Second Stop: Mui Ne

April 14. Vung Tau to Mui Ne. 179km.

The second stop was a little ways further than the initial ride, but by this stage we were all more confident on our bikes.

The four of us met up for breakfast around 10am and eventually got to set off by 11:30 ... something we need to work on!

The ride was great - cruising along the coast with views of mountains and beach-fronts. The bikes we're largely reliable for the trip; only one stop was required to fix Aaron's rear brake which lost all pedal feeling.

The only slightly scary thing is when riding along and coming into a clearing and getting blasted by the wind. At some points we were riding on a pretty significant angle just to keep the bike in a straight line - we were easily getting blown to the other side of the road!

On as straight road you can hold the throttle half open in top gear (fourth) and sit on about 65kph - not fast by any means but it gets the job done!

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Mui Ne is a tourist beach town. I don't quite get what it is with Vietnam but there are areas that are just filled with Russian tourists - Mui Ne is one of them.

The area is simply just one big stretch of road with a higher end resort side and across a small bridge more guest house style accommodation - we stayed in a guesthouse for around $3 each a night. 

The main drawcards to Mui Ne are the sand dunes and the Fairy Stream. We gave the sand dunes a miss but checked out the Fairy Stream.

It is simply a tiny little freshwater stream that people walk along - it's actually quite a relaxing thing to do. If you make it all the way to the end you can get to the small waterfall where the stream originates from.

We later rode around a little through the fishing town past the tourist area. The bay area is covered with tiny little fishing boats and big buckets, of which I assume are used to haul the fish ashore. Unsurprisingly the area had a distinct smell of fish.

We all got an oil change done at a mechanic in Mui Ne before setting off, which runs for around $6aud. I was told it's a good idea to change the oil every 500km or so - these bikes are old and we are pushing them pretty hard, so it seemed like a good idea!

I also noticed that my rear wheel was making a squeaking noise with each revolution. Turns out the rear wheel bearing needed replacement. They had the part on hand and changed it for a mere $3. To date this is all I'd spent on my bike, the least of the whole group. Touch wood nothing more major goes wrong!