15-June: Our stay at Mui Ne beach on the South China Sea...

Relaxed! That is how we are feeling after spending four nights at Saigon Mui Ne Resort on the South China Sea. The staff at this resort are very attentive and friendly especially with the kids. We received a refreshing welcome drink in the lobby when we arrived, a mix of fruit juices and iced tea.

We ate dinner at the restaurant after checking in on Saturday night. While a woman weaved bracelets with each of our first names, another woman pulled the kids hair back into pony tails. It helped them feel cooler as it is an open air restaurant and we were at the end of a busy day of travelling. We had left Saigon just after 8 AM in the morning and checked into the hotel after sundown after having stopped at Olivia's orphanage in Ham Tan, the hospital where she was born (Ham Thuan Nam) and at a Phan Thiet orphanage to visit her primary caregiver whom previously had worked at the Ham Tan orphanage.

We have enjoyed a buffet breakfast here each morning which is included in the price of our room. The four of us are staying in one room for $130 USD/night. The breakfast has international favorites and the items have changed daily. One of my favorites is always the fruit: pineapple, jack fruit, lychee, rhombutan, dragon fruit (thanh long), asian plums, sopadilla, mango, papaya, mini-bananas, etc. They have had everything from steamed sweet potato with coconut shavings, dumplings, pumpkin soup, all types of stir fried dishes, many seafood dishes, unlimited juices (aloe vera, carrot, avocado, watermelon, acar, passion fruit, etc.), omelettes, banh cuon (rice noodle wraps), banana filled crepes with chocolate sauce, and on and on. Can you tell that I have enjoyed breakfast?

On Sunday, the resort was quite crowded with guests mostly visiting from Saigon. By Sunday night, the remaining guests are mostly from outside of Vietnam especially France. There were three couples that are on their way home with newly adopted babies ranging in age from 10 to 13 months. It really brought back pleasant memories to watch them begin their relationships with their baby sons and daughter. They were from Paris and had adopted in Danang. They were here for our first two nights stay at the resort.

The kids have spent most days swimming, alternating between the pool and the sea. Both staff and guests have commented on their strong swimming skills which is really a necessity in Arizona with all of the swimming pools. They have not had many opportunities to swim in salt water until now.

June is suppose to be the beginning of the rainy season, but I can only remember one good, short rain shower in Saigon. Here it has often clouded up mid afternoon, but no rain and clears again. Also, we have been told that we are fortunate that they are still having afternoon winds, which usually subside by June, that really cool off the afternoons.

There is a kite surfing school located at this resort. It is thrilling to watch the kite surfers maneuver in the afternoon winds. Yesterday, there was a couple from Chicago learning to kite surf. They spent the whole day, starting with a kite on the beach and finally ending with a kite in the water. They hadn't tried the kite with the board yet, maybe today... Here is the link for the on-site surf school and rental facility:
http://www.windsurfing-vietnam.com/

On Monday, Ivy and I went on a four hour excursion to Ta Cu Mountain. It is in a nature preserve that is located in the same village, district, and province (but not hamlet) where Olivia's birth mother is reported on her paperwork to have grown up. It was about 35 km from here and about a 45 minute drive. We hired the hotel car and driver for $45 USD. The drive was a highlight of our trip. We crossed a couple of rivers cluttered with fishing boats and passed many interesting sights along the side of the road. I understand that Binh Thuan province is a big exporter of dragon fruit (thanh long). On our drive, we passed dragon fruit orchards, rice fields, cows, chickens, many homes and business, and passed many scooters and bicycles. Once we arrived at the nature preserve, we rode a cable car up the mountain and then climbed many steep stairs to see a statue of a reclining buddha. I understand that it is the largest statue of a buddha in Vietnam. We were fortunate that the skies had clouded up for our ascent, then cleared up so that we had the full range of vistas. Olivia didn't want to join us on this adventure. Initially, I thought that she may not be feeling well. Later I realized that it was something else. Olivia sometimes finds it difficult to deal with lots of change and this trip has been a lot of changes for her. She needed another day of just hanging out at the resort. She and daddy went swimming and had ice cream under the breezy canopy over the huge khoi pond.

Speaking of the khoi pond, it is one of the kids' favorite amenities here at the resort. The staff offer them old bread to feed the fish. One of my favorite amenities is the huge hammock located under a mini-grove of coconut trees, best enjoyed during the breezy afternoons of course!

Many people are just convinced that the girls should be able to speak Vietnamese. They are very kind, but determined that they will be able to speak in such a way that the kids will understand. This is the most annoying part of the trip for Ivy and Olivia. We have actually made some efforts to learn Vietnamese in Phoenix, driving to the vietnamese community center in Chandler on Sunday afternoons for free lessons and I have even taken vietnamese language at ASU. It is just very difficult to learn and keep up without anyone speaking the language at home. Hopefully, this trip will motivate them to keep trying but it may have the opposite effect for a while.

We have ventured out onto the Mui Ne strip for dinner the past couple of evenings. There is a lot of fresh seafood available and restaurants with tables on the sand with the sound of surf. The kids searched for seashells while we waited for our food.

Yesterday (Tuesday) we rented a paddle surf board to play with in the waves. Again, Olivia was resistant to try something new. We insisted that she at least join us to watch. As soon as she saw us heading for the board, she ran over to join in. I paddled them out and rode the waves in several times, then they wanted to try themselves. They took turns paddling out and standing to 'surf' in for the remainder of our hour rental. It was exhausting, but fun and now we all have our fair share of sunburned shoulders and noses. In the end, Olivia did not want to stop and took several 'one more times.'

Today (Wednesday, June 16th), we will check out after lunch. We have overnight train tickets (the tickets cost about $105 USD for the four of us, 2 adults and 2 children). The SE6 class train will depart Muong Man, about an hour drive from the resort, at 15:41 PM. Our guide book describes Muong Man as a small, dusty town. We will hire the hotel car and driver again for about $30 USD. It should be an interesting drive just getting there. We will sleep overnight in our air-conditioned, soft sleeper 4-berth compartment, and arrive in Danang at 4:48 AM the next morning, June 17th. Our hotel in Hoi An provides a pick-up service in Danang for $20 USD by minivan and should be there waiting for us. It should be another great adventure!

I'll post photos from our stay on Mui Ne beach once we get them uploaded from the memory cards...