Holiday in Mui Ne

5 am, still dark, and we are cramming down a hurried breakfast to catch a train that we will be stuck on for four hours. Yet despite how it sounds, I had been looking forward to this day for weeks! We were going to Mui Ne (pronounced Nay) to stay in an amazing villa for a weekend of relaxing.

After an evening of unpacking and a good night's sleep with big fluffy pillows, we hit the beach. Because the conditions weren't right for surfing, we had decided the previous day to have SUP lesions. SUP stand for Stand Up Paddle boarding. Once I got the hang of it, it was awesome! My favorite part was at the end when I caught a wave to bring myself into shore and found my self surfing smack bang in the middle of a school of fish!! So cool.

Isaac when he saw the snake.

The next day we discovered our mistake. As well as the sore muscles I had expected, we were all burnt cherry red, Isaac on the legs, Amberly and I on the face and arms. Despite this, I went beach-combing the next day, collecting some beautiful shells. On my way back to the villa with Isaac, I heard a sudden gasp, followed by the odd sight of Isaac dancing a jig! After a brief interval, I saw what had caused the spectacular spectacle. A long, thin, venomously green vine snake that Isaac had inadvertently stepped on. Thankfully they cannot kill you, and most can't even seriously hurt you. But as Isaac did not realize this at the time, he did what is only natural for a frighted 17 year old boy. He danced the jig, hooting like an owl, trying to get away from the unknown danger of the vine snake.

After a final breakfast, buffet like the one before, we packed up and hoped on the train that would take us back to Ho Chi Minh. As soon as we walked in the door, Amberly said she missed the villa. so will we all, and the trip to Mui Ne is now one of the highlights of our trip to Vietnam.