Mui Ne is Mooi, Ne!

So I've come up with a cheesy title for this latest blog entry and the more astute of my readers will have noticed that the blog itself has a new title. I've changed the title from 'My Backpack in 'Nam' to 'Oliver's Backpack.'  This is because my plans are ever-changing and I will now be incorporating Laos and Cambodia into my trip on the way back south.

You may be wondering what's been keeping me from blogging these past couple of days. Allow me to show you:

Palm-fringed beach. Good morning, Vietnam!

That is what I wake up to every morning in Mui Ne. Okay, not quite, I wake up to this:

I took that photo. That's why it's skew.

But those are the same palm trees in both photos.

What has kept me from blogging was sheer laziness. I have been spent every day since my arrival in the aptly named Mui Ne (It sounds like Mooi, Ne) on the beach. Every day except today. Today I am proud to inform you I got on a motorbike again. And this time I stayed on it. (A little aside: It is my opinion that the towns and cities in this region were named by a horny Afrikaner. To get to Mooi, Ne you have to pass through Phan Thiet - pronounced Fun Tiet. Your journey sounds like this: Fun Tiet! Mooi, Ne?)
The Lonely Planet had informed me that there are some incredible sand dunes about 35km away, hugging a beautiful lake known as Lotus Lake. As a tourist it is my job to take in the sights, so I went off to find a motorbike to hire for the day. Within no time I was heading to the sand dunes.

The first sand dunes I got to are known as the red sand dunes. Strange name, I've heard it has something to do with their colour... I was bitterly disappointed with what was on show. The dunes were certainly a reddish hue, but they weren't as dramatic as described by the guide books. Unperturbed, I headed for the white sand dunes near Lotus Lake. The directions I had been given weren't exactly very specific, but somehow I found my way there.

Upon arrival at the white sand dunes and Lotus Lake a monkey saw it fit to attempt to bite my leg. Thankfully for me, yet sadly for it it was chained to a post and couldn't get close enough. Lotus Lake was pretty cool and  proved to be aptly named, as there were indeed lotus flowers in the lake. The sand dunes, however, were nothing special.

Lotus Lake

After an hour in the dunes and an hour in the shade of the trees in the above picture I headed back to Mui Ne for a much needed swim.

I arrived back in Mui Ne, returned the bike and charged to the sea for a dip. I plunged into the water and felt immediately refreshed. The water is incredibly warm and I would have stayed in for longer if the sun hadn't been threatening to roast my shoulders. So, being the sensible lad I am I headed out of the water for the shade of a nearby palm tree. It was then that whatever gods there may be decided to shit on my head from a lofty height. A bloody jelly fish stung me on the eyelid. I know exactly how to get rid of the sting, but how the hell was I supposed to piss on my face? I opted for the more sane option and gunned it back to my guest house and hit the shower.

My recovery has been made, so don't fret. My eye is completely operational and only a slight sting remains. No swelling just yet.

Don't let a jellyfish near your dong
Oliver

P.S. This is what a fishing village looks like in Vietnam:

Boats, lots of boats.

My Tho and the Moto

Howzit

It's been a while, hey. I blame backwater syndrome, you know, when you get off the beaten track finding the interwebz can be a bit tricky.

So after Can Tho I headed to a little place called My Tho, considered the entrance to the Mekond Delta region. On the bus to My Tho I met French couple who were planning on doing a stay in My Tho similar to mine. Fred and Carine were their names and we decided to try the same hotel for a room. The hotel we wanted to get to was the Rang Dong Mini-hotel.

We hopped off the bus in My Tho and were surrounded by moto taxi riders. We told them where we wanted to go and settled on a price and were whisked off to the Rang Dong Hotel. The idea was to find a cheap room, something the Rang Dong hotel doesn't offer, but the Rang Dong mini-hotel does. We'd been taken to the wrong place and ended up walking about 4 kilometres in the heat of the day to get to a cheap place.

The incredible dragon fruit

After settling in we spent the rest of the day wandering around the markets. A local recommeded a place to eat that evening and we went to check it out. On the walk to the place that evening I bought some dragon fruit which would serve as my dessert. And as an added bonus, I took a photo to share with you. At supper we planned to hire motorbikes the next day to get to a snake farm (where Fred and I were going to sample snake blood) and then Ben Tre.

After enjoying our really cheap meal we headed back and arranged to collect the motorbikes the next morning. We went to the place we'd arranged to fetch the motorbikes from and got two motorbikes. One for Fred and Carine and the other for me. It was the first time I have ever driven a motorbike and doing it in the craziness that are the roads of Vietnam just added to the intensity of the experience.

That poor monkey, chained to the tree by its neck

I quickly got the hang of it and soon we had arrived at the snake farm. The snake farm turned out to be more like a zoo and was possibly one of the most depressing things I have seen in my life. The snakes were kept in tiny cages, too small for their size and the other animals were treated even worse. We saw a tiny monkey chained to a tree by its neck, bears in cages only twice their size and otters pacing  around a cage with only mud where water should have been.

To give you an idea of the roads and bridges

Shocked by the terrible conditions we dashed off to have some coffee and breakfast, just wanting to get as far away as possible. After breakfast we crossed an 8km long bridge to get to Ben Tre. Ben Tre itself was a disappointment as we didn't have a map to guide us around. Instead of wasting our time getting lost in Ben Tre we thought it better to get lost on the back roads around Ben Tre. It was on these tiny roads that the motorbike (actually a scooter) came alive. We rode on thin strips of tar and gravel and ducked off the roads onto tiny paths. We crossed bridges only just big enough to fit a scooter and bumped and bounced our way past tiny farms and houses.

After hours upon hours of driving on the back roads we headed back to Ben Tre for a snack. After the snack we agreed to head back to My Tho as we had given up trying to navigate Ben Tre. On the way back I had an experience which would be remembered above all others on this day. My first motorcycle accident.

That's me, on the bridge back to My Tho

I was in a turning circle, turning to get onto the right road to reach My Tho when another motorbiker gunned it past me through my blind spot and clipped my front wheel. My front wheel straightened up and I came off. Unsurprisingly, so did some skin on my elbow, knee, ankle and hip. No major damage was done and I was able to get up. The police arrived on the scene within 30 seconds and I thought 'Fuck, I'm going to get arrested!' Thankfully the police were absolutely useless and left without even helping me to get my bike up and off the road. As road acidents go this was very tame and I was up and on my bike again in no time.

We headed back to My Tho, dropped the bikes off and had an overpriced, but welcome, stiff drink. All in all my first motorbiking experience was one for the record books and I loved every minute of it. Even the crash, especially the crash. It somehow rounded off the whole experience. I now have my first war wounds from Nam.

Get your dong out for a motorbike ride
Oliver

Battle scars.