Mui Ne'12

The following day was busy and not without it's frustrations. I'd originally planned to go to Mui Ne on the Wednesday, well as far as I've planned anything so far. Blane had asked me if I minded going on the Tuesday, I said no, so I got my things together. I started the day as you'd expect with coffee with Phuong, my friend from Bien Dong restaurant. Phuong also has a new job, she now works in a resort in Mui Ne and asked me to go over if possible. I went back to school in the morning to spend some more time with my old students. I am really touched that they remember me and it seems, with fondness. I cycled to Mui Ne that afternoon, I didn't manage to cycle all the way up the hill, but felt that I'd done pretty well considering I hadn't been on a bike in a while. Blane had suggested somewhere for me to stay but it was fully booked so I had to spend some time looking for a place. I hate doing that, luckily I hadn't brought all of my bags with me, I'd have killed Blane if I'd had. I got sorted and then went to meet Sasha, it was great to see her. She is doing really well and has more students than she knows what to do with. Her sister is staying there at the moment and she's helping with some of the younger students. I also saw Huong, she is working in the evenings at "No Problem" bar as well as her full time job. My time in Mui Ne was very relaxed. I went to the Fairy spring and finally made it to the very end, which I thought would be a spring but actually it's a small waterfall. Strange as this sounds but I'd only been there once before, with Anna, right at the start of my time in Phan Thiet and we hadn't made it that far as we'd gone in the middle of the day and it was too hot to stay out. The stream winds it's way through the red sand dunes, so it's bright red on one side and on the other you have verdant green foliage. Beautiful. On the way there I bumped into Chien, the guy who owns a booking office in Mui Ne. He had arranged to meet me that morning but hadn't bothered! He more than made up for it by inviting me to a wedding on the coming Saturday. As soon as he said that it was in the country, I was there. Most of Sasha's students are from Russia so she drinks and eats in a lot of Russian bars and restaurants. We went to a new Russian restaurant, Garage, for dinner, the food was amazing and I would definitely go back. There are a few new bars in town now and they have changed D.J. Station, I wonder if it's for the better. It was a dive before. I finally managed to get some pool time, I've had remarkably little since I've been back and this a tropical country. I spent the whole day at Tien Dat hotel and used their pool. I needed it, I am starting to get another farmer's tan.Later I met Sasha at Jibes and was given my drinks free. The bar is owned by the parents of two of my former students, it was a nice surprise. I spent all of Friday at Manta, a sailing club owned by an English lady, Julia. They were having a three day regatta and Sasha had said she would help out and took me along. It was a good day despite me losing some money from my purse, it was my fault for leaving my bag unattended. What was surprising was the condition of the sailing school building. The school sits on the beach, as you'd expect, beside the main Mui Ne road. On the other side of the road they are some sand dunes and just over the ridge a company had started to build a new resort. For some reason they had excavated some of the dunes and when it had rained this had filled. The side of the dune gave way and the school had been engulfed in a double tsunami of water and then sand. Luckily no one was hurt, especially as it hit at about 3am. They're still cleaning up the school. I had an early night as I'd drunk my fair share of beer. I spent half of the next day there as well before picking up my stuff and cycling back to town. I have to say that the ride back almost killed me and if I'd hadn't had plans it would have been an early night for me.