Rice is Nice

Nha Trang wasn't really what I had in mind for relaxation before the end of the trip, so I only stayed two nights and then caught a bus to Mui Ne. Again, this took much longer than it should. But at the very least, I was dividing the trip to Ho Chi Minh City into two stages.

Mui Ne is not exactly isolated, or undiscovered. There are hotels all along the beach. But these hotels are relatively small, and many cannot even be seen behind the fringe of palm trees that lines the beach. There are no high-rises, and the road is set adequately back from the beach. There is just not much to do in Mui Ne (which is really part of Phan Thiet). And that's why I liked it so much. The first night that I had a walk along the road in Mui Ne looking for dinner, I had a bit of a scare, when I noticed that much of the signage was in Russian. Christ, I figured, the restaurants will be overpriced, feature disco balls, and people who talk in such a manner that nothing is aspirated, no excess air passes through their lips, all being conserved for the loudest, most aggressive tone that can be mustered with whatever is left. (OK, it's unfair, but it's how it sounds to the American ear.) It turned out that yes, there are many Russian tourists, but these ones have impeccable taste and have not, as far as I can tell, had any adverse effect. The ones at my hotel were perfectly pleasant.

Hotels along the beach in Mui Ne are relatively hidden

Many Mui Ne fishermen go to sea in these awkward bathtub boats

Mui Ne is a small fishing town, and in the town, and along the beach road, you can experience the production of the local product: nuoc mam, or fish sauce. This is made, apparently, by putting little chopped-up fish and parts into an earthenware container with salt, and letting the concoction sit in the sun for some number of days. Then you get a tar-like substance, which is diluted down and sold as fish sauce. When used, it is again diluted down. I didn't actually watch them make it, but I did smell it. The smell is thick enough that it lingers around the particular establishment, rather than infuse the air of the town, which is a good thing. But it means that periodically, when you pass these places on a motorbike, you get a whiff. It stinks, but it's not all bad. If you like anchovies on your pizza and gorgonzola cheese (and I do), then you might kind of like this smell for a brief second.

I had splurged in Mui Ne on a nice hotel, as I have been way under-budget for this trip. So I checked into the Cham Villas, which are made up to look like grass huts, but are actually quite modern, nice little villas. The grounds are amazing, and it's all done up with Cham statues which are dramatically lit at night. The pool is nice, but I never really used it, as the beach is peaceful and fairly clean.

Path between villas at Cham Villas hotel

There is one sight, which is a range of remarkable sand dunes close to the town. I took a motorbike up there at sunset, and saw a gaggle of young boys holding sheets of hard plastic. As the motorbike slowed, they all came running up and grabbed my arms. "You slide?!" they all cried. They didn't speak much English other than that, except for one who claimed that he was from California, but couldn't remember the town. I declined the offer, as I didn't feel like it, and the few people I saw "sliding" were either kind of shuffling down the dunes or were being pulled down by the slide-owners, like the slide itself was some sort of stubborn mule.

If it won't slide, he will slide you

There's little to report from these days. The restaurants were good, but mostly empty. I was the only customer eating in any restaurant I went to in Mui Ne at any time. I did make one mistake, by eating at an Indian restaurant on my last night there. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't good. I made the same mistake by eating at an Italian restaurant in Nha Trang, as I've heard that Nha Trang has a small Italian community. Again, the food wasn't awful, but I could get a better caprese salad and gnocchi gorgonzola at any Italian restaurant in Chicago. It's best, I guess, to stick to the cuisine of the country you're in. And I like Vietnamese food a lot. But I'm not used to eating any cuisine, even American (which seems anymore to describe a limited range of restaurants) for 28 nights out of 30.

But I would not have that problem much longer, as Mui Ne was my penultimate stop on my Vietnam tour.