My graduate trip : Day 3 - Part 2.

My first impression about Mui-ne was just one word : “peace”. It was not crowded and noisy, and everyone was smiling. I liked this village so much. When I got off the bus, Xe Om drivers holding many hotel business cards rushed towards me. Xe Om is a type of auto bike. There were some rules that I made to myself during this trip. One of them was ‘Do not ride Xe um’. The reason why I made this rule was that I saw many accidents on my first day. I looked for other method of transportation, but there was nothing except Xe Om. Since I wanted to resolve my passport situation as soon as possible, it was inevitable that I would have to ride Xe Om to go to TM Brothers Café in Mui-ne. Most travel agencies have branch offices in major cities. The Xe om rider was not good at English so I showed him the business card.

I explained my situation to the staff of TM. She seemed that she totally understood what I said. According to her, my passport would arrive at 2pm via the next bus. I thought the communication system of TM was quite good so they handled customer’s problems automatically before they mentioned it. My problem seemed solved. I decided to take a tour instead of waiting for my passport in the Café. The tour I chose was a jeep tour and it needed at least four people to start. As you know, I was alone so I waited for someone to join me.

Four Koreans came to TM while I chatted with the staff. After they got information on tours from the staff, they chose the same tour as I did. It was my first and last time to take a day-tour with Koreans during this trip. The first place we stopped was the fairy stream. This place was really beautiful in guidebook however, it was just a stream. I thought something was wrong but the others convinced me that the picture of the guide book was exaggerated.

The next place was the fishing village. The ships were catching fish near the coast by using a net. At that time, I didn’t know why they threw the net near the shore. I got the answer when I saw many fish were dead on the seaside the day after. Nearby the fishing village, there was a store selling some snacks. When I entered the store to buy bottled water, I realized it was just a family house. The girl pulled out a bottle from a small refrigerator containing some food for her family. That scene looked familiar to me and made me recall ‘escape summer’, the trip that I took with Filipino friends to the small island.

Dark clouds chased us while we were heading for the next destination, White Sand Dune, the small desert located beside the sea. It was drizzling when we got to the desert. The rain in the desert, doesn’t it sound cool? People who want activities are everywhere. And kids knew that. They were making their pocket money from offering a laminated sled. The other Koreans wanted to go sledding on the sandy hill. Unlike them, I just walked in order to feel the desert. There were some jeeps instead of camels on the desert. They may not need camels in this small desert.

It rained heavily when we got back to TM. The staff who promised to keep my passport from the bus driver said that it had not arrived yet. I asked her a few questions and I realized that she pretended to understood what I said. We needed a pen and paper. I wrote my situation by using every expression I could. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?” she asked. As you know, I did. She made me crazy. She put me through to the staff of TM in Nha Trang. After the call, she promised again that I could get my passport tomorrow. I asked more than ten times “Are you sure?” and she replied same times “I am sure”. So the problem was absolutely solved. Because of this, she smiled at me every time I showed up at TM.

In Vietnam, a passport is needed to check to a hotel. Since I didn’t have my passport, I stayed in the hotel that the staff’s relative manages. The hotel was perfect in every aspect except one thing : I was not able to see the beach in my room. It was a long day. Before going to bed, I read the guide book in order to plan what to do tomorrow. And I realized that I didn’t see all of the fairy stream area, just the beginning. We just walked outside of the fairy stream. I knew it! I decided to go to the fairy stream again.