We didn't crash - not even close!

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Originally uploaded by theslaad.

Check us out on our suntan scooter!
Mui Ne beach resort is surrounded by huge sand dunes, so we thought we better get our lazy arses up off our sun loungers and go and see the natural sites. We hired our scooter fpr the day for $6 - the guy took $1 deposit and told us to bring it back when we felt like ít! No need for technicalities like driving licenses or insurance documents. With a quick lesson (keep it in 4th gear) he just took the dollar and let us go!
Unfortunately our malaria tablets made me a bit sick this morning so we hung around the hotel room a bit and then went out to find some lunch.
Scooted about 8km down the road into the resort centre where we found a nice BBQ place. Fish cubes, scallops & thin strips of meat to cook at your own table - 6 sauces to dip it all in. Yum Yum Yum.
The sun is extremely strong here and with Chris' bit of sun burn we thought it best to wait until later in the afternoon before we set off on our sand dune exploring adventure.
The first set of dunes we came to were the red dunes. We were a bit worried we might not find them as all the tourist maps you see are only really telling what there is to see rather than exactly where it is, but we needn't have worried. As we rode up about 10 kids with plastic sheets for sand sledging came running after us! "You want to slide? You slide with me!" We tried to tell them we had just come for a look but several of them followed us for a while, asking us our names etc. The dunes were pretty impressive, but there were more to see further along the road.
The next set of dunes were about 20km away. It involved a bit more navigation but when we looked lost local people pointed us in the right direction! We didn't go as close to the white dunes as it involved going along a very stony dirt track - not quite stable enough on a scooter with 2 people. It still looked good though, with a lake infront of the dunes.
On our way back to Mui Ne we stopped at a 'petrol station' who had given us directions on the way. It was a bizarre experience. The attendant had to hand pump the fuel into a measuring vat before he hose piped it into the scooter. It was a family affair, with a woman and her baby and 2 little girls coming to watch!
We carried on back to Mui Ne. The drive wasn't too bad, just a few herds of cows to negotiate on the way and some slightly scary trucks coming up behind us beeping.

It took Chris several days to persuade me that getting a scooter was a good idea! It felt quite safe most of the time and we realised that beeping is quite useful when no one has wing mirrors or looks around.

We had some great dinner in town when we got back - they barbequed a huge fish for us with rice and salad for 85000 dong (about 3 quid!).