21 Dec. 2011: DA LAT TO MUI NE

Left the fun of Da Lat to look for the sun of Mui Ne (mwee-NAY). Roads washed out here and there and the bus was overloaded anyway, so had to stop for overheated brakes (downhill all the way from 5,000 ft.to sea level) and underinflated tires. Still, the scenery was beautiful as we descended from pine trees through square miles of coffee bushes (photo) through acres of ripening dragon fruit through banana plants through rice paddies through corn. It seems they can grow anything at any time of the year, and they do. 

Arrived in usual bus stop chaos in Mui Ne, not a town, just a strip of beach with one shore road through it. This was our next attempt at beach R&R after the disappointment of rainy Nha Trang, and it looks really good so far. Temp in high 20'sC or mid-80'sF, sunny, mild sea breezes. Got a room in the middle of the low-rise hotel/eateries strip at Mui Ne Lodge #14. Closest resemblance for me is Bali, with small thatched bungalows in palmtree courtyards. (Difference: replace all the Aussies in Bali and their Foster's lager with Russians here, and their vodka!) More on that next time. For now, we set up and had a typical Vietnamese coffee, black on top and white on the bottom, but in my favourite kind of place ---- open air, warm, rough around the edges. The sunset promised a good week ahead.