Relaxing (or not...) in Mui Ne

After 3 weeks on the road, sleeping one night here and the next one there, daily planning for next day, packing and unpacking, carrying the loaded rucksack, meeting different people different characters, missing to brush my teeth a few times or skipping showers, Miguelito was more then ready to settle in a place by the beach for a few days. A kind of energizing break, to absorve what was achieved so far, fill up the fuel tank and plan for what was coming next. So he choosed Mui Ne.

At Hoi An, got on the NightBus at 10pm. A converted vehicle to carry people through the night. Instead of seats there is a layout of bunkbeds where one can strech and have a sleep. Well... that is... if you are nor over 1,80m. The vietnamese are quite small and may have adapted the bus to their standars. Forgot that Dutch, Swedish, German, Danish, English men (and one portuguese) are rather long and may not fit in there. So what was supposed to be a good relaxing 10 hours journey on a night Bus was not quite like that. The legs don't fit and the body finds no position to rest. I guess this is part of the wonders of travelling about... so no complain... but f**k it hurts after 10 hours!

Anyway...
A night stop at a petrol station for a sandwich (scrumbled egg, off course), a quick chat with my bed neighbour to aknowledge he had been travelling the world for 18 months now, a sip on a bottle of vodka kindly offered by this english teenagers on the same travel, a rough night constantly trying to get my legs stretched, a 1hour stop in the morning in Nha Trang (8am) to change the bus and have a few Oreo cookies for breakfast and hop on the next Bus to Mui Ne. 4 more hours ahead. 15 hours journey total. Not too bad... But desperate to get to destination. What doens't kill you...

The southern landscape changes from the northern green highlands. Somehow reasembles the south of our Iberian Peninsula. Plane and dry.





The sand dunes annouce we are getting closer. It is hot!
















By the time we got to Mui Ne found the first guesthouse and dropped my stuff and went for food! I mean Proper food!
John was the australian manager who landed me his own beach towel for the days I spent there. Thanks John! First night was spent in a dorm room with a German fellow, big Martin, who had been travelling the world for 10 months now, an Australian and an Indian girls. Fortunatelly no one snored. The second day I moved into a room with private shower.
This is it!! This is what I was desperately looking for... At last!
Miguelito was not gonna leave this place for long time!!


The guesthouse was nice, by the beach, the breakfast was next door, no cultural stuff to do! Perfect!! Eat, sleep and get tanned... Auuuuuuuuu! Glory days! ...


...but for long...







Untill I met...









The Finnish!!!



Ossi and Henry...
Thats it! I was doomed...
This 2 guys lead angelic Miguelito through 4 days of temptation and sin!
My relaxing days where over from the second day.
Met them on the first night in a bar doing 'Bucket Moments' and playing snooker. Travelling southeast asia together, escaping to the harsh wheather of Finland. Party boys... But good boys!
Ossi more the brain, Henry more instinctive! But both wild ones!
We spent the days sun bathing, partying and meeting people.

Learned a few didactic words in Finnish:
.kuu (means ass hole in portuguese) - moon. Is was fullmoon so we talked about the moon.
.pollonsilma - ass hole. If Kuu means moon how do you say ass hole then? -pollonsilma!
.rata (means pussy in portuguese) - rink (as in ice rink). Its because Finland is good at ice hockey!
.pele - clown

I tried to practice my Finnish with this group of 'Mormon religion like' fininsh girls before the eyes of my tutors. Needless to say Miguelito was not very successful.







so we plaied cards...









we plaied... Tities!








Second half, warming up through the night...




















Nights where spent on the pool table and around the buckets!


Stevie and [can't remember is name, sorry] joined us. From Australia. This ozzies where serious drinkers, like all of them, really! They come from this town called Wagga-Wagga!!! Can you believe it? It does exist! They tought me about Ozzie Rules, kind of a weird football-rugby game plaied on a massive pitch (the goals are scored between 4 vertical poles), that no one cares about but the Australians.

The curious fact about this 2 guys is that when we first met each other,our faces where familiar and for 2 days we kept wondering where from. Until one night, under the efect of a Bucket Moment the enlightment came upon us!!!
In Hue, 600km away, a week earlier, at the silly Citadel I was staring at this painting and these 2 guys did the same. We made a little circumstancial comment about the elephants on it, laughed and left our own ways.
And now there they were!










All sharing Buckets!










Fullmoon was high up... and not many people... which was good!






















Suzanne (Dutch) and Clair (English) where staying at our guesthouse and joined the bucket.
Suzanne was leaving to Saigon and back to Holland, on the 1am bus. Sorry...


Ma'man Ossi!







Stevie and Henry.













And now...
a special moment...

A bucket moment...
On the beaches of southeast asia where westerners gather for party, bars barely sell glasses of drinks. In turn, the Buckets rule! This is specially evident for example in Thailand!
One can have a bucket on its own, if really thirsty or wants to get drunk quick and nasty, or one can share the bucket.
Henry introduced the Bucket Moment!

There are 4 rules on a Bucket Moment:
1.You do not drink on a bucket on your own, a bucket is ALWAYS to be shared!
2. You shall call OUT and LOUD for a bucket moment.
3. You shall never turn down a bucket moment call (unless you are really pissed)
4. And very important, when you are having your BM you shall always stare at you buckets mates eyes, one at the time!

''BUCKET MOMEEEENT!!!''


And everynight was a bucket moment night...





And every day was a f**k about day... Doing nothing. Being vegetables drying on the beach... Recovering from the night before to getting ready for the night after...
The brain gets lazzy... and your travelling mode switches off. You are feeling too good to pack and unpack again. One feels tempted not to leave the place forever.




Our sun resting pad!












ohmmmmm...











Enjoying the views...












A swim in the South China Sea











Mui Ne beach is extremely windy!
No surprise to see kite and windsurf sails all over.
There are more kite surf schools then russians!
And believe me, surprisingly there are shit loads of them on this beach! Why?? No idea! Didn't see them anywhere else in Vietnam, but here! Its like their golden beach holiday resort. They arrive on white socks, speedo shorts, woman with heavy make up on the beach, families in package tours and stay in fancy hotels. The new rich russians that have no clue...

Anyway... People come from all over the world purposely to sail and surf under Mui Ne's wind!









































































Four days of 'misery' and I had to do something with myself... This was getting dangerously comfortable.
There is a few things one can do around Mui Ne apart from beach. Miguelito wanted to see the fishing village (real Mui Ne) and check on the sunset over this famous dunes. There are white sand dunes and red sand dunes. It was the last day in Mui Ne and could only pick one colour due shortage of time. So he went in surch of the White sand Dunes.

Hired a moped...
Somehow I was kind'a glad the Finnish boys dind't come along... I dread to think how it would be like with them on the road! lol. I am sure it would be allright...










In search of the White sand dunes!
with no map on me... very clever...











Stop at Mui Ne village.
Mui Ne is actually a fishing village, it has always been. Only recently the strech along the beach has developed into modern hotels for tourism. But the village still keeps its charm and the countless fishing boats and balsas are busy every day!







































































Well... the views where ok... but without a map of course Miguelito got lost...
Predictable...










































only cow!!!











































There!!! white sand dunes... but not what I was looking for... I was running against time as the sun was setting by now... Asked a few locals but their poor english led me the wrong way...













reached this cemetry...















Buddhist cemetry in no man's land!
















No dunes yet and running late, but couldn't leave this place without exploring it a bit...



































































The Swastika cross is on most Buddhist graves!! It seems to be everywhere around here... Through out this journey. I have found the swastika displayed above the entrances of Buddhist temples and now on cemeteries. I have noticed that Buddhism uses the Swastika as one of their symbols and got me really intrigued. This is the symbol we all westerners tend to associate to the Nazi oppressors... So why on Buddhist temples and graves?


Miguelito was a bit confused and therefore did a little research. I copied the following information from a site, it is a extense but worth to read. Here it goes:

The swastika is an ancient religious symbol dating back 3000 years. Many historians believe it was initially a fire and sun symbol occurring in Asia and later among some Germanic tribes. Up until the 20th century, it evolved as a highly auspicious talisman, evoking thoughts of reverence, good fortune, and well being. In the Buddhist tradition of India, it is referred to as "The Seal on Buddha's Heart". In Japanese and Chinese Buddhism, a swastika often appears on the chest of past and modern images of Gautama Buddha;

however, due to the continued consternation of Western tourists, many modern Asian artists have chosen to eliminate it as one of the 32 signs of a supreme being. The debate as to whether this ancient religious symbol can be restored to its rightful place in history tirelessly continues. How such an auspicious and truly noble symbol came to represent tyrannical oppression and racial genocide is perhaps one of the greatest paradoxes of world history.

The swastika was most likely an ancient symbol of the Aryans, a race of people who supposedly settled in Iran and Northern India, and who also believed themselves to be of pure or "noble" blood. German racists fervently believed the true German people to be of such noble ancestry, and successfully adopted the symbol as their own. In 1910, the German poet and nationalist, Guido von List, suggested that the swastika be used as a symbol for all anti-racial organizations. German Jews were simply not regarded as being "pure" or "Aryan" by German racists, and when the National Socialist Party was formed in 1919, the once hallowed symbol became its badge and emblem. By 1935, the black swastika on a white circle with a crimson background became the national symbol of Germany.

The main difference between the Nazi swastika and the ancient auspicious symbol of various religious cultures, is that the Nazi swastika is at a slant, while the ancient swastika is rested flat. Apparently, this subtle variation in visual presentation is not enough to win over those who would toss the once-holy symbol into the garbage bin of history. The swastika, regardless of its various forms and presentations, has in modern times come to be known as a symbol of Nazi Germany and its heinous crimes against humanity despite highly convincing arguments to the contrary from Buddhist and other religious camps.

This once auspicious symbol now, and perhaps forever, will represent racism and white supremacy. To think that it could ever be restored as a benevolent charm here in the West is a pipe dream; however, that it persists to surface in Asian artists' iconography, suggests Holocaust sympathizers may not be convincing everyone around the world that it should be forever laid to rest just because it was desecrated by Adolf Hitler and his deranged followers.

Yes, the swastika still continues to be an extensively used auspicious sign in Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. Some of the world's most ancient swastikas have been discovered in Persia (Iran), Pakistan and Mesopotamia by previous world travellers. Ancient swastikas have even been found on and in the ruins of ancient Jewish synagogues.











Back on the road, no time to waste!
I saw a few 4 wheel drive cars with white people inside rushing the oposite way I was indicated to go. 4x4 cars... sand... white people... tourists... sunset...
So I turned the other way around and chased them down hoping they were going where I wanted.















Eventually Miguelito got to the Dunes... Success!! It was the White sand dunes tho... They were my second choice: the Red colour... Doesn't matter, there was no time to find the white ones now and I actually love Red!!!!


People gather everyday at this dunes to watch the sunset. Kids and adults bring or rent this plastic pads to slide on the sand and everybody is happy!































...



























Miguelito met this student, smacked him down and stole his sliding thing!
Look at the camera... hmmm.. now!! Powww oww! gone, done!












The slide is miiiiine!













A-mazing Red sand dunes...


























...













walked away from the confusion for a moment on my own...




































After 4 crazy days he finnaly had a moment of calm and inspiration...















And in case you haven't notice yet, my helmet was gay pink!!!














I was one of the last to leave the dunes and on the way back the boats where already asleep...













I was sad I had to leave the next day... :(
My lazy brain was betraying me...
Everybody had left... but Ossi and Henry!
And the beach was so temping... So... hmmm... riding the moped back, I saw a middle age man travelling on a byclicle, felt the warm wind blowing my face and f**k it(!!), decided to stay one more night...
Here we go agaiiiiin..!




Just a little note for my recolection in the future:
on the second day, in our hotel we met this english guy sitting down at reception, holding a gauze cleaning his body covered of scratches and wounds, face included.
His story: He was coming from cambodja into vietnam, he got to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and met another guy who convinced him to buy a second-hand Minsk motorbike to travel across vietnam. So he did! He bought the bike very cheap and got on the road to Mui Ne. First few hours on the bike and he was already making friends with the veitnamese asfalt. Took him 6 hours to get to Mui Ne (usually can be done in 2 or 3). He was not looking good but moral was high!
Charlie was 19 only(!) and soon met other boys who where doing the same thing. He joined them and a few days later all drove northwards.
Detail: Charlie had NEVER ridden a motorbike before in his life. He had a one day crash lesson from the bike's previous owner...
Mental...

In case one wonders whether he survived, he did! 2 months later I accidentally bumped into him in Gili Trawangan, this island in Indonesia! He made it to Hanoi and sold the bike there to next adventurer. Well done mate...