Mui Ne, Vietnam

Oh my goodness, we have seriously found paradise!! But allow me to digress a bit. We woke up with baby E at 4:20am in the morning, that wasn't the first time, but after he drank his bottle, he was pretty much awake and wouldn't go back to sleep. This worked out all right, as we had to be up by 5am to check out, meet up with the other family and head to the train station. Both families managed to get all their things in to one suitcase, plus a backpack and a stroller. We were all quite proud of ourselves. Off we headed in two cabs..the train station entrance was quite chaotic, but once inside the station, not so bad. I decided to use the washroom before we got on the train. Well, two problems..one, you have to pay for toilet paper and two, the bathrooms smelled like outhouses. Okay, I decided to wait and use the washroom on the train. Once we found the right platform and train, withou too much difficulty, we boarded and settled in. We realized that our one large suitcase was a bit of an issue. Thankfully, the men managed to get them up but really, two smaller suitcases would have been better. The strollers had to be kept by the door..luckily there was room for both. Okay, once settled, and the train was on its way, our older son had to use the washroom, so off we headed to checkit out. There's no other way to say this, but OMG...yuck! I'm sorry, but it was full of urine, wouldn't flush and there was feces on the seat. Thankfully, he only had to go number 1 (pee) and I decided to hold it until we got to the resort. While on the train, we came across a funny little Vietnamese boy. He copied everything people were saying, helped himself to people's food and drinks (even the iced coffee) and enjoyed helping himself to people's electronic equipment too. I must admit, it was starting to get anti annoying, but it was funny, in hindsight. The trip was about 4 1/2 hours, we grabbed two cabs right away and then were off to the resort. Our cab was a maniac, and I was sure we were going to get in to a fender bender, but we arrived in one piece, thankfully. As soon as we stepped into the resort (Mia Resort Mui Ne), we were in paradise! The front desk informed us our rooms weren't quite ready, but would we please seat down and enjoy some tea. Let me say we were not by this point! We sat down, I could smell the incense burning and there, in front of us, was a plat with tea, a cold facecloth that smaller of lemon and strawberry and mango ice cream in frozen passion fruit cups. It was so refreshing. Again, our older son needed to use the bathroom and what a difference! We washed our hands in what appeared to be a large copper bowl with lovely scented soap. Then our rooms were ready. From the outside it is a lovely grass roof bungalow. I immediately thought of my sister and how she would love it. Inside is a large bed with mosquito netting and the bathroom is set up so that the shower is actually outside, but with a wall for privacy. After a wonderful meal, with the best milk shakes and Mai tai's I've had, baby E and I had a nap. When we woke up, we headed out to the salt water pool and white sandy beach. For anyone planning to come to Vietnam...Mui Ne is a must!!! I am so glad we will spend the remainder of our time here. The last wo nights will be back in Ho Chi Minh to pick up paperwork and then fly out, but we will happily stay here until then. After all the buildup and adoption process, this will be some much needed R&R for all of us. We will post pics soon. Sorry, we have been too busy to download anymore!