After the delights of Hanoi and Hoi An I am now in Mui Ni just outside Phan Thiet after another gruelling overnight journey on the, lets face it, filthy Vietnamese rail. Most travellers are using the overnight bus services complete with bed, but that isn't real Vietnam, not like the railways.

My arrival at the town corresponds with a kite surfing festival, and it is quite entertaining to watch, especially the Russian girls watching the tournament in the manor of overexcited blonde meercats, heads peeking up above the sand. Their more elderly partners are knocking back the home brew at the Czech Brewhaus up the road (and very tasty it is too). It is however a Soviet Benidorm with bright lights and very average hospitality spread out along a 20km strip from Phan Thiet to Mui Ni, which is itself an unspoilt fishing village, famous for its spectacular dunes which rise up behind the village. These dunes resemble the Sahara and make excellent half days out. The local kids hire out wholly inadequate boards of plastic, useless for sand surfing but it keeps them busy.

The town is expensive and full of rip offs. Non existent special offers line the road. A number of tourist stops will ask you to leave your shoes behind, a little odd entering a gorge, and then you of course end up having to buy your shoes back. (If in doubt carry them) It is a good place for windsurfing, but otherwise nothing special.

I was, however, taken with a charming coffee house - Joes Art Cafe. This is how it should be done. It is in effect someone's house. You cannot go upstairs or into the kitchen, but otherwise wander at leisure, read a book, strum a guitar, watch telly, flop into a cosy chair or just play with the cat. It is oddly open 24/7 with a light menu and of course coffee. It was a delight, though on my visits I found the other four or five visitors hiding behind their laptops, talking to their friends at home, and defending their personal space. Hey guys, here is a great money-saving idea. Stay at home.

The laptop was left in Siem Reap, hence the erratic submissions.