Vietnam 2008 - Whale island - Hoi An - Mui Ne

Part 1 Hanoi: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=103813
Part 2 Sa Pa: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=103726
part 3 Saigon: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=105997
part 4 Ha long - Cuc phuong: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=124298
part 5: Whale island - Hoi An - Mui Ne: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=124820
part 6: Dalat - Cu Chi - Mekong delta: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=126400


Vietnam 2008 - Whale island - Hoi An - Mui Ne

After all the travels and our freak night in the jungle of cuc phuong we were really in the mood for some bounty beaches and snorkelling :thumb Our first stop was whale island, a few miles off Nha Trang. There is only one place you can stay if you want to sleep on whale island, which was both pleasant and awfull at the same time. I'll tell you more later on, first some shots! :barb



palm trees and sand between your toes :thumb


Tropic flowers


Our little private beach - right on our doorstep :bow


These lizards kept shooting out of the sand, they were wonderful subjects.

I remember now that i was going to tell you why it is both heaven and hell to stay on a island with only one resort. First the good part: its quiet, its clean, its great! now the bad part: you cant go anywhere else if you dont like the way something is handled.. especially when its food. We booked a week on the island and from day one we stocked up on pringles so badly that half way up the week, they were almost out of them :rofl. There was no menu, just meal of the day - not that i mattered much since everything tasted disgusting.. :rolleyes The dread of going to supper actually put a damper on the fun of being on a tropical island.. absurd no?

Oh well, lets continue, After a week regaining (?) strength, we set forth towards the seaside town of Hoi An. Hoi An is such a magical town, no iternary should exist without vissiting Hoi An at least for two nights! The town was spared bombardements during the American/Vietnam war so a lot of the colonial custard yellow buildings still stand adding to the atmosphere of the place. There are even some old chinese and japanese style buildings and traditional Vietnamese houses, hundreds of years old - practically unheard of in the rest of Vietnam.


Old Chinese wall painting


Bycicling along the docks


Local BBQ


Local vegetable market - Vietnamese and there vegetables... :scratch

At night all the silk lampoons went on and moped were banned from the downtown.. It cant get more romantic than that people! :barbWith pain in our heart we left Hoi An and headed down to the town of Mui ne for some beach fun and sand sledding.


View of the bay from one of the sanddunes

We went up at the break of dawn to see some sunrise magic on the sand dunes of Mui Ne. They delivered, it was a magical sight.


Sunrise over Mui Ne


Me and my gf (Hilde) on a sanddune at sunset :thumb (trekking sure does make you look rugged :rofl) some subliminal advertisment for the university of Leiden, NL


Fire in the sky

After enjoying the sunrise we went to some more popular dunes, where lots of local kids and some tourist were enjoying some serious sand sledding! :thumb




Sand sledding = pure fun