SOUTHEAST ASIA 2024 -- FEBRUARY 15 – 19, FROM SAIGON TO MUI NE

FEBRUARY 15,  SAIGON REDUX

On our return from the Mekong Delta to Saigon, we were dropped off at the van depot, where we picked up a cab to our new accommodation, Maison de Camille Boutique Hotel https://mdecamille.com, (photo from the website).

The small hotel is located in a less touristic, less central neighborhood close to the river and next to Notre Dame de Saigon, a huge Catholic church, seen here from the elevator lobby outside our room.

  The view from our bathroom was pretty spectacular.

After checking in and unpacking, we went up to the roof terrace for the city view, 

and then set off to have a beer before dinner at a restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet.  At the end of our street, which teed into the Notre Dame site, we passed an outdoor shrine cum living room where this man was sitting outside to avoid the stifling heat.

We passed a parked scooter apparently driven there by a toddler.

We couldn't find the bar our hotel recommended, despite it being circled on the street map the concierge gave us, so we settled for one we could find.  (By the way, Tiger Beer is excellent.)

The restaurant also proved to be elusive.  After wandering around for half an hour, we finally asked an older gentleman if he knew of it--that is to say, my husband pointed to the name and address on his phone--and the man graciously accompanied us to where the restaurant used to be.  It was permanently closed.  Back to square one.

By now it was almost 10 p.m., so we settled for this place at a busy intersection (that would be redundant in Saigon), a short walk back to our hotel. 

This was our first experience eating in Vietnam on our own, and it was challenging.  The menu was at least 15 pages long, with neither pictures nor English translations.  We used Google Translate to figure out the basics; that is, what the protein sources were called and went from there.  We ordered prawns to start and roast chicken to follow.  We had no idea about portion size or if we had over-ordered, so we asked the waitress if it was too much.  She said it was a lot but not too much.  Clearly some communication issues there, as we were served enough food for at least 6 people.

 

It was delicious but we couldn't finish it all.  In a lower middle income country, wasting food is not only embarrassing, it's a sin.  Lesson learned.

FEBRUARY 16, THE ALL YOU CAN STAND PAGODA TOUR

We dropped off our laundry at a wash and fold on our street (only €2,00 to our amazement!), and started our tour of Buddhist temples, our first experience with these religious structures.  We set out on foot.  Big mistake.  Way too hot; way too much traffic; way too loud.  But we saw some interesting transport along the way.  (Yes, I believe that is some kind of kitchen appliance.)

Eventually, we got there, there being the Phuoc Hai Buddhist temple, which we named the Barbie Pagoda--a study in pink, on the outside anyway.

After being swept through the temple by the surging crowd, it was time for lunch!  And this time, a cab.  We chose Ben Thanh Market, jammed with merchandise and shoppers, where I bought a "genuine" dorky Prada bucket hat to protect my head from the blazing sun. 

You can find anything and everything at Ben Thanh, from fake handbags to cheap tee shirts to dried mangoes to Swarovski knock-offs to fast Asian food.  All brightly lit and with signage, but no directory.

 

Lunch was much easier to figure out than dinner the night before, thanks to this illustrated billboard.

My husband ordered a seafood noodle dish; I had a watermelon smoothie--much too hot to eat for me.

Refueled, we caught a cab and continued to the Phap Hoa Buddhist temple.  Here I am at the lantern-decorated approach in my utterly dorky "genuine" Prada bucket hat.

Side note:  Koi ponds are everywhere in Vietnam.  This one was near the entrance to the temple.

To enter the interior, we had to remove our shoes (Memo to self:  next time wear sandals).  The marble stairs and floors were pristine and cool underfoot.

Inside we saw no foreign tourists, just local people--many of them young--reading religious texts; silently praying; lighting incense; leaving gifts of fresh fruit, canned soda, cigarettes, cookies, or plastic bottles of water to the Buddha, or just quietly walking through as we were.   The atmosphere was hushed and lush with orchids, and redolent of myrrh, sandalwood, and patchouli.

There are many postures or positions of Buddha.  My favorite is the fat, happy Buddha.

 

On our walk to the next pagoda, Vinh Nghiem, located on a busy arterial, we crossed a bridge

and on the other side were two little boys lying on cardboard boxes, completely oblivious to the roar of the traffic and the heat, doing what I imagined was their homework or perhaps their religious studies.  One of the boys looked up as I walked by and smiled at me beatifically as I took his photo.There was a service taking place at Vinh Nghiem when we arrived.  Lots of chanting, drumming, people reading prayer books, others wandering around the exterior taking photos and chatting.  The mood was festive but respectful.  A Vietnamese woman who has lived in the U.S. for many years struck up a conversation with me on the temple portico and explained that in Vietnamese Buddhism, you must earn your rewards through good works and how integral the religion is to Vietnamese life.  The site vinpearl.com describes the influence of this religion on Vietnamese culture:  

Vietnamese Buddhism beliefs hold a profound influence on the culture, permeating various aspects of society. Its core values, such as compassion, mindfulness, and non-violence, shape the moral framework that guides interpersonal relationships and societal harmony.

More than anything else we experienced in Vietnam, it is the gentleness of the Vietnamese that will remain with me.  I have never experienced a people so non-aggressive, so sweet, so affectionate, and so kind as the Vietnamese.  If that's what Buddhism does to people, then the world could use a mass conversion.

We leave Saigon with these photos and videos of Vinh Nghiem.

 

 FEBRUARY 17, MUI NE

We caught the train to Binh Thuan at Saigon Station on Saturday.  From Binh Thuan we would take a cab to Mui Ne.

The train, although old, was clean and on time.  On board we met a young man from Hanoi who coaches kids' soccer in Saigon. He was on his way to a small town for the weekend.  He told us to look up his favorite coffee house when we got to Hanoi and we took a picture of it from his phone.  Spoiler alert:  we found it!

Mui Ne is a beach town on the coast north of Saigon caught in a hippie/stoner time warp.  After a hectic stay in the city, it was just what we wanted.  We stayed at La Marina Boutique Hotel, https://lamarinamuine.com, 50 meters from the beach, and we were glad to have booked a room with a balcony.

The hotel has a laid-back vibe, a restaurant where we had breakfast each day, a bar, and a pool.  What more could you ask for?

There are numerous restaurants on the beach in Mui Ne where you can eat with your feet in the sand.  We chose the Aloha Beach Bar because it had a outdoor barbecue station. 

We ordered the spring rolls with fresh tuna and mango to start, with barbecued duck and grilled vegetables to follow.

 After dinner, a leisurely walk back to our hotel.

FEBRUARY 18, MUI NE

We wanted to see more of Mui Ne than just its beach, so we rented a scooter.  Lonely Planet recommended we visit both the red and the white sand dunes north of town, and having seen the majestic dunes in Namibia, we were all in to compare. 

Not far from our hotel we came to a bay where hundreds of boats were moored.

We also passed some people in costumes walking along the street blessing the shops.

It took almost two hours to reach the red dunes, and I have to say they were a bit disappointing after the towering dunes in Namibia.  Still, you can't beat the location.

On the way back to town we stopped to photograph this gated French Second Empire McMansion.  Some things are universal. 

Having survived the motorbike trip, which really wasn't all that scary, we decided not to tempt fate, but to stick close to home for dinner.  At the end of our street was a semi-open-air restaurant serving one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes--Banh Xeo, a kind of omelette stuffed with shrimp, bean sprouts, and other treats, served with fresh greens (including marigold leaves!) and the ubiquitous chili paste.  

Two aunties prepared the Banh Xeo over very smokey cookers right next to the sidewalk, pouring the egg mixture into small, covered clay dishes.  Needless to say, the aunties were masked and had set up fans to redirect the smoke--without much success.

Despite the damage the restaurant willingly inflicted on our lungs, the owners appeared to be concerned about our teeth.

FEBRUARY 19, MUI NE

On our last day in Mui Ne, we took the scooter to Hong Phat, a fresh seafood restaurant on the water, where we had a big lunch.  (No, that's not it in the first photo below.)

 

We ordered baked scallops,

steamed razor clams with lemongrass,

and baked lobster.

The day was breezy and, although hot, we were very comfortable on the restaurant's upper floor from which the view of the sea and the bobbing fishing boats was sublime. 

Having some time to kill before our train to DaNang/HoiAn, we hopped on the scooter for one last ride.  My husband had spotted a cemetery on the map and thought it might be interesting to see.  That proved to be an understatement.

The cemetery was located on a somewhat deserted promontory overlooking the ocean. 

 

 

Nothing strange about that.  After all, we hardly expected to meet anyone at a cemetery.  But that would have been wrong.  As we drove in, we heard otherworldly sounds that seemed to be coming from all around us.  Extremely creepy!

And then things got weirder and positively Felliniesque.  We parked the scooter and followed the noise.  It seemed to be coming from a building at the edge of the cliff where there was a rather peculiar altar.

As we approached, the surround-sound noise coalesced into shrieks, and then we heard the music.  Inside the building were about 60 or so elderly Vietnamese people sitting on folding chairs watching a very stylized--and probably traditional--story-telling performance.  

They noticed us immediately and, rather than treat us as uninvited interlopers, gestured for us to sit down and enjoy the performance.  So sweet!  It was an unscripted, magical moment to remember.

Then it was back to Mui Ne to drop off the scooter, check out of La Marina, and grab a cab to the train station (kitted out with protective kitsch on the dashboard!).

The adventure continues!

Keep it real!

Marilyn