Mui Ne

Early this morning I got a motorbike taxi to Saigon’s train station. I was both happy and sad to be leaving which I guess is a continuation of the love/hate relationship I had with the city when I lived there. It was really good to go back and see how the city has changed and to find where things are still (almost) the same.

The train left on time at 7.25am and slowly trundled out of the city. At every level crossing there were hundreds of motorbikes waiting to head towards the city centre. Rush hour(s) were definitely already underway. I arrived in Phan Thiet around 11.30am. As I walked out of the station a flock of taxi drivers approached me but I could see the bus waiting at the far side of the car park. The bus filled up as more people came off the train behind me. My destination was Mui Ne further along the coast.


It must have been nice before bad development decisions were made. There’s a very long road along the coast but ugly concrete hotels and resorts have been build all along it on both sides of the road. Unless you’re staying at a beachfront resort, it’s difficult to access to the beach. Although the beach is public, it’s not easy to find a way onto the beach that doesn’t involve walking through a resort. And they don’t like that. I had a headache in the afternoon so I went to a cafe with a view of the sea. The town is well known for kite surfing and there were several surfers zipping along the waves at high speed.