Hoi An to Nha Trang to Mui Ne…..by bus

It’ s actually much better than it sounds.  You step onto the first landing and the driver hands you a plastic bag for your shoes.  Then someone ushers you to your lounge stair style seat with adjustable back.  Not bad, in fact quite nice if you are under 5’6″ tall – but I’m NOT!  So far I have managed to get the usher to change my seat to the very back of the bus, aisle seat, that affords my ample length to sprawl into the open aisle.  I get a few looks but hey, I’m not likely to see any of these people again.  Terri fits just fine.

All of the busses also come equipped with really good WIFI, air conditioning (YES!) and the usher makes sure that you have bottled water and handiwipe towels.  There is no bathroom on board and we’ve only made one emergency stop for someone otherwise, bathroom breaks are pretty regular at commercial stops offering all kinds of toileting options: squatty  potties, open drains(?), individual and group urinals and some good ole American Style Toto toilets.  Usually, the women need to buy a few sheets of toilet paper ($2,000 VND) and there is always the trusty spritzer on a hose nearby by if needed.

We had a great little Airbnb in Nha Trang.  It overlooked the bay, was on the third floor-walk up, was $47US a night and as Terri insists upon, had an ensuite private bathroom with Western style toilet – soooo picky!  In actuality, I know she is a very special gal for eagerly joining me on this adventure.

We were in Nha Trang for two nights, explored some temples, enjoyed a two hour massage and had some great food but, that was long enough.   We jumped another bus for Mui Ne, a spot I had been looking forward to for some time!  

Time to kitesurf!  We land at The Source Lodge, another Airbnb that sits at the waters edge.  It has a great staff, includes a good breakfast, full restaurant/bar and rents gear, perfect.  I rented a motorbike for the two days and dreamt of kiting.

The wind was good and Terri learned to launch and retrieve kites.  At home, on a kiteable day-windy and cold, you will not find her on the beach.  But in Mui Ne, with its 85 degree air temps and and warm water, she was on it.  I had a really good 4 hours of kiting but was totally exhausted.  I paid for it the next couple of days.

Tired, sunburned and soar…..so what did we do?  Began another search for the easily found massage & spa.

Ecology has not found its way through Vietnamese society.  The people who are invested in tourism understand and do their best but it is woefully inadequate.  Where I was kiting, the beach and water had tons of plastic debris, trash and mounds of discarded/lost fishing nets.   Terri tried to jog while I was kiting but it was “like running on an obstacle course.”  This we found to be very common especially on windward facing beaches.  It’s no different in the cities and suburbs, you will witness individual acts and see roadside refuse that make you you cringe and think “really?”