I woke up abruptly to Chris holding my itouch in my face saying Zev get up the bus will be here in 15 minutes your alarm didn't go off. I jumped up got my stuff and we were out the door in 2 minutes. We waited only a few minutes before the bus arrived and hopped on to Mui Ne. The Aussie guys we had met in Pai, Thailand and again in Vaing Vieng, Laos were on the bus and we talked a bit as we exited town. I got to reading my book again and was swept away into the wild of Alaska for the rest of the bus ride. This book really inspires me and makes me really happy I have decided to become a world traveler.
As I finished the book I glanced out the window to see the expansive fields and hills stretching out in the distance and was truly touched by its beauty. It reminds me of so many places I have seen in magazines like Africa and Australia because of its dry climate but at the same point it is completely new to me and has characteristics all of its own. This is the driest region in all of Vietnam, where the sand dunes rise and fall in the distance as they stretch away from the sea and little shrubs speckle the ground as far as the eye can see.
The brilliant orange and yellow of the earth has a crazy contrast to the deep blue of the water and the whiteish grey haze that fills the sky. Little huts line the sand in the middle of nowhere with pipes and work equipment lining the sides of the highway. The Ocean seems calm and mellow compared to the deep and rich colors of the sand that it touches. We approach the small city of Mui Ne and the long beach stretches out along the bay as a few high rises and cranes come into view. Still we are faced with overcast sky's which has been mostly our luck thus far in Vietnam. Construction seems to be everywhere in this country and always in a mid process with bright orange bricks exposed with half completed walls jetting up everywhere and makeshift scaffolding at its sides.
Small groups of 4-5 work slowly but in a timeless fassion on what seems to be an endless process of constructing hotels which they could probably not afford to stay. They still work with dedication and respect for their craft as I pass by in the bus waving and getting an occasional wave or small cracked smile from them as we zoom past. Others on the bus sleep but I am wide awake with thought and ideas after reading my book filling myself with emotion and a need to express myself in a new way. I love These moments of new found clarity in life, and in travel where I am able to express myself in writing.
Its around 1:30pm when we arrive in Mui Ne and walk to the hotel where Debbie, Wes and Kirk are staying. The Aussie boys come as well and we all check in having some cold beers and play pool for a while before we take a dip in the pool and swim in the sea. We all go out for a seafood dinner which is awesome with huge tiger prawns, squid, fish, crab and shrimp. We all go out to the Pogo bar and play more pool and enjoy our time together.
No comments:
Post a Comment