Mui Ne

We had good flight back to Ho Chi Minh City and checked into a place near to where the bus left for Mui Ne the following morning.

When we booked the bus the girl asked if we wanted a local  or a sleeper bus, we opted for sleeper thinking it would have reclining seats.
Imagine how funny it was when we boarded at 8am yesterday morning (having had a full nights sleep) and found that the bus had 3 rows of bunk beds, I kid you not.
It was almost full already so we both had a top bunk, they did have a slight raised head rest so we weren't completely horizontal for 5 hours but you couldnt sit up or you would bump your head!


How funny!

 After 10 mins I got to quite like it, we had a pillow and should we have needed it a blanket, and I decided it was good fun to be laying down watching Vietnam go by.
There were mainly locals on the bus and every time I looked behind me every one seemed to be sleeping, yes I know it was a sleeper bus but what had they been doing all night?

 It seems that all the buses up and down the east coast are much the same, so we will know what to expect tomorrow when we start off on the next leg, a 5 hour journey to Nah Trang.
We arrived in Mui Ne yesterday at 1pm, it is a 10km stretch of coast line with all the shops, restaurants and guest houses dotted all along.

We found a very nice place within 5 mins and got ourselves a room on the second floor with a balcony overlooking the sea for $20.


View from balcony

  It's fab! we left the balcony doors open all night and all you could hear was the waves crashing onto the small beach which was directly below us, it was so nice waking in the night and being lulled back to sleep by the sound of the sea.
A couple of times I went onto the balcony, there were lots of lights in the horizon coming from the night fishing boats.
Last night we had a nice meal at a roof top restaurant, there is a cool breeze here which is nice.

Today we woke early and hired push bikes as the 10km stretch is totally flat and easy to cycle along.
It was a lovely ride, we went to the fishing village as we wanted to see the night fishing boats come in with their catches


Lady sorting through the shellfish






 Fisherman carrying their net

   It was really interesting to watch, there were women  all over the beach extracting small shellfish from their shells and leaving behind piles of shells.



This lady like most wearing a face mask, socks and gloves, well it is their winter! - note the crushed shells on the beach

 
The shells had mounted up over the months and years,sand was made up of crushed shells, it was a pity really as they were quite pretty, the sort that can be found in UK seaside resorts for sale.

We saw baskets of freshly caught starfish. Beautiful!





Nice shot  with fishermen in small fishing boats in the foreground and the red sand dunes in the background

In the foreground ladies drying shrimps, on the beach the small round fishing boats and other fishing boats on the sea

Lady carrying starfish

We were the only foreigners around, it was amazing to see Local Vietnamese fishing life. This afternoon Fransfancied going to the sand dunes and hiking up and down them and also sledging down on a board, not my thing so he has gone with a guide on a motor bike and I am blogging, reading and perusing the touristy shops which is ok once in a while.
My Mum and John are going on a 5 week holiday to Oz and New Zealand tomorrow so I would like to wish them a safe and fab trip.