Mui Ne, Phan Thiet and Danang - Vietnam - November 26 -
December 9, 2006
By Kinsley and Jamie
ThomasWong - http://XtremeBigAir.com
Many Thanks to Kinsley ThomasWong's sponsors:
Are You ready for the ultimate XtremeBigAir Kiteboarding Xpedition
to Viet Nam?
Support XtremeBigAir.com! Buy
your kiteboarding-paragliding gear with us!
Here is
another NO FEE Trip. We charge you NOTHING on all Kiteboarding
and Paragliding Xpedition trips!
You are responsible for your own air tickets, paying for the hotel and
other expenses;Ofcourse we will provide you with contacts to make your
trip arrangements that fit your needs. Just like our previous
xpeditions, you will get to kite all day and enjoy the night life, free
advanced kiteboarding lessons from Kinsley, discount on kiteboarding
gear when
purchased through XtremeBigAir.com,
discount on accommodations, shared expenses on down winder trips, eat
at local favorites restaurants...
Archive
of Kinsley Wong and Team XtremeBigAir's World Famous Xpeditions!
Lucky riders on this trip: Kinsley and Jamie, Shawn
R., Shawn O. and John O., and Kurt A.
Here is our itinerary:
November 26 arriving to Saigon
November 27 leaving from Saigon to Mui Ne - Phan Thiet.
November 27 - December 6: Spend 10 days at Mui Ne's Fairy Stream Resort
- Please book your accommodation at FSS with Trang T. now.
December 6: Leaving Mui Ne to Saigon and fly from Saigon to Danang
December 6 - 9: spend 4 days at Danang: visit China Beach, Tien Sa
Beach, etc...
December 9: Leaving Danang to Bang Kok
December 9 - 16: spend 7 days in Bang Kok: visit Bang Kok, Hua Hin is
only $50 by taxi for kiteboarding there....
December 16: Leaving Bang Kok for Saigon
December 17: flying from Saigon back to USA..
November 26-27, 2006
We arrived in
Saigon at midnight on November 26 and stayed at the Dai
Nam Hotel. We woke up, and wandered around
the city for a few minutes before taking our shuttle through the
city. From Saigon to Mui Ne is about a 4 hour drive.
Traffic is crazy with a ton of motor bikes with a few buses and vans
mixed in. Definitely organized chaos. Every building is an
advertisement
for something. You get a great sense of the old and new with the
new buildings and motor bikes and dress next to the ladies carrying
buckets on either shoulder or on their head in traditional dress.
There are a lot of storefronts and homes along the road, each with
their own product to sell. No one store sells a complete product,
but each one
a piece of it. On one stretch you could buy enough parts to build
yourself a truck. The front of the stores and homes are well
decorated but the sides are the concrete construction. As
you move out of the city towards the countryside you find more
plants, rice fields, hay fields, trees (used in building), and
dragon fruit plants with a lot more space around the homes and lining
the rivers. We arrived at
our Sui Tien (Fairy Stream) resort around 2:30 pm, checked in, ate
some lunch and kited from
3:30 p.m. until sunset on 9m and 11m waroo's. Our honeymoon suite
is only a few steps from the water. At night, we hear the waves
crashing just outside of our room. When kiting here in Mui Ne, beware
of the jellyfish, Kinsley became the first of our group to
get stung. It was the perfect end to the 24 hours of plane and 4
hours of driving to get here. Although the wind
was a
little light, it was great to get out on the water, enjoy very warm
water that
was at least 5 degrees warmer than the air temperature and ride until
sunset. We met up with our group for an excellent BBQ dinner on
the beach.
November 28, 2006
Day 2 at Mui
Ne. We woke up early to catch a beautiful sunrise on
the beach. As we walked up and down the beach we watched the
fisherman and families pull in their nets. One person in the
round boats cast the nets (or larger groups of about 20 use a motorized
boat and much larger nets), then working with two people or groups on
the beach they pull the net in. Once the net is pulled in, they
then sort out the fish and squid from the jellyfish. About 70% of
what they caught today is jellyfish. A small family comes out
with a
10lb bowl
full of fish, squid, crab, and octopus; larger groups with about
150-200lbs. It is an amazing process with such hard working
people
making their day's living with tourists have a great time jumping in
and helping out. The wind started coming
up lightly around 11:30. It was an 11m with surfboard day with
off an on 9m and 11m with small board filling in from time to
time. According to Trang, the owner of Windchimes who helped us
set up
this trip,
the wind tomorrow will be stronger. A day or so of really light
wind is usually followed by really strong 20-30mph wind. We are
keeping our fingers crossed. Truc Cao, the owner of our hotel put
together a special honeymoon dinner party for us and our friends, John,
Shawn, Kurt, and Trang. They decorated our table with
candles and special centerpieces and treated us to a great vietnamese
dinner.
November 29, 2006
This morning
we headed down the beach and watched the fisherman at
work. Kinsley bought 4 large
tiger prawns and a bunch of blue crabs from the ladies and we enjoyed a
great lunch. The wind came up early around 11, and came up
strong. It was a 7m and 9m wind steady until about 4, and
continued to be strong with some lulls until sunset. Shawn
Rudolph arrived and kited with us for the afternoon. Both Shawn
O. and Shawn R. joined Kinsley being stung by jellyfish.
After a great day of kiting we all headed off to an excellent seafood
restaurant
called Dung Su on the edge of town. They have tanks in the front
of the restaurant with all local live seafood available. Everyone
sits at long tables watching and hearing the waves crash beneath you,
you pick out your dinner from the tanks and they prepare it for
you. From escargot, tempura shrimp and squid, whole fish for
vietnamese wraps, and crabs we enjoyed a great dinner. This would
be an amazing place for a sunset dinner.
November 30, 2006
This morning
we took a taxi to the Poshanu Temple built by the Cham
people in the 9th century. The temple is built out of brick but
with amazing detail. There are quite a few military bunkers in
the same area which make an interesting contrast. From the top of
the hill you get beautiful views of the mountains and coast on one side
and the fishing village and Phan Thiet coast. The wind came up
around 12 and was a 9m day all day becoming more off and on from 4
until
sunset. Jamie was stung by a jellyfish, leaving only Kurt
untouched. Luckily Kinsley had researched how to care for it
earlier in the morning at an internet cafe. After the sting, dry
off the area and apply vinegar or sugar water (make into a paste) to
the area. Do not rinse with fresh water because it will help the
barb's from the jellyfish release more toxin into your body. The
vinegar helps relieve the burning pain and minimize the effects the
next day. It is also recommended that you shave the area in the
reverse direction that the barbs went in, this can pull some of them
out of your skin to minimize the reaction the next day. Take
antihistamines and if it itches' use hydrocortisone cream with at least
1% until it is gone. Quite a few people either wear lycra suits
or kite pants to protect themselves. We had dinner at Moonlight
Cafe, a large menu with good mix of vietnamese and thai food. The
food was good but be prepared when you order, so as Shawn O. put it, a
3
beer wait.
December 01, 2006
The no wind
day. We woke up this morning to very cloudy skies and
lots of fisherman out in the round boats hand fishing. Now a sign
for a day with no wind, so we played tourists. We started the
afternoon having a taxi driver take us to Phan Thiet Market. This
area is well known for their fish sauce which you can smell along the
drive through Phan Thiet. We asked our taxi driver to pick us up
about an hour and half later while we wandered around. This is an
outdoor market lined with shops and street vendors selling everything
from clothes, jewelry, dishes, shoes, freshly cut meat and seafood,
vegetables, fruit and flowers. Anything you could want to buy
they have here. We don't recommend visiting the market on a hot
or humid day, or if you do avoid the meat sections of the market.
We wandered around the streets and along the inlet with the fishing
boats and ate lunch at Kim Son Lau restaurant in Phan Thiet. This
was an excellent chinese vietnamese restaurant and so far has been the
best meal we have had. Our taxi driver was ready and waiting for
us, and with no wind line or whitecaps forming we kept driving to the
white sand dunes. The drive to the white sand dunes is beautiful
along the coast line. You get to see more of the countryside with
people herding goats and cattle along the way. Upon arriving to
the white sand dunes 2 kids met us and directed us up to the sand dunes
with sleds. They are giant sand dunes with a beautiful lake full
of lotus flowers. The view from the sand dunes of the
coastline is amazing. The two kids went sliding down the
mountains and picked lotus flowers for us from the lake. They
were fun great kids that made the experience a lot of fun.
Kinsley gave them each XtremeBigAir stickers which they promptly
decorated their slides with and showed off to their friends when we
were back at the bottom. From here we headed back towards the
Fairy stream. This would be very easy to miss along the road, but
is well worth stopping and visiting. The water and wind have
carved out the hill sides showing both the dark red and white sand
along the stream. It is really beautiful with a small waterfall
at the end of the walk. The no wind day gave us a great chance to
wander around and see more of the sights in the area. We ate
dinner at a restaurant called Ngoc Lai, an authentic vietnamese
restaurant.
December 02, 2006
The wind came up early today around 11am. From
11 to 2 was a
solid 9m, from 2 to sunset was very up and down being either
overpowered or underpowered. Today had a great swell (3-4ft) with
a gradual left break possibly from typhoon durian who is about 400m
away. We had dinner at Lam Tong which has the best seafood
spring rolls and steamed fish yet.
Jamie did quite good with her back roll today. She started to
learn front roll and had a blast riding the beach breaks.
December 03, 2006
No wind. We hung out by the beach and
read all day. Some of
our group took a bike ride down to the point and met some great locals
enjoying sake and fish on a stick on the beach. Kinsley must have
an in with the wind gods, he separated his left rib on the 2nd and 3rd
day here, has been our team photographer but mainly lacking
temptation to try to kite with the days of no wind. The waves
have been head high or larger as we got closer to the full moon and the
typhoon headed our direction. December 3rd had a great sunset
prior to the storm. We ate at Lam Tong, a great restaurant next
to full moon beach resort. We love the fresh seafood spring
rolls, Singapore noodles and steamed fish with noodles. The food
and price is right but the service isn't great - be prepared to wait a
bit for your menu and bill or be proactive and go get them.
December 04, 2006
Typhoon Durian moved in from the
Philippines coast. This
is the first time the locals have had a hurricane come through this
area, they usually turn north, not south. By mid day
we knew it would be heading our direction. Shawn O. and John O.
decided to leave early and took a taxi back to Saigon to fly to Danang
early to beat the storm. The rest of us stayed here and waited
for it to arrive. It was a really humid day where we again
sat around by the beach, read, and enjoyed the crashing waves on the
sand. By midnight, with a combination of full moon and
wind, the water was hitting the top of our beach. There were some
lightning, rain, moderate wind but nothing substantially
damaging. By the time it arrived here it had dropped down to a
tropical storm from a category 1 when it touched land.
December 05, 2006
The Durian Typhoon quickly dissipated this
morning. By 7 a.m., a
few kiters already out with their 9m kites.
Hurricane Durian came through Mui Ne between midnight and 2am,
dumping a lot of rain and wind. Kurt watched the lightening with
our new friends from Canada, Jamie and Christine, enjoying the
show. There was very minimal damage from Durian. Mainly a
lot of trash on the beach. Post frontal wind came though
early this morning. It was pretty gusty but a great 9m wind
day. The wind was up early and lasted until sunset, but became
very gusty towards the end of the day. The waves were around head
to head and a half making today a great wave riding day. A great
kiting day for our last day in Mui Ne with Kinsley capturing everything
on camera. To end our last evening in Mui Ne, Truc prepared a
great meal for us, and we headed off to the 2nd anniversary party of
Windchimes to join Tran at Lam Tong. The kites and boards are
packed up ready for traveling back to Saigon to fly to Danang tomorrow
morning.
December 06, 2007 - December 09, 2006: Danang and Hoi An
We took a taxi from Mui Ne to Saigon and
flew from Saigon to Danang on the 6th. We arrived in time for
dinner and settling in. Shawn Obrien and his dad
stayed at the Sandy Beach Resort which is
right on China Beach. Shawn kited on his 12m on December 06 and
December 08. Wind is on shore at China beach.
Today the 7th, we took a tour around Danang. Guided by
Huong, we toured through marble mountain, the cham museum, and tiensa
beach. Near Marble Mountain we started at a manufacturer and
watched them hard at work with marble statues and creations. It
takes about a month to create the large statues. From what we
could discover the difference between local and foreign prices is about
half. We had a family dinner with trinh, son and van, tranh as
well as Kurt, Shawn O., John O., and Madeline and Christian from
Australia. We had dinner at Au Lat and enjoyed a great dinner
with flying fish, prawns, squid, noodles with shrimp chips, and red
snapper wraps. All were great. This is a fun indoor/outdoor
restaurant with a stream running through the middle. Great
atmosphere.
On December 08, we spent our day at Hoi
An. It is one gigantic beach connecting from Hoi An beach
to China beach, which you can literally walk from Hoi An to China
Beach, but it might take you a few days.
December 09, 2006:
Fly from Danang to BangKok. Check out our Thailand
Xpedition trip here: http://XtremeBigAir.com/Thailand/
Mui Ne Kiteboarding essential information:
- The actual town is Ham Thiet but it is well known by
kiteboarders at Mui Ne.
- Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced. There are
plenty of
beaches and it is uncrowded
- Surface Conditions: Wind Chop and Shorebreak Waves.
- Wind Conditions: Good for 7m to 11m on normal day,
lightwind
day: 13m
to 16m kites. Normal wind direction is Port Tack (blows from left
to right)
- Season: All Year around but the best months for
kiteboarding are
November through
April. Avoid July month.
- Water Temp: very warm!!! It is actually warmer
than the
air temp. Wear lycra and/or kite pants to protect
yourself from jelly fish.
- Air Temp: 28 - 35 C.
- Nearest Town: Phanthiet which is 4 hours taxi ride from
Saigon
(Ho Chi Minh City)
Summary:
We had one of the best time kiteboarding in
Mui
Ne. We like Mui Ne for its consistent wind, delicious food, safe,
nice - quiet and clean beach. We did not like the Jelly fish but
according to Trang, it only happened once every three years.
Mui Ne beach is big and there are many more other kiting and surfing
spots surrounding Mui Ne awaiting to be explored. Local fresh
seafood is quite delicious and very cheap. Beer, wine, and
everything else is quite
cheap. You will not be disappointed if you visit Mui Ne.
Just contact Trang of Wind Chimes is a
great guy and will take great care of all bookings and anything else
you need for Mui Ne.
We will definitely revisit Mui Ne in the very near future!
Other sources of information about this area can be found at:
Transportation:
From Ho Chi Minh City - Saigon, take a taxi to Mui Ne,
Phan
Thiet. It costs about $75 USD for each way and about 4 hour
driving from Sai Gon..
In Mui Ne, you can rent a bike or motor bike or take taxi to see all
the surrounding area of Mui Ne.
Arrival
At
the airport, cabs are on the spot and they are the best way to reach
Mui Ne. It's the best to negotiate and fix the price in advance!
Take into account that there are hardly
cabs with roof rack!
Arrival airport
Tan Son Nhut in Ho Chi Minh City - Saigon
Visa
You will need to obtain
Visa to enter Vietnam. Took us a
week plus $45USD per person to obtain the visa. There is a
landing visa at the airport but we don't know how much it costs
Summer time
May through
September. Busy time in Mui Ne is December through February
National
language
Vietnamese but English is understood in larger
hotels and airline companies.
Currency
1 USD = 16000 DONG.
Money can be
cleared by the cash dispenser or exchanged in the exchange
office. Most places will accept USD.
Exchange of money
US dollar or Euro can
be exchanged fast and simple. Credit cards are
accepted only in good hotels, shops and restaurants.
Vaccinations
For the entry in
Saigon, there are no vaccinations
required. Generally, there are no special vaccinations necessary. If
you are planning to visit the jungle areas, you will have to
think about getting a yellow fever vaccination as well as a malaria
prophylactics. Inoculation against diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis A and
B
is also be recommended by some doctors.
Doctor
There are
hospitals in Mui Ne and Phan Thiet.
Medications
Of course you should
always have medicine and a first aid kit
with you. However you will find a pharmacy with a good choice of
medicine in every bigger place, which mostly are cheaper than in Europe
or USA. Bring Hydrocortisone cream for anti itch after you got
jelly fish stung.
Climate
Year round: during the
day, the air temperature is between 28C
and 35C and at night over 20 degrees centigrade. Important: high
sun protection factor!
The water temperature is around the
26° year round.
Tip
The usual tip of 15 %.
If you give a tip consider that the day's
wages of many workers is only 4 to 6 USD.
Internet
You will find internet
access in internet cafe
in Ham Tien (Mui Ne), in tourist villages, in hotels. It is quite
cheap: $.50 usd an hour
