MUINE
About 200 km north of Ho Chi Minh City are Mui Ne and Phan Thiet. Together, these traditional fishing villages are fast becoming a popular leisure destination. Resort-style developments have been rising along the coastline, though so far the lives of the fishing communities remain unchanged and Mui Ne’s long beach is quiet and serene, great for walks, jogging and spectacular sunsets.
Phan Tiet, which is rather larger, is famous for its fish sauce, an ingredient in most Vietnamese dishes. It, too, has a beautiful beach. There is a wide range of accommodation, and restaurants offer a huge selection of seafood at very affordable prices. There are golf courses, beautiful pagodas, spectacular red and white sand dunes, and a variety of water sports.
Walking street in HCM
Bui Vien Street is the main street of the so called ‘backpackers area’ of Ho Chi Minh City. Here you find a wide variety of inexpensive restaurants, bars, souvenir shops and hotels/hostels. While being seated at one of the places you can soak up the local lifestyle and culture. You can shop, dine and party on Bui Vien Street.
The total ‘backpackers area’ consist of roughly four streets and some small interconnecting alleys. To have dinner here is very affordable and will cost you around VND 100-200.000 (US$ 4-8), for this amount you will have a decent meal including a drink. The options vary from Vietnamese, Indian, Italian to Chinese and Western.
On Bui Vien street you also find many bars that offer drinks with a view of the busy city life. Depending on the location you can have a beer for VND 10.000 to VND 80.000 (US$ 0.5-3). Besides this there are many souvenir shops that sell affordable gifts ranging from paintings, statues to clothing and bags. As this is the heart of the city centre it can easily be reached by foot or taxi and almost all locals in here speak English. It gets busiest from early evening, around 18:00, with the many bars and pubs popular until 02:00 or even later.
