Bus ride

The bus ride from Mui Ne to Dalat was on a one lane windy road with not much in the way of protection from flying over the edge. These signs all over the road were pretty telling (sorry for the quality of the photos, they were taken from a moving bus).

Leaving Mui Ne

Much to our chagrin (because who wouldn't want to leave a beautiful relaxing beach town), we hopped on a bus to the highland city of Dalat. It is pretty common to stop for a meal on bus rides of more than 4 hours. Usually it's a little shop on the side of the road (like this one).

Late afternoon swim

A quick body surfing session in the sea right outside of our room before we head off for dinner. Today is our last full day in Mui Ne (sadly). Tomorrow we take a 1pm bus into the mountains to a town in the highlands called Dalat.

Family of four

We passed this happy family on our way back from the sand dunes.

Sand dunes

Outside of Mui Ne are vast sand dunes, next to a beautiful lake (Lotus Lake). People come to the dunes to hike around and sled down the sand. It was a pretty windy when we got there, which made it a little hard to do anything.

Relaxing in Mui Ne

This morning, we went on a good run on the beach and a swim then had breakfast. This picture pretty much sums up the rest of the morning.

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Windy Mui Ne

The afternoons in Mui Ne can get extremely windy, making it a haven for windsurfers and kitesurfers. However, other activities include drinking beer, playing cards and watching the windsurfers/kitesurfers.

Charlie don't surf

This morning, we woke up around 5:30am and rode the motorcycle about 30 minutes out of Mui Ne to a surf spot. The surf was about 4-6 feet and the water was perfectly warm. The Australians said the waves today were great for Vietnam standards.

Dinner in Mui Ne

Nothing like having a great seafood meal with your feet in the sand.

Taking a dip

Mike couldn't resist taking a quick dip in the South China Sea before we went to dinner. The water is warm (about 70 degrees). Tomorrow morning Mike is going surfing with an Australian guy who lives here and runs a surf shop.

Mui Ne transportation

We've rented a motorcycle for a couple of days (yes, moms, we rented helmets too). Mui Ne has one main road stretching down the coast for miles, so everything is pretty spread out.

Our place in Mui Ne

Our guesthouse in Mui Ne is right on the beach. This is Mike standing in front of our room praying for surf.

Mui Ne

We have left the hectic world of Ho Chi Minh City and, after a quick 4 hour bus ride north, found outselves in the sleepy fishing town of Mui Ne.

Change of plans

We have officially decided to extend the trip. We plan to be in Vietnam through Christmas and then continue north into China. Our return flight is scheduled for January 13th out of Beijing. A couple weeks is hardly enough time to see all that China has to offer, but we are excited to see what we can.

As we did not originally plan to go to China, we now have a few logistics to figure out. We will need to arrange for visas, which we will deal with in Hanoi. We are also ill-equipped for the weather. For example, Mike will need to buy pants as it is currently below freezing in Beijing.

Pictured is a bootlegged copy of Lonely Planet China that we bought on the streets of Saigon today.

HCMC traffic

This is a pretty typical intersection in Ho Chi Minh City. Lots of motorbikes and definitely no waiting to make a left hand turn. Watch closely toward the end of the video and you'll see a woman pass from right to left with her small child in front of her on the motorbike. This is an extremely common scene in this region of the world. We've seen multiple small kids on motorbikes with their parents. We've also seen up to 6 people on a motorbike at the same time. At least most people here are wearing helmets. In Laos and Cambodia, helmets were not so common.

B-52 Crater

A crater in Cu Chi left by an American B-52 bomb.

Shooting an M-60 Machine Gun

Mike also shot an M-60 machine gun.

Shooting an AK-47

As part of the tour, we were able to shoot various weapons used in wartime. Mike first shot a clip of an AK-47.

Captured tank

Once again, the Vietnamese love to show off captured American assets from the war. This US tank was disabled by a land mine in 1970.

Walking in the tunnels

Sorry it's a little shaky, but this is Mike moving through about 10 meters of the tunnel system.

It is important to point out that this section of the tunnels has been widened to double its oringial width to fit the modern "western tourist". Yes, we are fat (relatively).

Booby Traps

There were booby traps above and below ground in the tunnel system. They were not messing around with these things. The ones made out of bamboo were called bambooby traps.

Tunnel entrance

The tunnel entrances were quite small. Not exactly built for the modern Western.

Cu Chi Tunnels

After we entered the Cu Chi tunnel area, we were shown a short propaganda film regarding Cu Chi and America's involvment in the area. At one point in the film, the Americans were referred to as a "batch of crazy devils", so you can imagine how the rest went. And of course, a picture of Uncle Ho looking on in the background.

Day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels

Today, we took a half day trip to a town called Cu Chi, about two hours outside of Ho Chi Minh City (with traffic). This area has an extensive tunnel system which was built over a period of 25 years, beginning in the late 1940s. At it's height, the tunnel system was about 250 kilometers in length.

On the way to the tunnels, our group stopped for about 30 minutes and toured a government owned/run facility, which puts to work victims of Agent Orange. These handicap people make all sorts of goods at the facility. These are a few pictures of the workers and the showroom. The workers are using egg shells to make their patterns. Beautiful work is done here, but it was quite a forced scene.

Ho Chi Minh City traffic

This is just a little taste of what you deal with walking the streets on this city.

Reunification Palace

The Reunification Palace prior to 1975 served as the Presidential Palace. It was the first stop of the Viet Cong when they took over the city of Saigon in 1975. Today, it is used for receiving foreign officials and as a museum of sorts for tourists. Pictured is the tank that knocked down the gates on April 30, 1975 when the Viet Cong took Saigon.

War Remnants Museum

This museum, also known as the American and Chinese War Crimes Museum, documents (from the Vietnamese POV of course) the past brutality of the American and Chinese aggression against Vietnam. Whatever one's opinion about the Vietnam War, this museum certainly showed the an ugly side of war. And once again, the Vietnamese love to show off confiscated US military assets.

The Museum of Ho Chi Minh City

We stopped by the Museum of Ho Chi Minh City. This museum is in the former governor's residence and covers the struggle of Ho Chi Minh City against former aggression. Pictured are the museum, some US assets confiscated by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War and a photo of US officers rolling up the flag when they left Vietnam in 1975.

Ho Chi Minh City walking tour

Today we went on a walking tour of District 1 (Saigon) of Ho Chi Minh City. No better way to start a six hour walking tour of a city in 90 degree heat than with a steaming hot bowl of pho.

And if this place was good enough for slick Willie in 2001, it's good enough for us today.