Sand-dunes and Easy Riders!

Following two days of rain we had decided the previous night that we would make the fifteen-plus hours bus journey to Hoi An. But then the sun came and so we decided to stay! In the hot sunshine Mui Ne becomes a completely different proposition. (Neil & Jess have moved on to Hoi An. Annie also took the bus to Hoi An as she flies back to Chicago in a little over a weeks time.)

Maria, Gaby and I decided that we would rent scooters for the day and ride them to the sand-dunes. What follows is more-or-less the entirity of my first, and only, lesson on how to ride a scooter:

Scooter Guy: "Have you ever riden before?"
Me: "No."
Scooter Guy: "Okay. Pull this (the brake) and push this (the starter button). Turn this (the throttle) slowly. And here's the horn. (Honk! Honk!) Slowly, slowly!"

As you can see, it was extremely thorough introduction!


***


About twenty minutes into our ride and Maria took a 'spill' which meant a quick detour to the hospital. (The locals where very helpful.) After she had had her cuts and grazes on her elbow, knee and hand cleaned and dressed - I couldn't resist taking a photo of her suffering! - and getting rid of the children who were determined to hitch a ride on the back of the scooters as 'guides', we set off again, at Maria's insistence.

When we arrived at the red sand-dunes we stopped at at a cafe and had a disgusting warm fruit salad covered in melting ice. More children were flocking around us with peices of 'lino' to be used a sleds on the dunes. So we climbed up the dunes with our entourage in tow.

At first they were sweet, asking the few questions in English that they knew and insisting that they accompany us to the white sand-dunes. However - there's always a 'however'! - as soon as we had returned to our scooters after a slide down the dunes and we had given them some money, they turned into little devils. They wanted more money, and as Gaby told one of them: "When someone gives you money you say 'thank you' and not 'more money.'" The boy qiuckly became abusive, shouting "Fuck you! Fuck off!" and so we hopped onto our scooters and headed back into Mui Ne and not towards the white sand-dunes.

Since it was still early in the afternoon we decided that we would ride to the supermarket at nearby Phan Thiet to stock up on a few essentials. However, time, fuel and some conflicting directions beat us and we returned to Mui Ne to return our scooters. Upon arriving back at the Tam Long Restaurant, which had become our 'local', the family who run it were genuinely more concerned about Maria than the scooter. Maria insisted that she would pay for the damage to the scooter inspite of the families reluctance to accept her money.

That night Gaby & I ate dinner without Maria, who had returned to her room feeling a bit stiff and achy, which was hardly surprising. I had some fresh springrolls and a seafood soup, plus a few bottles of beer which came to a little over US$4. Gaby & I decided over dinner that following the day's 'events' the next day, weather permitting, would be a 'Beach Day!'