There is always a Gym

16th to 18th of October

We arrived at Mui Ne at about 1:30am to one man in a hut, a great expanse of black nothingness in each direction and one extremely pushy taxi driver. The man in a hut suggested a place cheaper than guide recommendations and pointed in one direction. We successfully ignored the taxi guy, who was coming out with all sorts of standard lines and quoting hotels he knew, so he left leaving us a walk into the darkness to find a bed.

We ended up hiking about 45mins up the only road in mui ne but did find the cheap $10 a night room. We woke in the morning and to my delight discovered we were right next door to a gym! I went to investigate further and found it was a small but fully equipped place with a yoga studio run by a friendly Aussie guy.

We checked in to beachside huts down the other end of the strip and were somewhat underwhelmed by the beach and sea, also the fact that the place was a complete ghost town.

We decided to catch a cheap local bus to return to the gym and a recommended resteraunt back at the other end. We sought the advice of the woman running the resort who decided to write down what the bus driver needed to know in vietnameese. Simple, hand this in and sit back and relax right? How wrong we were. We got on the bus named the gym and resteraunt to blank faces, handed the ticket woman our note and were shocked puzzled and then worried when she had no idea what was on it! She tried and failed to read it and the note then got passed round the bus without anyone seeming to understand. Eventually we got ushered to sit down at the back. After a while we were suddenly shouted at to get off and that this was our destination. It didn't feel right, nikki was getting off and I quickly tried to judge how far along the strip we had gone. I was being pestered and shouted at so followed nikki off. No sooner had the bus set off when I realised we had been dropped off by a massage parlour ncalled 'good beauty' when the resteraunt (which we were nowhere near) was called 'good morning vietnam'. We were pissed off and couldn't work out why locals couldn't even read their own writing.

We searched around and ate at one of the few options near to us. Our moods improved after feeding and talking to a nice and friendly local who worked at the resteraunt with his girlfriend. Afterwards we walked back up to the Aussie guy gym and had a good little workout and destressed further. After chatting a while he recommended a place to get a massage so we headed there. I got a pretty good easter oil firm massage (being walked on included) Nikki got a facial and head massage.

The next morning we were greated by really bright hot sun. We met a couple of fellow English girls Elizabeth and Bevda and bathed by the sea and enjoyed a few hours before we needed to pack up and leave.