After another great dinner and shooting some pool at Stella restaurant in the backpacker area we all went home for a good sleep. In the morning our van and driver arrived and Anita, Kasumi, Dylan, Dylan's friend Jay and I left for Mui Ne. It took 5 1/2 hours to get here (maybe 200 km), the first 1 1/2 hours through extremely heavy city traffic. The first pictures are of the lobby and adjacent motorbike parking in our hotel in HCMC. Every hotel, shop or restaurant has to have secure parking or a guard for motorbikes parked on the sidewalk.
On the way here we took pictures of typical wiring on a pole and a typical family driving in town. You often see families with infants all riding on one bike. Also, sometimes you see a driver driving with one hand while balancing a tray with 4 bowls of soup on the other hand. Delivery of takeout food or anything else is really cheap. The last hour of our trip was more rural but there are definitely a lot of people in Vietnam. Yesterday must have been an auspicious day for a wedding because we saw about a dozen in little restaurants right beside the road, with the band in full swing before noon.
The roads here are generally narrow, sometimes rough and always busy.
By the time we got here there was a steady rain that lasted all day - the first rain we've seen. So we played some pool out by the swimming pool and had an excellent dinner by the pool. Most dinner items on the menu are about 90,000 VND ($4.50 Cdn) and beer from the bar was 20,000 VND ($1). There's always items on the menu that include a fried egg on top of rice. It wasn't long after dinner that we all went to bed. The power was on and off all night and sometimes through this morning. Brownouts and blackouts are frequent in Vietnam.
Our hotel, the Orchid Beach Resort, is small but very nice and right on the beach. The rooms are large, nicely tiled and the ensuite bathroom is tiled, clean and fairly big with a glassed-in shower. Quite nice.
Breakfast of juice, coffee, bacon, eggs, nice buns & fruit is included with our $38 per night price.
After breakfast Dylan, Jay and I went for a swim and did a little body surfing. Now Jay and Dylan are negotiating the rental of a scooter ($5-$10 for the day) to take Jay into a hostel closer to the town of Mui Ne where he's going to stay for a few days before maybe going up to Nha Trang. Anita and I are going for a walk along the beach and maybe find a restaurant for dinner. The weather today is warm and slightly overcast but great for the beach.
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