That doesn't mean, though, that I didn't manage to get away on occasion. Last November I spent a week in Istanbul visiting my girlfriend, Pegah, and a few weeks prior to that, a few of the teachers had paid a visit to a nearby waterfall.
My first real trip in Vietnam, however, didn't occur until Christmas when myself and another teacher, Damian, arranged to spend a couple of days in Mui Ne. The beach resort town of Mui Ne has quickly emerged on the scene in Vietnam as a rival to Nha Trang in the 'sea, sun and surf' stakes. Although predominately frequented by tourists with cash to flash, it didn't prove too difficult to find affordable accommodation with a sea view. Among the activities open to visitors there, kite-surfing appears to be the one that is taking off. The only activity we managed to engage in on the beach, alas, was a spot of sunbathing - not that either of us were complaining. The real fun was to be had away from the sea.
I'm not usually one to book tours, but seeing as we were on a tight time budget, I decided to take the plunge with Damian to take a jeep tour of the surrounding areas. It was all for the best as the distances between 'sights' was actually big enough to have made it impossible to do independently - without forking out on a jeep and figuring out how to get to the places ourselves.
There's something about riding on the back of a jeep down a long stretch of road that just makes you feel so damn cool. I donned my aviator-sunglasses and attempted to pull off 'Apocalypse Now.' It came out more 'Top Gun,' but I didn't care. The ride was a lot of fun. After checking out the neighbouring fishing village, we made our way to the giant sand dunes that distinguish Mui Ne from its rivals.
As far as the eye can see, the swathes of golden sand stretch out in a caricature of what you'd expect sand dunes to look like. The whole setting reminded me a lot of the dunes I had scaled and sledded down in Xinjiang, China. Damian and I opted to rent a couple of quad bikes and rode around like a couple of maniacs, not particularly caring that the top speed wasn't exactly as fast as we made ourselves believe. We also attempted to slide down, but with mixed results, certainly nothing as impressive as my descent in China, which frankly I'm still a little surprised I survived with nothing more serious that a little sunburn.
That evening we went back to our hotel and ate a 'traditional' Christmas dinner. OK, so it wasn't exactly roast beef with all the trimmings like my nan used to make, but who says shrimp can't be festive?
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