Andre and Wendy: Mui Ne Day 2 Tour

4:30 am alarm for 5am pick up for our jeep tour today.

Booked the tour through the hotel, cheaper to book a jeep tour than a car tour, surprised us.

In lobby about 10 minutes early and can't find the box breakfast we were promised, also can't find anyone working front desk.

Driver shows up , we may know more Vietnamese than he knows English, ha ha. No guiding talks today. I sat up front with the driver, Andre climbed like a monkey into and out of the back seat every stop.

It was actually a nice drive to the first stop.it was more of a what would be a typical village, not the touristy part of town we were in yesterday. Everyone should get up early at least once to see how a day starts, lots of locals out walking for exercise, shops opening up, men already gathered around little tables having their coffee, all at 5am. Life...

First stop is at the red sand dunes for sunrise. The jeep parks and it is a little overwhelming. ATVs all over, our driver seems to be looking for someone. Then we are told 600,000 dong for ATV for 2 people. We said we would walk, no, it's 4km. Just give him the money and we are off. 2 of us on the back of an atv driven by a kid to the dunes. This may be 1km, not impressed. But another out of my comfort zone checked off , I don't think I have ever been on an ATV.

The dunes are beautiful, so many people here, we were one of the last to arrive. We see 2 people alone on one of the high peaks of sand, I know where we are headed....get to the top and it is a nice young couple from Germany. We apologize for interrupting, they said it is fine because we are Canadian. Take pictures for each other, have a laugh when we compare tours, we will probably see each other at different spots all morning. Then we all notice ATVs are starting to leave. Crap, they are going down really steep hills and people are screaming. Now I understand a little more about the price. Actually the ATV cost 2/3 of our entire tour. 1 hour ATV, vs 4 hour jeep tour.

Made our way walking down to our ATV, I think I said slow slow slow maybe 50 times before I got on. He did go nice and slow, and I was more comfortable with Andre on the back and him on the front.

Another stop for more pics on the dunes overlooking water, some girls were really made up for pics, looked like wedding dresses on a couple of them. A beautiful spot for a photo session.

Back to our jeep and on to the second dunes , white sand dunes. I went part way up then waited in the shade for Andre to tell me if I should do the entire climb. I was watching from where people were tobogganing down, I did not partake. Met up with the young German couple again, of course they had walked to the furthest spot again.

Back in the jeep and next stop is fishing village. This is a real fishing village, not something put on for tourists. I thought I had lost Andre forever here. The beautiful 2 types of boats, the fisherman, the women sorting fish on the beach, the market at end of the beach, priceless. Many tourists stayed on the wall on top, I think Andre ran down the steps to the beach. Octopus, squid, lobster, clams of all types, shrimp, fish we have never seen, all sorted in small tubs of water. Once again, a priceless stop.

Back to the jeep again. Next stop is fairy stream. We had been told there was a charge for this stop , 5000 dong each about .30 each. Clean bathroom, place to wash feet after, and safe place to leave shoes. The drivers must have their favorite spots to drop tourists, we saw a few spots along the walk.

Shoes off walk bare feet through a pretty stream. We were told 30 minutes only. The cool water felt good , only a couple of stony places you needed to be careful. It is only about a 15 minute walk in, but very pretty near the end . The color of the water, and the sand stalactites, so impressive. On the walk in we saw some people on top of a red sand dune, pretty sure I knew what was coming up next. On the way out up a very steep dune, down a more gradual dune on the way down. It was not as bad as I thought, maybe because Andre was ahead and pulled me up a little. You sunk in about 8 inches each step, but going down was lots of fun. And yes we ran into the German couple again here. We told them if they saw us again they would know we are stalking them as this is the last stop on the tour.

Back to the hotel at 8:45, perfect timing as breakfast closes at 9. Some amazing scallop noodle soup, which was actually more like bar clams at home, yummy. Andre is getting good as combining condensed milk with espresso to make Vietnamese ice coffee, I even had one today and I don't like coffee normally. While eating a staff member came by to see how service had been at the hotel. We told him we were very happy. He then asked our room number, we told him room 3409, he said oh, the best room we have in the hotel. It is quite amazing, and certainly the best view of any. It wasn't the $60 a night we paid for the room through Agoda that got us this, but we'll take it, and pretty sure it will be the best room in our 2 months travel, but who knows?

Another day where we have brought the average age up on tour, our age all seem to be at the pool where we are now for the rest of the day. 11am and 30 degrees, but a beautiful breeze off the ocean.

Andre just helped out a young beautiful Asian couple taking pics by the pool. He was taking pics of her, Andre asked if they wanted him to take pics of both. This age sure can pose! He picked her up at one point for a pic, we will not be attempting that pose.

Oops, ordered the wrong spring rolls at the pool for lunch, plus got 2 orders instead of 1, lost in translation. But I did save money by ordering a beer instead of a 7up, Andre was proud of me.

I've been by front desk and I think we have the bus sorted for tomorrow. Another lesson to pass on, need any help talk to front desk, they are your best friends.

Supper and last happy hour, one beer a day is my limit. Getting ready for our next sleeper bus tomorrow.

At the white sand dunes to watch the sunrise.