SIMPLY (t)RAVELLING

Hello, Mui Ne!

 

Mũi Né is a coastal fishing village in the Binh Thuan Province of southeastern Vietnam, about 200km from Ho Chi Minh City. Facing the rough South China Sea, the area is known as one of the kitesurfing/windsurfing destination by the avid enthusiasts. Life at Mui Ne is very much preserved at its best, although tourism is booming. At a first glance, it looks nothing more than a typical Vietnam fishing village, and the question would be “Why Mui Ne?”.  Guess the city never suits me well and there’s something about Mui Ne that lured me there, and I’m glad I made the trip.

 

Despite the tiring day before, we woke up quite early and was eager to explore the surrounding. I immediately fell in love with Mui Ne at my very first sight of it. My mood wasn’t a bit disturbed by the gloomy day, and I found Mui Ne very peaceful and refreshing. Being monsoon, it was an off season in Mui Ne and the chances of bumping into another tourist was very unlikely. The street was wet from the night’s downpour and it was laidback and quiet except for a few passers by. The birds were chirping happily greeting the morning while the coconut trees that littering the shoreline were waving gently as if welcoming us to their humble abode.  

 

We walked to a cafe nearby our guesthouse for breakfast, and having the nice brewed Vietnamese milk coffee was inevitable. To me Vietnamese coffee never taste the same in other part of the world except in Vietnam themselves. No matter if you are using the original coffee beans to make them, you can’t beat the taste when it’s made in their home country. It’s true that I haven’t been to every corner of the world so there might be others which taste better, but I have to admit that Vietnam’s coffee is my favourite so far and it would be on the top of the chart for quite some time. Perhaps it is a matter of preference but once you taste it, you could never get rid of it. They are like morphine to me.

 

The fresh vegetable spring rolls was on the menu that morning, but unlike the Vietnamese coffee I must say that I like the one that I ate in KL better. Anyway we were grateful for the meal knowing that the other alternative was to spend the day in hunger.

 

We set off after breakfast with a bike we rented from the cafe and took a ride down the strip. Armed with a brief map we printed from the net and our little knowledge of the area we headed to the Mui Ne town. Along the way we were stopped by the splendid view of Mui Ne bay. Dark clouds started to emerge at the skyline, and it looked like it was going to rain again. I prayed in silence, hoping that the black clouds would pass. I was a bit worried that it might affect our plan.

 

Locals strolling the rough seashore. The wind started to blow hard and almost blew off my hat, pulling and crashing the waves at the shore.  The air started to get misty due to the drizzles and storm was fast approaching. 

 

 A local in traditional basket boat, Thung Chai which is similar to the Welsh coracle trying to break the rough waves.

 

God must be listening to my prayer after all, that within a few minutes the bad weather subdued and the sea was calm again.

 

 The spectators. They  were smiling with amusement when I pointed the camera at them. What a silly tourist we must be!

 

We made a move to the Mui Ne town proper, in search for the morning market. It was just a small town sitting along the strech of road, with motorbikes plying to and fro.

 

I’m always fascinated with market scene as the place not only reveal the lifestyle of the locals, but provided the ground for socializing with them. By the way “Cho” means market in Vietnamese.

 

 A lady with her heaps of sugar apples.

 

 Another gooseberries discovery, but I wasn’t surprised to see the durians.

 

We drifted to the wet market section, and saw the woman with her prizes, all fresh from the sea. Some of the catches were unfamiliar to the eyes.

 

 Local ladies in conical hat were busy doing their groceries.

 

 

I’ve never seen anything looks so fresh and healthy. Just see how big and crisp the spinach was. The leaves were as big as my palm.

 

 

A bunch of ladies having breakfast at one of the makeshift  stall at the market. The smell made my mouth water, but alas it wasn’t halal.

   

 What is market without the livestock?

 

And the owner. He was laughing merrily when we asked to photograph his ducks, and gave us this pose when we took the photo of him. Sporting guy.

 

We spent some time at the market, watching the world goes by. It was a busy day indeed – anywhere we could see ladies in conical hats  engrossed with the selling and haggling,  locals having breakfast at the makeshift stalls and catching up with the village gossips, the quacking and clucking, the riot of colors of the farm produce, ugly looking fish and weird clamps, miniature fruits : baby corn, baby melon, baby gourd, baby cucumber et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

 

The bike was rented for half a day, and after leaving the market we still had some time to spare. The gas was full too, so we ended up lollygagging around town and the nearby housing area, venturing into unknown roads and streets trying to get lost. But Mui Ne wasn’t so big to begin with, we found that getting lost was rather a far-fetched idea.

 

We simply let the bike took us wherever it wants, and at a turn of what looks like a deserted path we arrived at a fishing harbour. The foul smells of salts and rotten fish instantaneously hit our nose, as our eyes catched sight at the colorful boats and coracles that moored at the shore while aplenty of them still lie beyond the coastline.

  

Notwithstanding the malicious odor, the view was superb and photography worthy. Too bad the dark clouds were still hanging there, and getting darker and heavier by the minutes. That means we need to wrap up the whole jaunt quickly!

 

 And so did these people.

 

While their husbands at sea, the women were diligently cleaning and sorting the catch as soon as they arrive to the shore. Some of the fish will be sold at the market while the others will be dried.

  

The girl looked at me with puzzling eyes, she must be wondering why I was so keen with taking photos of her mother cleaning the fish. 

 

A man making a trip between the boats and the shore, transporting the day catches. Maneuvering the bamboo weaven coracle looks tiring, the distance it makes reciprocal with the effort required unlike the typical rowing. It is flimsy – the boat, instead of moving forward it mostly wobbled in the water.

 

One of the basket coracle laden with fishing stuff finally made it at the shore, and pulling her against the rolling waves was ardous too. It kept on moving in circles! At the back I saw a man carrying basket at his shoulders wading through the water. That was some act!

 

After several pulling and pushing she was finally safe ashore, the coracle. While dozens upon dozens of fishing boats anchored at sea albeit the accumulated dark clouds.

 

By the look of the sky and the sound of thunder it was going to be a shower, and the stinking fishy smell was killing me. We decided to call it a day, and it was a good thing as it started to rain cats and dogs soon after we left. Arrived just in time at the guesthouse, we should be soaking wet if not for the poncho I kept handy in my bag. I was quite happy with the discoveries we made, although it would be great if the weather was on our side. But I guess god has other plan for us, and very much looking forward for what He has in store. Until then, I think I would like to sit quietly at the verandah,  enjoying the day in my life at Mui Ne in between the rain drops. And a glass of iced milk coffee, of course.