Mui Ne, Vietnam

That's our bus parked at one of the rest stops on the way to Mui Ne

It's between a 5 and 6 hour trip from Saigon to Mui NE.   They say it used to be a 3 hours trip but due to safety concerns the bus drivers take it slower now. OK , that works for me.

Several non government bus and tour companies offer service to Mui Ne and on ward bound, departing from the Pham Nu Lao / backpackers area of Saigon.  Sinh cafe or now Sinh Travel is probably the most popular with foreign backpackers.  So I decided to try one of bus lines popular with the Vietnamese, Phuong Trang.

All went fine, OK bus though better looking on the outside than on the inside. Seeing they cater to Vietnamese, no one seemed to speak English and it made it a confusing trying to figure out what was going on, especially at rest stops. I make a mental note of somebody that easy to identify and shadow them. 

The bus fare seems to be the same cheap price for what ever bus company you use.  To Mui Ne the fare each way was 90,000 dong or around 5.00 US.  They offer a choice of three morning buses 7:30. 8:30 and 9:00 while the other guys mostly offer about the same with one evening bus leaving at 4:30 PM.  

Probably the smart thing to do, especially if traveling alone, is to reserve two seats and it's still a damn cheap ride. You get a little extra room and can carry your bags on board.

       fisherman's basket boat                    Canary Beach Resort, about $ 45.00 and up per night

========================================================

    

- Beach side boat repair - 

======================================================

Not much going on in Mui Ne, just a lovely beach.  My thinking is that to really enjoy it you need to get a hotel on beach.  You see there is really only one road here, one side is the beach and ocean and the other it's inexpensive guest houses and tourist services, like restaurants, small shops selling pop beer and water and rental motorbikes. 

Note: As an option to concider is that if your on a tight budget, you might stay in a inexpensive guest house like the Duy An (200,000 dong a night)  nhanghiduyan@yahoo.com.vn across the street from where I stayed and  buy a $3.50 day pass to use the pool and beach. You can probably do this at most of the resorts.

I was going to rent a motorbike but as I'm talking with the rental lady a series of jumbo buses and trucks roared past, my question about insurance drew a blank with her, as I'm thinking of the distance to medical facility.  So I swallowed my pride, plunked done 10,000 dong, (about 50 cents) for a rentail on the ladies, pink, girls style bike.   Oh ya, just for reference, lots of folks rent bikes and walk away unscaved, it's not expensive, somewhere between $6 - 10.00 US dollars. 

  

OK, you got the fisherman's, clamers, boat builders, cows and not so many people on the beach as you see in these photos taken around the hotels beach.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canary Beach Resort - cheap but very good

My room, hotel pool area and views from my balcony

=======================================================                                                                                   

          sunset off Mui Ne beach