Vietnam Tours Reports, June 2006 by Jane Goodman

We flew from Bangkok travel to Ho Chi Minh City in less than an hour and could already tell we were in a truly foreign country. The air felt different; a lot of history on these streets, and the way these drivers share the road made us hold on for dear life. They use horns as an indication to let other cars they are near them instead of a defense. Our 4-hour drive to Mui Ne Bay was quite scary to say the least, but we arrived with just enough time to have dinner and have a look out on the beach. The next morning we were up with the wind, it came blowing around 11am about 18 knots and I again was on my 10. Mui Ne Beach is a very magical place in Vietnam (hotels in Mui Ne). There are tons of little resorts on the beach road all hosting kiters.

We linked up with Airwaves who told us there have been 150 kiters at one time on the water, but since there is a 4 km stretch of beach, you can hardly call it crowded. The water temperature was pretty warm about 75 degrees I’d say and everyone was really comfortable on their kites. The wind wasn’t too gusty and blew consistent side on shore with an occasional change to side shore. It was quite difficult (only kidding) to spend 7 days here since the Vietnamese are super friendly and the areas are just breathtaking. At some points I looked at the group and said to myself “Is this really work??” You gotta do what you love is how I look at it.

Over the course of the days we traveled around by old Army Jeeps 30 km up the coast and found a flat-water secret lagoon and a great downwinder spot that can last for 5 hours if you can handle it. There are many downwinders in this region, but you have to make sure you arrange for transport, which can kind of be tricky. Regardless, no one was on the beach and anywhere along the coast is a perfect place to launch and land. By night we went to Huang Vu, recommended to us by some Americans. We devoured the freshly caught squid and lobsters. Again, we ate for just under $10 including all the Tiger Beer (Vietnamese special!) we could drink.

After a week in Mui Ne, we took the 4-hour trip back to Saigon for our last night out. On our way back from Mui Ne, we stopped for a pee break and came across a gas station with what looked like toilet holes. I was quite confused as I have never seen anything like it. I wasn’t sure where to place my feet, towards the hole, away from the hole? Stand? Squat? Aim? It was quite funny, so I figured it was worth a shot to turn my feet away from the toilet and stand on the grooves and squatted. After I finished there was a bucket with water to rinse the bowl. I came out and told the guys what happened, they were wondering if I would be freaked out, or had seen it before.

Well, I managed to do allright!

There are many bars and clubs in Saigon all very easy to find. The food is great and very cheap as well. We’re psyched to return next year!