Family visit! Ben Tre and Mui Ne

Hey y’all,

So probably time for me to update you on my adventures! After barely enough time to recover from Liz’s visit, my family showed up! First up was a weekend in Ho Chi Minh City with Dad and Elly, where we saw the Emperor Jade Pagoda again. Mostly we just chilled out at the hotel and had a nice air-conditioned experience. I can’t really complain.

Burning incense at the Jade Emperor Pagoda

Elly and Dad at the Jade Emperor Pagoda

Then Minh-Anh and Me showed up and they all came to visit me in Bến Tre! Everyone got to sit in on my classes, and get to watch me teach. We also went to dinner with several different groups of teachers, and Elly even got abducted for an áo dài fitting!

Dad signs the visitor's book

Dad presents gifts to Mr. Luan as Elly and Minh-Anh look on

Introducing the fam

With my second-year students

Elly on her birthday night

We went to Sa Đéc, a town where Mẹ lived when she was six. This is the river she crossed when she was playing in the water 

On one of the same type of boats that used to take her across the river

Now a full-grown river boat woman!

A monk taking his bike across the river

The house of Marguerite Duras' lover in Sa Đéc

My students were very happy to finally meet my family, and to see my Mẹ again. There were several comments about how tall and handsome my brother is, and they sang Elly a happy birthday song (She happened to turn 19 in Vietnam)!

Elly took a ride on my electric bike

Eventually drove Minh-Anh around

Minh-Anh driving himself

Singing for English Club

My family with some other English Club attendees

The entire club documented our performance

At English Club

Dad gives a presentation in my second year class on education in the U.S. 

Dinner with Teacher's English Club

Elly was taken on a motorbike ride with Kim Long to get her áo dài fitted

Visiting family in Ho Chi Minh City

Exhausted after too much fun!

After visiting Ben Tre we set off for Mui Ne, on the south-central coast. Mui Ne is a 5 hour drive from Ho Chi Minh City, a trip that definitely felt like it dragged over bumpy roads. But when we finally got there, the sand and the beach were soooooo inviting. It felt like a perfect vacation.

The beach at Mui Ne

Our room

Fancy mosquito nets

Heading to the beach

Mui Ne is not just a beach town, though. Inland from the beach some 20 kilometers there are two sets of massive sand dunes.

The red dunes are closer, and smaller. The sand is a rich brick red, and the earthy gleam of the sun off the dunes brings to mind the harsh beauty of Tatooine and Arrakis.

The swarm of peddlers and hawkers does a lot to break the illusion.

Scrawny boys crowd around taxis as they pull to a halt, besieging the tourists with offers of plastic sleds to slide down the dunes. As the tourist climbs to the top of the dune, he is dogged every step away by these enterprising children, joined soon by more mature hawkers offering fresh mango or boiled eggs. We watched the circus and decided to pass.

Instead we headed further out, to visit the white dunes. The white dunes are sprawling and immense. Touts bother you near the base of the dunes, but as you slowly walk through the shifting sand, you leave all of them slowly behind you.

Sand stretching on for miles. Rivers and lakes, mountains and valleys of sand. Shifting under your feet, whipped by the wind, constantly changing but always with a sense of true stability. The dune slides beneath you, you sink into it like water, the wind carves at it. But the dune remains, fluid yet solid, soft yet immortal in its grandeur.

Sunset off the dunes

We went to the dunes twice, once in the morning and once in the evening. In the evening, my parents were worried that we wouldn’t be able to climb the dune and be back before nightfall. So Elly, Minh-Anh and I sprinted towards and up the dune. As it turns out, running on sand is very hard. Running up sand is even harder.

After climbing the dune

Successful summit!

All smiles

Mẹ, Elly, Minh-Anh and Dad at the dunes

The next morning we headed for the dunes, getting there right after sunrise. The tourists come in droves for sunrise at the white dunes, but after they see the first cresting of the sun, they retreat back to their hotels. Show up when we did, and you have the whole dunes to yourself.

Sunrise on the beach

Entertaining sign. The prices listed in English are more than double the Vietnamese prices. 400,000 VND = $20

Carrying our sleds up the dune

Climbing up the dune, Elly and Minh-Anh already at the top

We spent the whole morning sledding on the dunes, which proved to be more difficult than originally anticipated. The sand is so soft that the tendency is for you to sink into the sand, not to slide down it. It was necessary to get a running, jumping start to get enough momentum to really move. Once you did start, though, it was so much fun.

Scouting the landscape

Taking it all in

Sledding!

Wheeeeee!!!

I'm pretty sure Minh-Anh was best at it, but I'm not sure

Starting the long climb back up. The climb back up the dune was murder every time

We also spent a fair amount of time throwing a frisbee around, and just generally relaxing on top of the dune. The wind was strong enough that the early morning heat wasn’t much of a problem, and we were able to enjoy the magnificent dunes all by ourselves.

FRISBEE!!!!

Elly lays out

attempted layout

Sweet catch

It is hard to overstate how beautiful the dunes are. It’s a scene of total desolation, with no humans or anything inhabitable in sight. The chirping of birds are the only other living thing near you, and you look over a blasted landscape that is totally hostile to human life. No water, no food, no cover from the sun. It’s a merciless spot of a normally lush, tropical country.

The sun beats high over the dunes

But despite its harshness, the dunes have a certain beauty. An alien quality, as though you were stuck on the moon, and the blissful silence that the wind carries across the dunes. It’s no mystery to me why so many famous prophets spent time meditating in the desert. There are few other places that strike to your inner tranquility with such force.

At a certain point, though, it was time to head back for breakfast. We ate a delicious meal, then headed back to our room to pack up and leave.

We went back to Ho Chi Minh City, where I said goodbye to Elly. Then I left for Ben Tre, saying goodbye to Dad and Minh-Anh.

Having visitors when you’re abroad is amazing, but it really is a kick to the stomach when they leave. It’s always tough to say goodbye, and in the past three weeks I have said goodbye to several visitors who I really love and was really sad to see leave. But it was great to have my family come, and it was wonderful to see them! 

Elly relaxes after a hard day on the dunes

Minh-Anh sprawls out

Dad finds another use for his sled

I’m really glad they were able to make it over to Vietnam to visit me. Oh, and Me is still here! She is coming to the conference at Tien Giang University tomorrow, which I will be sure to update you on!

Fun times all around,

Hugs,

Jefferson