Mui Ne Beach

Hi everyone - It's Dave and Lorelle here...

We are up to day 13 of our trip and it feels like we have been away for a month!

We headed for Mui Ne from Nha Trang a couple of days ago. Another memorable experience on the train. We had to argue with the train conductor at 5.30 in the morning to get the sleeper we had paid for. He tried to put us in a cupboard right near the toilet which just had a straw mat on top of some plastic chairs. We were not going in there for quids! Luckily, Dave's negotiating skills have been nothing short of amazing throughout our trip and he managed to get us our proper sleeper eventually. The train was full of hundreds of uniformed army guys (Dave loved it) who were hanging out the windows and cheering at us as we walked up and down the platform trying to find a sleeper - very surreal at 5.30 in the morning, having had 4 hours of drunken sleep.

Our train ticket got us to Muong Man. This place is 40 minutes from our intended destination (Mui Ne beach). We were in the middle of nowhere, a complete stinky, hot, dusty shanty town. No one else got off the train with us, so we were alone on this platform where no one spoke english and there were no taxis. Eventually 3 young guys blackmailed us into accepting to pay $30 US to get to Mui Ne beach - we had no choice but to accept.

Got to Mui Ne and checked into a resort called Sunsea (recommended by Erica & Mark). Sorry guys, but we got off on the wrong foot with this resort and ended up checking out before the end of the day! There were no more bungalows, no hot water, our room had a door that did not close, no restaurant, but most importantly there was no bar! They were also charging us a whopping $60 US a night.

On our treck to find the town, we came to the realisation that there is no town in Mui Ne beach. It's a strip of resorts and dingy hotels. The roadside is pretty dusty, dirty and smells of dried fish! The beach also has a bit of rubbish scattered around, and the locals didn't impress us much. The idea here is obviously to find a resort and stay there!

Whilst exploring, we stumbled upon an amazing resort which had just opened a few weeks before. It is very beautiful with a big pool, amazing architecture and nice gardens with palm trees everywhere. Most importantly it has a bar! Lorelle described it as 'a haven amongst the shit'. We told the other resort that we had to go back to Saigon for business, got half our money back and moved into the new resort mentioned above. We also got a lot better rate at this resort.

We have since only left the resort to use the internet and buy water. We have done nothing but lie by the pool and swim, eat and drink. A nice way to finish our honeymoon!

We leave for Saigon tomorrow. We are not using the train ticket we bought, we are hiring a private car instead - Bugger it! We arrive back in Melbourne on Wednesday evening, after an overnight stay in Singapore. We are looking forward to catching up with everyone and boring you all with our photos and adventures.