Vietnam - The South

Chapter 2: Mui Ne and Da Lat

After thinking about where to go for some beach days, we finally decided on Mui Ne. 
Mui Ne is around 200 km from Saigon but it took us almost 7 long hours to get there. That´s an average speed of 28km per hour. Thank god we had a nice bus:

sports car feeling in a bus

Finally arriving in Mui Ne, we stayed at the Evergreen guesthouse. A nice and cozy place run by a Vietnamese couple which came back to Vietnam after 30 years living in the USA. The garden was the prettiest I have ever seen, the rooms were clean and the host Ken and Monique were pretty kind and helpful. If you looking for a accommodation in Mui Ne checkout evergreen!

garden and pool @ evergreen

Mui Ne is well known as a top spot for kitesurfing and when the wind comes up, the sky is full of kites. On the second day, a teacher which stayed in the room next to us, asked us if we wanna try kitesurfing. So it comes: next day 10am we were ready for our first kitesurfing experience:

first lessons at Windchimes kite school - beach practice

Yay!!! after 2 days of drinking loads of sea water, I was able to ride little bit

relaxing after a hard fight with the kite

the beach in Mui Ne

To get around in Mui Ne we rented a Scooter for $7 per day. Since there is just one main road it´s easy to navigate and so we spent some hours on the scooter. We visited the famous White Lake as well as the local cemetery on a peninsula. While driving around, suddenly, we smelled something wonderful. We didn't know exactly where it came from but we decided to find it on our way back. And then we saw it, the distinctive smell came from a restaurant called Mr. Crab. The beginning of a 3 day love story. 

desert feeling - white lake with its dunes

did anyone order some goose 2 go? 

Mr. Crab - best crab in town

Mr and Mrs. Crab

Mr. Lobster you yummy bastard - I miss you <3

After 5 nights in Mui Ne, 3 days kitesurfing and the belly full with Mr. Crab's seafood, we continued our trip. Next stop should be the 1500 meters above sea lvl high city, Da Lat.  

We got picked up with a minibus at 12.30pm, they told us that we would change to a coach bus soon. The distance is not much further than Saigon - Mui Ne but it still takes up to 7 hours. So we were sitting in the last row and 15 other people in the minibus expecting to change the bus soon. After 30 minutes we left the main road and were driving on the most bumpy track I've ever seen. We realised that we won´t change the bus, neither we will take usable roads for the next hours. 20 Minutes later the double tires below our seat exploded and we had to stop. It took a while until a second bus brought a second tire and the driver changed them. Meanwhile an old lady on a bicycle appeared from nowhere and sold us some delicious guava fruits. The next 5 hours in the bus were just horrible, the street got worse and every 10 seconds we got flipped from our seats and the luggage kept falling through the bus. I was really surprised that the bus didn't break anymore. 

2 tires less

cute old lady selling fruits

if you leave the tourist track you still can see ox carts

Joanne loves pets and pets love Joanne

Đà Lạt is a city in the southern central highlands, founded by the French in late 19th century.
The climate is very different to the tropical Vietnam, long pants and a sweater or light jacket are recommended. Since our time was limited, we decided to take personal tour guide who showed us around. We started with the Da Lat´s flower garden, followed by the old French train station, the amazing crazy house (an art guesthouse which looks like a giant tree from a fairy tale), the king's holiday palace, Datanla waterfall, a temple and finally a lake... a quite big program for one day. 

Hoa Binh Square and market

crazy house guesthouse

waterfall

flower garden

Vietnam was an awesome experience, i hope one day i will have enough time to see the whole 1650 km from the Yunnan highlands in the north to the Mekong delta in the south. 

Bye Bye Vietnam - See you again