Mui Ne Beach

We arrived at Mui Ne at about 2am, and were pretty tired after leaving Phnom Penh at 6:30 so checked into the hotel where we were dropped. It was a little expensive, but we managed to get the owner to knock $5 off if we went without the included breakfast. This wasn’t a problem, as we haven’t been up in time for a single breakfast yet.

Mui Ne is a very quiet little fishing village about 200km from HCMC, where there isn’t much to do and no tuk tuks or public transport so we rented a motorbike after being approached by a moto driver. He agreed to rent us his personal bike for just $5 and didn’t ask for any security, which shows the Vietnamese are much more hospitable and trusting than the guidebooks make out. It seemed a little harsh to be renting his entire livelihood for just $5 so we made sure to return it with a full tank of petrol.

We took the bike to sand dunes where I had a go at sand sledding. It’s like tobogganing, but with a lot more sand in your eyes. Tabi didn’t participate due to an altercation with our 11 year old guide. I wasn’t very good at it, so two days later, I’m still getting sand out of various nooks and crannies.

We’re now in Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as they call it in the South. We decided that as this was our last inexpensive country we’d push the boat out a little, so have got a suite in a hotel, with PC and hot water for just 7 pounds. We’ve just come back from a supermarket where we managed to spend $40 on cereals and cheese. So much for self catering being cheap!

We’ve got until the morning of the 22nd in HCMC, so have a few days just to relax, which will be nice after quite a hectic pace.