Ulla kirjutab maast ja ilmast: Liivaluited ja puhkus Mui Ne's // Sand dunes and rest at Mui Ne

Meie j2rgmine peatus Vietnamis oli rannakyla Mui Ne, mis asub Saigonist paarsada kilomeetrit p6hja pool. Mui Ne on kuulus oma liivaluidete poolest, aga muidu ilmnes, et tegu on j2rjekordse puhkuselinnaga, mis oli v2ga sarnane Hikkaduwaga Sri Lankas v6i Senggigiga Lombokil. Ainus erinevus oli see, et seal oli tunduvalt (!) rahulikum. V2idetavalt kylastavad Mui Ne'd eelk6ige lohesurfiharrastajad, kuna sealkandis on selle spordi jaoks head tuuled. Nyydseks on aga t2navune hooaeg l2bi, seega leidsime me eest v2ga vaikse Mui Ne - tyhi nii teistest turistidest kui yleyldisest liiklusest. Sarnaselt Hikkaduwaga on ka Mui Ne venelaste seas v2ga populaarne ja k6ik sildid kylas olid kolmkeelsed - vietnami, inglise ja vene. Saime teada, et Mui Ne's elab ka alaliselt umbes 300 venelast, koos umbes sama paljude prantslastega, seega on tegu ysna multikultuurse kohaga.

Me olime endale kinni pannud ilusa mehhiko-stiilis (kummaline eks) hotelli ning esmakordselt oli meie jaoks tegu kohaga kus leidus ka bassein! Siinsed rannad polnud ujumiseks just k6ige ilusamad, seega v6tsime me hotellist viimast ja veetsime seal p2ris palju aega, lugedes, edasist reisi planeerides ja niisama p2ikesepaistet ja basseini nautides. Ei saa kurta!

Oma kylastuse teise p2eva aga veetsime me kohalikke vaatamisv22rsusi kylastades. Esmalt peatusime me v2ikese Haldjaoja nimelise oja juures, mida m88da me saime jalutada kuni j6udsime kaunite liivakivimoodustisteni. Seej2rel viidi meid Valgete Liivaluidete juurde, mis olid imekaunid, ent efekt oli m6nev6rra rikutud tosinate myrarikaste ATVde poolt, millega osadele turistele meeldis liiva peal ringi kimada. J2rgmisena k2isime me Punaste Liivaluidete juures, kus saime proovida luidetest plastikust plaatide peal alla kelgutada. See j2i lume peal kelgutamisele kyll alla, kuna libisemine oli ysna aeglane, aga l6bus sellegipoolest. Liivaluited olid kaunid, aga p2rast Fraseri saart (ja varasemalt Gran Canaria liivaluiteid) ei olnud nad nii muljetavaldavad kui oleks muidu v6inud olla. Yhtlasi, meil j2i tunne nagu t6mmati meid alt kui meilt igas kohas raha n6uti - me olime tegelikult maksnud 'tuuri' eest, mis meid ylalnimetatud kohtadesse pidi viima, aga tegelikult oli tegu lihtsalt yhe tyybiga, kes pressis 6-kohalisse Jeep'i 8 inimest, ei r22kinud terve tee yhtegi s6na ja lihtsalt s6idutas meid kohtade vahel - kus me siis pidime ise sissep22su eest maksma. Hinnad ei olnud sugugi k6rged, aga meil j2i ikkagi petetud tunne.

Seega, pigem oli Mui Ne parim osa meie jaoks lihtsalt v6imalus natuke puhata ja v6tta aeg maha, et planeerida meie edasist reisi Vietnamis ja panna kokku plaan Filipiinide kylastamiseks. Praegu aga oleme me j2lle teel p6hjapoole, ja j2rgmised paar p2eva veedame Hoi An'i iidses linnas.

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Our next stop in Vietnam was the coastal town of Mui Ne, some few hundred kilometers north of Saigon. It's famous for its many sand dunes, but otherwise it turned out to be just another beach resort, very similar to Hikkaduwa in Sri Lanka or Senggigi in Lombok. Except, however, that it was much, much more quiet. Apparently Mui Ne primarily attracts kite surfers, because the winds just offshore are perfect for the sport, but the season has just finished, so we found it to be very pleasantly quiet - both in terms of other tourists and in terms of traffic. Similarly to Hikkaduwa, Mui Ne is a favourite among Russians, and all signs everywhere were trilingual - English, Vietnamese and Russian. We found out that there are some 300 Russians permanently living in the area, alongside as many French, so the place is fairly multicultural.

We had booked ourselves in to a lovely little Mexican-themed (strange, I know) hotel, and for the first time we stayed in a place that had a pool! The seaside here wasn't that attractive for swimming, so we took the most of the opportunity and spent quite some time in the hotel, reading, doing research for our onward travel, and enjoying the sunshine and the pool. Can't complain!

The second day however we spent visiting the main attractions in the area. We first stopped at a small stream, called the Fairy Stream, that we could walk along to reach beautiful sandstone formations. We were then taken to the White Sanddunes, which were beautiful, but the effect was somewhat diminished by the dozens of noisy quadbikes racing around the place - a favourite among some tourists. We then visited the Red Sanddunes, and got to try sliding down the dunes on plastic sheets. It wasn't quite as much fun as using a sledge on snow - the going was quite slow - but we enjoyed it nonetheless. The dunes in general were beautiful, but after having been to Fraser Island (and earlier to the dunes in Gran Canaria) it was not quite as impressive as it could have been otherwise. Similarly, we did feel that we were ripped off a bit by being charged to pay for stuff at every turn - we had paid for a 'tour' of the above places, but that was actually just a guy in a Jeep who crammed 8 people in the car (there were only 6 seats), did not speak a word to us the whole way, and only drove us to the places - and there we had to pay entrance fees ourselves. It was not a lot of money, but we couldn't help but feel a bit cheated.

So, rather our highlight in Mui Ne was just the chance to relax a bit and take time to plan our next destinations in Vietnam and to begin putting together our itinerary for the Philippines. For now, we are again on the move towards the North, and will visit the ancient city of Hoi An the next few days.

Sellised vooditega bussid on Vietnamis! Ylimalt mugavad, ja pealekauba on veel ylikiire wifi ka. Esimest korda sellistega s6ites olime h2mmastunud, et kui 2gedad need on. Hiljem aga j2rele uurides tuli v2lja, et tegelikult ei ole pikali lesides bussiga s6ita just k6ige turvalisem, okou! // Vietnam has buses with bunk beds like these! Very comfortable, and you get good wifi signal on top of that. First time on these we were amazed at how cool these are. Later, after some research, we found out that the reason why there aren't any like these in Europe is because it's not actually very safe to ride in a bus lying down. :/