Before I left for Europe, I promised Moon that we would take Moon's family to the Southern coast of Vietnam in the cities of Phan Thiet and Mui Ne. Between these two cities, they are one of Vietnam un-tapped tourist beach areas as they both show little signs of overcrowding or over commercialized.Both Moon and I have purchased the Vietnam Airlines and Pacific Airlines family tickets leaving Hanoi on July 8 departing to Ho Chi Minh City and coming back to the capital on July 15th. We would spend the first part of the day in HCMC and taking the late evening train to Phan Thiet City (5 hours) and 30 minute taxi ride to the Hawaii Resort in Mui Ne. Upon our return, we would spend another whole day in HCMC as it was the first time for Moon's mother and sister.
We both chose to return and stay in the Hawaii Resort because we have developed a great personal relationship with the owner who we have met last time in spring of 2006. He is a Viet Kieu (Oversea Vietnamese) who have originally escaped from the South after the fall of Saigon in 1976. He has established family in Southern California and a married son living in Hawaii. Many members of his family have invested into this low profile (word of mouth marketing) hotel resort which we both think it's one of the most beautiful places we been too with nearly 100 percent privacy.
Moon's parents / sister shared one villa and we stayed in another which was a few meters away from them. The resort itself is vastly covered in palm trees and other natural tropical plants gives the place a real Vietnamese green feel. In the middle of the resort, hosts a large swimming pool with a nice shadow end for those who cannot swim well can stand and also can do the water dance. They have made the temperature of the water slightly cooler than the air so it does give a refreshing feeling when swimming there. At the end of the property, leads directly on to the white sand beach and eventually into the Gulf of Tonkin with endless 1-2 meter waves crashing into the shore.
