Mui Ne

Yesterday, I weathered the 16-hour overnight bus ride and made it to Mui Ne, which is basically a sleepy beach town that is about three hours northeast of Ho Chi Minh City along the east coast of Vietnam. I had already booked a room in advance at another hotel, but I was dropped off by the bus at a different hotel, since there are always little scams that try to get you to book at the hotel that is affiliated with a particular bus company. In this case, the scam worked out in my favor, because the hotel owner showed me a bungalow room that is about a 10-step walk from the beach for $6 a night, and I was going to pay much more, $19 a night, at the other place I booked. I took the cheap room without hesitation.

I spent yesterday afternoon and this morning lounging on a beach chair reading and occasionally taking dips in the ocean to cool off. The waves are pretty strong, as is the undertow, so I haven't been in the water longer for a few minutes at a time, but I'm quite content just to hang out in the beach chairs sipping lemon juice and ice.

Another guy staying at the hotel and I had dinner last night, and it was nice to have the conversation and the company. Matt was living in the Philippines doing freelance production work for a Fashion TV German channel, and he grew up in Germany. After his jaunt in Southeast Asia, he's headed back home to Berlin, but then he'll only get to spend a month with his girlfriend before she goes to study Chinese in Beijing, and then he'll have to figure out something to do in China so he can come back over to Asia to spend time with her. At first, I was a little envious when he said he was going back to Germany at the end of his trip, because I wanted to feel like I would be going home to the States instead of South Korea when my trip ends in August. I'm happy with my life in South Korea because of the job and the comfortable lifestyle, but, for a fleeting moment, I wished that Elena and I would be going back to someplace more familiar at the end of this trip. Then again, the easy time I am having on this trip wouldn't have been possible had I not worked for it in South Korea.