Beaches to mountains to beaches again

I left the hustle and bustle of the giant metropolis Saigon and made my way 5 hours northwards to the tiny coastal town of Mui Ne. There is a small beach here but between the months of November and March this place is overrun with Kitesurfers. Mui Ne has its own micro climate and is incredibly windy - making it an ideal spot to learn how to kitesurf (think windsurfing sails attached to a small beach buggy). At $100 for a two hour lesson it is not the cheapest sport either - unfortunately I was there at the wrong time so I did not get to witness any kitesurfing competitions. The micro climate is also responsible for Mui Ne's other main attraction - sand dunes and strange rock formations. I took a walk down the "fairy stream" - a tiny stream that runs between strange wind chiseled white and orange rocks. The name comes from the fact the rocks look magical rather than it being the home of mythological creatures. It really was a beautiful place, after half an hours walk the stream ends at a waterfall and the magical rocks change back into being normal rocks again.

I took one of the many jeep tours that operate in the area to visit the sand dunes. They have two different types of dunes here, white dunes which are fine, white sand and cover a larger area and the smaller red dunes which are made up of the coarser, dirtier red sand. All the jeep tours arrive at the same time, so the place was full of tourists - either Asian or Russian. Mui Ne has alot of Russian visitors to the point where alot of the signs were in Russian. The Russian tourists I met here were very stereotypical, ie wearing awful garish and very inappropriate clothing and very rude. They also had a lovely line in tattoos. One bloke had a scorpion right in the middle of his chest - it looked like a bulls-eye. The Asian tourists (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino) are a very excitable bunch who have to have a photo of themselves stood in front of everything (and I mean everything) either whilst holding up two V for victory signs or whilst jumping in the air. Trying to get a photo of a landmark at these times is practically impossible. I have visited a few sand dunes world wide and whilst the dunes here are not particularity big, they were beautiful and impressive. I was certainly in the minority as the majority of the Asian tourist had never seen dunes before and there were shrieking in delight! Here you could rent dunes buggys for 15 minutes and hurl yourself over the edge. I chose the much more sedate old fashioned method of walking to the top. The red dunes were not as pretty to look at and you certainly couldn't buggy over them - but enterprising children did try and sell you boards so you could sand board down them. Unfortunately these did not work at all.. The most I saw anybody move was about 30cm before they came to a crashing halt.

There was not much else to do in Mui Ne apart from eating the rather excellent hummus I found in one restaurant, so I moved in land to the mountain town of Da Lat. All of S.E Asia has been hot, even in the midst of the rain, it is still hot. Humidity is between 80 - 100 percent and 30 degrees has been the average temperature, but with the humidity it feels so much hotter. Imagine my surprise then, when as we pull up in Da Lat all the locals are wearing puffer jackets and fleeces. By Vietnam standards, Da Lat is cold, by English standards it is nice warm weather. It is around 20 degrees - even for me a puffer jacket would have been a step too far.

Alot of outdoor activities are based here, mountain biking, trekking and the option I chose, canyoning. Canyoning typically involves trekking to the bottom of a gorge, jumping of ledges into the water, trekking through the water - the highlight usually being abseiling down waterfalls. The trek down to the river was arduous, my legs were scratched to ribbons by the forest fauna, we were close - I could hear the sound of the river. Then i heard another sound - that of people and in particular a small child. We had to walk across a branch to cross a small stream, then we barged our way through another copse of trees - I could not believe my eyes. We were not in the middle of nowhere. The long descent down had brought us out... next to a cable car station. The place was brimming with local tourists and small children! All that hard leg work - and we could have come down in a cable car. It was here, in front of these people, that we did our first practice abseil, down a rock only 6m high. Because we were a tiny group, 4 people, as opposed to the group yesterday of 16 people, were we able to repeat the practice abseil a couple of times. Made me feel slightly more confident with the equipment.

Our first abseil was down a rock 18m high but we were next to the waterfall, not in it. We were still in the vicinity of the cable car so we were watched, photographed and videoed by all the tourists. It was great fun. We hiked, trekked and floated down river to our next spot - well away from the tourists. I jumped from a 3m ledge which does not sound alot - but for me was an accomplishment. I opted out of some of the activities, such as the 8m and 11m jumps. I also declined to be pushed headfirst down a rock into some rapids. I'm not young enough to be that stupid - I was quite happy to climb down that rockface! I did do all the abseils though - not everyone did. The force of the water hitting you is extreme - it doesn't look that bad in the photos but it was hard to keep your footing - plus obviously the rocks are extremely slippery. This waterfall pictured had an added bonus. You couldn't abseil all the way to the bottom. the water was too rough at the bottom - there was a bad current. So as you descended, you had to keep an eye out for the person at the bottom. When he told you to jump, you let go of the rope and flung yourself backwards like a starfish aiming to land on your bottom. (You were still attached to the safety rope as all times)

What I didn't quite realise was how high you were when you jumped. It was 4m up and because I was wearing a life jacket, it acts as a barrier as you hit the water, so I was slightly winded after the jump but elated at the same time. Our final abseil was lovingly called the washing machine. Again you couldn't land in the water because you landed in a set of rapids. This time there was no jumping. When your feet touched water, you let go of the rope and the rapids churned you out at the otherside. You were supposed to hold your nose as you let go - guess what I forgot to do? By this time it was close to 3pm. It had been a frightening day but lots of fun at the same time. My legs had turned to jelly with all the exertion but the worse was to come. We had to get back to the road. It was a 400m vertical hike. The natural steps (tree branches) were a good 50cm apart - my legs are too tiny to climb up these kind of steps. It was torture. Where was the cable car now? The following day I could not walk. In fact it wasn't till 3 days and a good massage later, that feeling returned to my thighs! Unable to walk the next day what else could I do but take a motorbike tour. Da Lat is home of the easy rider. Motorbike tours where you ride pillion. They do 3, 4 even 14 day trips as well with all your luggage strapped to the back. As my entire motorcycling history comprises of one motor taxi ride in Thailand, I sensibly opted for the one day countyside tour. I was driven out through the gorgeous mountain scenery and saw real people working in real places. I saw a silk producing factory, a family that keep the weasels that make the world famous and expensive weasel poo coffee. I even had a cup of weasel coffee (I don't like coffee but as I was here...) It was very bitter. I saw a cricket farm too and was invited to try a deep fried cricket or two - this I declined.

All in all it was a very pleasant day but I was glad to get off the motorbike. One day is enough for me, I was going to take the bus out of Da Lat not a motorbike tour. I chose to travel by the local bus company, Tan my moto guide told me they had by far the best drivers for this route. Most travelers take the giant open bus carriers that operate the length of the country, Saigon to Hanoi. I was the only non vietnamese speaker on the bus. But everyone looked after me, I was invited to move from my assigned aisle seat to the front of the bus in the spare seat for the second conductor. I had the best view on the bus and what a view it was. The mountain road was not well maintained in places and narrow and zig-zaged all over the place. I later heard that those on the open bus had spent alot of time throwing up. My driver on the other hand, knew exactly what he was doing, he avoided the large holes on the road and was slow and steady through the never ending bends. The views were breath-taking. That ride is going to be a high light of Vietnam.

The road led to Nha Trang another coastal resort. Nha Trang was a shock. First the temperature - the hottest place in Vietnam so far. Mid 30's and the temperature did not drop under 30 even at midnight. Secondly it was completely Russian. Everything was in Russian. The locals were not as friendly (they are used to very rude foreigners) and everything was overpriced. The saving grace was the "amazing snorkelling" trip I went on. It actually was amazing. The equipment I was given was top notch, the snorkelling sites were great and teeming with life. I saw loads. The lunch provided was amazing too. To top it off I met some really nice people on the boat and we met up afterwards for a night out. The hangover was not amazing however, but by now it was time to leave Nha Trang. I never want to end up in a Russian resort again.