Mani Pedi? More like Manly Pedi!

At 5:45 we all woke, got dressed, had some breakfast, and headed to the train station to catch what we thought was a 6:55 train. Though our ticket said 6:30, the front desk demanded that it was a misprint. They were wrong. We missed the train, and were stranded at the train station with no food, money, or clothing for the rest of Vietnam. OR, we may have decided to take a Taxi to Mui Ne. It is extremely inexpensive and significantly cheaper than one might imagine. Rather than sleeping in the car ride, an idea that one may refer to as logical, we decided to blast music, play our newly purchased DVD’s, and stay up all 4 hours. Good idea? Probably not, but it sure was fun.
Once we got to Mui Ne we headed o lunch at a place called do Ira. We do I tell you the name, you may ask. Well, because I ended up eating about 4 meals there, and together they totaled $8.  After lunch, aka Pho, we rented motorbikes. Before I go any further let me answer my mothers questions: 1) Yes, this is stupid and unsafe, and 2) yes, we do now know why it is not allowed. My friend Srgan (Pronounced Sir Jon, he is Bosnian) got one first and was able to pick it up with ease. I go on second and felt comfortable pretty quickly. Tahlor got on third and immediately fell down. Not a big deal, he got back up and tried again. This time he went full speed into the back of my bike. He broke his bikes rearview mirror, and scratched the side of mine. I remained unscathed while he cut up his foot pretty badly. Funny part is that all that damaged cost him $10. I love this country.
Until 5pm we just hung out by the pool and laid out on the beach, but at 5 we headed to the sand dunes to watch the sunset. We took a Jeep there (we had a driver, don’t worry) and climbed up to see one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. From the top it seemed like you were in the middle of a dessert, but if you turned around you saw gorgeous trees growing in a mini forest, and if you continued to turn you saw the ocean. Three biomes living adjacent to each other. Though I had no synagogue nearby to celebrate Purim in the traditional way, this truly was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. The night ended early, as one would predict, but the day was so full and great that it felt like it could not be anymore complete.
The next morning we woke up to get our free breakfast. Imagine an all you can eat buffet and double it—awesomeness. From there we went straight to the beach, considered parasailing, but in the end just relaxed a little. Then it was time for one of the most epic decision of my life: I was going to get a manicure.  Vietnam is known for Mani-Pedi’s, so I figured I would give it a try; make Lee proud. To be honest, I was pretty excited; however, after they completed just one hand I hated it so much I just paid and left. Talk about disappointing. To get over it I watched the Notebook and ate a large tub of ice cream.
Well, the time had come to head back to Saigon, so we went to the tourist agency who had rented us the motorbikes and asked for a taxi. We got more than that. He asked us what we were doing for the rest of our time in Nam, and then offered to be our tour guide, provide a driver and book all of our plans. This is exactly what we had been looking for, so we quickly agreed. Turned out to be the greatest deal since the Yankees purchased Babe Ruth.