Last night was rough. Three drunken Englishmen were shouting in my dorm room all night. I will never stay in a dorm again. I hate not having privacy. And I hate having to keep all my stuff in a locker.
There is a town of Mui Ne, but the resorts are strung out on a long strip between Pan Thiet and Mui Ne. Strangely, it is very popular with Russians, and many businesses have signs in Russian.
Since I didn’t sleep much, I didn’t get up for the sunrise. But I think due to the crummy weather there was no sunrise. I had banh mi for breakfast. Then I headed to the Cham towers. Southern Vietnam used to be the kingdom of Champa, and they left towers like this behind in many places. They were a warlike people, and they invaded the Khmer lands. Their defeat at the Khmer’s hands was depicted in the bas reliefs of Banteay Chhmar temple. Their nation was eventually destroyed and assimilated as the Vietnamese expanded southwards.
Next up was the touristy Fairy Stream. It was actually really good. You walk barefoot in a shallow stream past red sand dunes and strange rock formations. I walked to the end, spending about an hour.
Then I rode to the famous red sand dunes, which were quite scenic. I climbed around on them for a while. I checked out the nearby kite surfing beach. Then I headed to the White Dunes, which were far away.
I drove past deserted beaches. There was nothing around and it got really remote. After driving for quite a while I lost pressure in my rear tire. This remote area was the worst place to get a flat. I started limping back at 20 kph. I figured it would be at least an hour until I got back to town. But I passed a shack and a guy motioned me over. He made a call. Then he fired up his karaoke machine and I waited.
Eventually a guy came. He wanted exorbitant 400,000 to change my tube. He agreed to 300,000, which is 3 times the normal price. I was gouged, but there really was nothing around.
With my new tube, I continued to the White Dunes. They were very far. Dunes were everywhere, and it wasn’t clear where to go. I eventually found a tourism site near a lake where you can rent dune buggies and ride ostriches. Since I was alone neither of those appealed to me, so I took some photos, then headed back. It was a long drive.
I had dinner of Vietnamese fried chicken. Back in my dorm I talked to some nice folks. The horrible Englishmen were gone. I went to a Vietnamese cafe to edit photos.
