Finding My Inner Flute – Mui Ne

January 20, 2009 No Comments »

Waiting for the catch of the day

Waiting for the catch of the day

To see Mui Ne Fishing Village Photography – click here!

To see all the snapshots from Mui Ne – click here!

I’m laying with on my back on the floor, and aloe vera gel packets on every section of my face except for two openings for my nostrils; it’s a good thing I’m not claustrophobic. I’m in another world, I’m relaxed, I’m happy, I’m lucid, and I realize that I’m listening to Whitney Houston’s greatest hits played by a flute.  Wow…I really am lucid. Is this real or some weird form of pleasure filled torture?

This was my latest spa experience in the resort town of Mui Ne Vietnam. It left me humming Whitney Houston songs for the remainder of the day. Overlooking the choice of muzac, the spa was wonderful, relaxing, and cheap – everything a spa should be in Southeast Asia!

Mui Ne Beach

Mui Ne Beach

Veronique and I traveled to the beach resort town of Mui Ne for the weekend. We had booked a newly constructed resort on the beach arrived there via bus from Saigon. It’s only a 4 hour drive, so a great weekend getaway. The Allez Boo resort was as nice as I had expected. The beach was big, cool, and stunning as expected. What I didn’t expect was the fact that I had walked into the Russian tourist destination of choice! Mui Ne was like a little Russia – signs and menus were all in Russian; hell, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Putin was vacationing there in his too tight speedo. I can’t tell you how strange it is to be in Vietnam and be surrounded by Russians. Did I drink too much and somehow wander onto the wrong bus bound for Moscow? The nice thing is that it made our little weekend trip even more of a cultural experience. The Orient meets the Iron Curtain.

We quickly unpacked and got focused on relaxing! After an afternoon by the pool/beach we got cleaned up and went out walking down the one main road full of resorts and restaurants. We found a lovely seafood restaurant, Guava, with a very friendly host. He went by the name of Steve and we ended up sitting and talking to him throughout our whole yummy dinner of fresh grilled seafood. His English was great, and he even had a handle on English slang, so I felt right at home….in Vietnam…surrounded by Russians.

Our trip to Mui Ne was certainly about beach time, but I had a few other goals in mind; I wanted to photograph the fishing village that I had heard so much about and I wanted to see the sand dunes that impressively rose up out of the beach and into the hills of Mui Ne. The fishing village photography meant one thing – I had to get up early. I set my alarm for 5AM, got up eventually at 5:30 and found a taxi to take me to the village; about 12k away from our resort. The sun was low and the activity on the beach was high, a great combination. I walked down to the beach where all of the boats were coming in with catches and the women were bargaining as if they were on the floor at the NY Stock Exchange.

Waiting for the water

Waiting for the water

I told the taxi to come back in an hour and a half and I just started to roam and watch. I find scenes like this fascinating; it happens every day, the same thing, fish come in, fish get sold, this is not work to these people, it is their social life. People were laughing, smiling, working hard, and generally the whole family was involved. The women were definitely the sales people. They were sorting through piles of fish and other sea urchins picking out the best for the market. They would wait on the beach in their little Asian squat with their girlfriends huddled close to them, just waiting for the next boat to come in with a catch. The fishing boats had a soft gold glow to them as they floated out in the sea waiting to go out again and work. It was really a peaceful scene.

Round boats

Round boats

One of my favorite things about this fishing village were the round boats…yes, you heard me right, a round boat. One would think that this would be rather counterintuitive and difficult to maneuver. However I watched as men and women skillfully rowed the little round boats into shore with more squid and other small fish. I slowly walked down the large expanse of beach, the seashells crunching beneath my flip flops and little tiny crabs scurrying across my path. This wasn’t the tourist beach, it wasn’t beautiful white sand; instead this was a functional beach full of shells and whatever the tide washed up. There were rows and rows of brightly colored fishing boats on stilts being worked on and children ran around with their parents helping them unload their boats or unravel nets. It was a neighborhood. Little shacks dotted the beach perimeter with people eating Pho (traditional Vietnamese breakfast/soup).

The catch

The catch

I watched as two young men with a net that looked like a giant tennis net (about 100 ft. long walked out into the sea and literally scooped up all kind of urchins…and garbage. One would stay on the beach and the other would walk out into the ocean and then curve around away from the beached boy and scoop the net full of bounty and slowly walk back in. I stood and watched them pick everything out of the net, they did it so fast that it didn’t even look like they caught anything but garbage and shells, however when I walked over closer and looked in the basket they were filling, there were squid, shrimp, fish, and snakes squirming around. They proudly came over and held up each squirmy catch and tried to teach me the Vietnamese name as I cringed and laughed.

My hour and a half blew by and soon I had to leave the village. Of course by then I had shot about 100 photos! Be sure to take a look at them as it really is a great slice of life to see.

Mui Ne Fishing Village Photography

Veronique and I spent the rest of our day lounging beachside until our spa appointments. We found a great little spa across the street from our hotel, Tam Spa. I find that it’s often much cheaper and just as good of service if you simply leave the big resorts that want you to pay western-type prices and go to the more local establishments. We weren’t disappointed! We signed up for a one hour Thai massage, a 40 min. aloe vera facial, and a mani/pedi all for $30 US…that’s about 3 hours of spa time for $30…you can’t beat that. The massage and facial was one of the best I’ve had, I was in love with my little masseuse, Mimi. I was in another world…a world where I actually hummed along to the Whitney Houston flute ensemble.

Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me…

Yes, I think the aloe vera was making me high and impairing my judgment a bit. Veronique and I joked around about the music afterwards. She insisted that it brought out the inner flute inside of her…yes, she also had the aloe vera facial…what DO they put in those things?!

Veronique waiting for the sun to set

Veronique waiting for the sun to set

After our zen afternoon we hopped in a jeep and went out to see and photograph the red sand dunes in Mui Ne. I had seen pictures of these before and was stunned to find out that they existed in Vietnam. After a 30 minute, bumpy drive we arrived at the dunes. We were immediately accosted by the local children carrying plastic sleds begging us to buy a slide down the dune from them. We were somehow able to break free of them and start walking up the first big dune. When we reached the top we both stopped and gazed at the expanse of Sahara Desert in front of us, the only thing missing were the camels. Where was I again??? Vietnam? Russia? Morocco?

Sliding down the dunes

Sliding down the dunes

We got our exercise by hiking up and down the dunes further out so that we could get a more personal view as most of the tourists stayed close to the front of the dunes. The sun was setting, and the sand had that orange/red glow to it. Mui Ne also offers up white sand dunes, but they are about 30 minutes further and we didn’t have the time to do both. It’s on my list for next trip for sure, along with another stop to see Mimi.

Mui Ne lived up to its expectations, we sadly left out little oasis of international experiences behind the next day and arrived back in Saigon for Veronique’s last day in Vietnam. I had a wonderful time exploring my new home – Southern Vietnam with Veronique and of course was sad to see her go. However before she left, she implored me to try to find my inner flute singing Whitney Houston periodically. It was probably the best advice anyone has given me since I’ve been trying to settle into the foreign culture .

Everybody searching for a hero
People need someone to look up to
I never found anyone to fulfill my needs
A lonely place to be
So I learned to depend on me

…Thanks Whitney

Me trying to be a photographer!

Me trying to be a photographer!

Trip Details:
Lodging: Allez Boo Resort
Spa: Tam Spa (across from Allez Boo Resort)
Restaurant: Guava
Activities: Mui Ne Fishing Village early in the morning! Sand Dunes


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