Saigon to Mui Ne Beach to Dalat
Well we are in Dalat.
Our Christmas lunch was spectacular, although we were a little unsteady on our feet after countless vodkas with lunch! Our afternoon was spent dozing in our room then for dinner we ordered pizza home delivery from a place called pepperonis because we were too lazy to leave our room. What an experience it was trying to order! The first girl I spoke with got frustrated and hung up and the second time I called I had to speak with two different people and repeat my order 13 times before the call was done.. to their credit though they got the order completely right which is more than I can say for delivery people in Australia most of the time!
On boxing day we got up super early to catch our bus to Mui Ne Beach. Our bus left at 7:45 and we arrived in Mui Ne at around 12:30. The bus dropped us off in front of a hotel and took off pretty quickly and because Mui Ne is so underdeveloped it was going to be a huge hassle to try and find another place to stay so we agreed to stay in a not very nice too expensive room (it was only $9 but we have stayed in better places for a lot less). Mui Ne Beach has no town centre as such.. basically the town runs along the beachfront so we were pretty limited in what we were able to do unless we wanted to walk the ten kilometres from one end to the other.
We found ourselves some lunch and spent half an hour trying to talk to the hotel staff about booking a tour for the next day. We managed to get ourselves booked in but it turned out the next day that they had booked us into the WRONG one! We woke up before the sun came up to jump aboard our jeep. It was painful getting up so early but the sunset was absolutely breathtaking so it was worth it. The tour that we had booked went for 5 hours, included breakfast and lunch and took us to all the natural sights around Mui Ne.. the tour we got booked on cost the same amount of money (which was strange) didnt include breakfast OR lunch, went only for 2 hours and didnt take us to half as many places (dodgy dodgy). We got to see the amazing sand dunes and the red rock cliffs and we visited the fishing village but then our driver tried to drop us back at the hotel. We were doing the tour with a french girl who had booked the same tour as us but at a different place but somehow we all ended up on the wrong one (seems like a bit of a scam to me) SO we attempted to find out what was going on. The hotel refused to accept any responsibility and got really angry at us for questioning them, our driver took us back to the tour company who also refused to accept any responsibility and wouldnt refund our money or take us on the rest of the tour. They did however agree to give us breakfast (but they had no eggs and no peanut butter lol)..
So by 8:30 am we had seen a sunrise, climbed the sand dunes, fought off some children, visited cliffs AND a fishing village, gotten into two arguements and eaten a 'free' breakfast.. when we got back to our hotel we were exhausted and we went to sleep! I think if it had just been luke and I we would have just given up after the first arguement but the french girl was looking for blood! she really wanted a fight and she wouldnt let us give up! so funny!
Anyway, the people at our hotel were really rude to us after that so we decided not to stay any longer. We had wanted to stay in Mui Ne for new years but after being there (even without the tour debarcle) we decided it wasnt really the place.. a great place to relax on the beach but it is mainly a fisherman town and for new years we are looking for something crazy! There are not going to be many times that we get to spend new years in Vietnam and we want to have some fun!
SO, when we were in Saigon we bought an open bus ticket. Basically you choose your stops and then you can move between the towns whenever you like (as long as you book a day in advance) We have a ticket for saigon - mui ne beach - dalat - nha trang - halong - hue - hanoi (all for $22).. so we booked the next leg of our journey.. mui ne to dalat.. for this morning.
We got up early again. The bus was supposed to arrive at 7 but didnt get there until 8..apparently thai time works here as well! the first leg of the trip was on a minibus then about half way we stopped and changed into a coach for the rest of the trip. Now we are in Dalat (the flower town apparently) its really cold which is a strange feeling for us! We dont know if we will stay here for new years or move onto Nha Trang (the party town!) we will just have to wait and see.
On our way to this internet place today we were stopped by two members of the 'easy rider' group. We have heard so much about these guys, lonely planet absolutely raves about them and other travellers have been talking about them as well. Basically they are a group of guys who work as tour guides around the city.. they are famous for taking you off the beaten track and showing you crazy things around town that you would never see without them.. these guys have got cult status on the 'travel circuit'. The problem is that I am terrified of motorbikes! We chatted with them and they pulled out their notebooks, filled with rave reviews from people they have shown around. Reviews all the way back to 1989!! We talked with them for a while and told them about the places we were interested in seeing and they mapped out a special itinerary for us. We ummed and ahhed but when we first got to Dalat we had a look at some of the group tours available and each of them involves a 2.3km trip in a cable car which luke has flat out refused to do (scaredy cat!) so after talking with the easy rider guys (loc and tintin) we agreed to let them take us around (sorry mum!! if its any consolation these guys have helmets for us and there will only be one of us per bike!) It does however mean another early morning! we meet them at 8am.. and I was so looking forward to a sleepin!!!
Oh well.. thats it for now! Not a very interesting post.. but its been a while since I updated so I thought I should write something!!!
I will write again soon to let you all know that we survived our easy rider trip!!
xx
Our Christmas lunch was spectacular, although we were a little unsteady on our feet after countless vodkas with lunch! Our afternoon was spent dozing in our room then for dinner we ordered pizza home delivery from a place called pepperonis because we were too lazy to leave our room. What an experience it was trying to order! The first girl I spoke with got frustrated and hung up and the second time I called I had to speak with two different people and repeat my order 13 times before the call was done.. to their credit though they got the order completely right which is more than I can say for delivery people in Australia most of the time!
On boxing day we got up super early to catch our bus to Mui Ne Beach. Our bus left at 7:45 and we arrived in Mui Ne at around 12:30. The bus dropped us off in front of a hotel and took off pretty quickly and because Mui Ne is so underdeveloped it was going to be a huge hassle to try and find another place to stay so we agreed to stay in a not very nice too expensive room (it was only $9 but we have stayed in better places for a lot less). Mui Ne Beach has no town centre as such.. basically the town runs along the beachfront so we were pretty limited in what we were able to do unless we wanted to walk the ten kilometres from one end to the other.
We found ourselves some lunch and spent half an hour trying to talk to the hotel staff about booking a tour for the next day. We managed to get ourselves booked in but it turned out the next day that they had booked us into the WRONG one! We woke up before the sun came up to jump aboard our jeep. It was painful getting up so early but the sunset was absolutely breathtaking so it was worth it. The tour that we had booked went for 5 hours, included breakfast and lunch and took us to all the natural sights around Mui Ne.. the tour we got booked on cost the same amount of money (which was strange) didnt include breakfast OR lunch, went only for 2 hours and didnt take us to half as many places (dodgy dodgy). We got to see the amazing sand dunes and the red rock cliffs and we visited the fishing village but then our driver tried to drop us back at the hotel. We were doing the tour with a french girl who had booked the same tour as us but at a different place but somehow we all ended up on the wrong one (seems like a bit of a scam to me) SO we attempted to find out what was going on. The hotel refused to accept any responsibility and got really angry at us for questioning them, our driver took us back to the tour company who also refused to accept any responsibility and wouldnt refund our money or take us on the rest of the tour. They did however agree to give us breakfast (but they had no eggs and no peanut butter lol)..
So by 8:30 am we had seen a sunrise, climbed the sand dunes, fought off some children, visited cliffs AND a fishing village, gotten into two arguements and eaten a 'free' breakfast.. when we got back to our hotel we were exhausted and we went to sleep! I think if it had just been luke and I we would have just given up after the first arguement but the french girl was looking for blood! she really wanted a fight and she wouldnt let us give up! so funny!
Anyway, the people at our hotel were really rude to us after that so we decided not to stay any longer. We had wanted to stay in Mui Ne for new years but after being there (even without the tour debarcle) we decided it wasnt really the place.. a great place to relax on the beach but it is mainly a fisherman town and for new years we are looking for something crazy! There are not going to be many times that we get to spend new years in Vietnam and we want to have some fun!
SO, when we were in Saigon we bought an open bus ticket. Basically you choose your stops and then you can move between the towns whenever you like (as long as you book a day in advance) We have a ticket for saigon - mui ne beach - dalat - nha trang - halong - hue - hanoi (all for $22).. so we booked the next leg of our journey.. mui ne to dalat.. for this morning.
We got up early again. The bus was supposed to arrive at 7 but didnt get there until 8..apparently thai time works here as well! the first leg of the trip was on a minibus then about half way we stopped and changed into a coach for the rest of the trip. Now we are in Dalat (the flower town apparently) its really cold which is a strange feeling for us! We dont know if we will stay here for new years or move onto Nha Trang (the party town!) we will just have to wait and see.
On our way to this internet place today we were stopped by two members of the 'easy rider' group. We have heard so much about these guys, lonely planet absolutely raves about them and other travellers have been talking about them as well. Basically they are a group of guys who work as tour guides around the city.. they are famous for taking you off the beaten track and showing you crazy things around town that you would never see without them.. these guys have got cult status on the 'travel circuit'. The problem is that I am terrified of motorbikes! We chatted with them and they pulled out their notebooks, filled with rave reviews from people they have shown around. Reviews all the way back to 1989!! We talked with them for a while and told them about the places we were interested in seeing and they mapped out a special itinerary for us. We ummed and ahhed but when we first got to Dalat we had a look at some of the group tours available and each of them involves a 2.3km trip in a cable car which luke has flat out refused to do (scaredy cat!) so after talking with the easy rider guys (loc and tintin) we agreed to let them take us around (sorry mum!! if its any consolation these guys have helmets for us and there will only be one of us per bike!) It does however mean another early morning! we meet them at 8am.. and I was so looking forward to a sleepin!!!
Oh well.. thats it for now! Not a very interesting post.. but its been a while since I updated so I thought I should write something!!!
I will write again soon to let you all know that we survived our easy rider trip!!
xx