zVIETNAM

Caption>Street attitude Photo>Christian Nerdrum

Caption>A view from inside the busy harbour of Phan Tiet Photo>Christian Nerdrum

Caption>Christian Nerdrum launches an indy front roll Photo>Øystein Ellefsrød

I

magine a place where the wind

blows enough for you to get out

on eight to 12 metre kites every

day, where endless downwinders are the

late afternoon norm, where it's baking hot

and the sea is a perfect 28'C, when

Europe's at its coldest.

PEOPLE AND POLITICS I won't go far into the politics of this

country, but here's what you should know:

Despite what you may have seen in films or

the initial images you may conjure up of a

communist state, Vietnam can't help but

wow you. Whether it's beautiful Vietnamese

women dressed in traditional Ao Dai

(a traditional dress) or playful kids with ear

to ear grins, the strength of culture and

sense of happiness here is amazing.

When you consider the relatively recent

war ravaged history of the country and it's

clambering ascent from the depths of

poverty and being left out in the cold to a

South East Asian centre of investment, you

get an idea of the self-belief and pride

that the people have. Yet there's not a

hint of animosity, and if you're willing to

put yourself out there you'll be stunned

by the generosity of spirit.

In 1995, the USA re-established

diplomatic relations with Hanoi. Vietnam

went through something of a postwar

economic boom, before suffering the

economic set backs that rumbled through

the entire region when the foreign

investment bubble burst in the late 1990s.

Part of this ground has recently been

recovered, with many foreign companies

again investing in the area (including Ozone

kites who have set up their whole production

facility just outside HCMC), and some pundits

predict it will be the next Asian 'tiger'

economy. (www.lonelyplanet.com)

The people of Vietnam are peaceful and

welcoming. Vietnamese is the official

language and the most widely spoken

other languages are Chinese, English,

French and Russian. Take a phrase book

Vietnamese is pretty easy to pick up and

the lettering is the same as English so you

can at least have a stab, and if you can

manage a “Cam on” (pronounced cam un)

meaning “thank you” - you'll see a lot of

those big Vietnamese smiles.

WEDGE Dong is the currency and you'll get about

15,500 to $1. You really will be a millionaire.

WHERE IS IT? Vietnam borders Cambodia, Laos and

China and stretches over 1600 kilometres

along the eastern coast of the

Indochinese Peninsula.

Mui Ne is a small fishing town on the

South China Sea coast of Vietnam, just 7º

north of the equator and well within the

tropics. The best kiting, from wave breaks

to flat water, usually occurs on a 30

kilometre strip either side of the town.

The area has its own micro-climate aided

by an expanse of sand dunes running

along the coast.

WHEN TO GO South Vietnam has a sub-equatorial

climate. The dry season, which is what

we're interested in, is from October to

April; it's created by the Asian winter

monsoon which brings dry winds from the

north east along the Chinese coast. The

wet season follows with much less wind,

apart from the odd typhoon in autumn!

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Caption>Steinar Skatvedt taking a break to gaze at his sublime surroundings Photo>Christian Nerdrum

“IFISAYIT’SSAFETO SURFTHISBEACH CAPTAIN,THENIT’SSAFE TOSURFTHISBEACH!”

Intro > Mui Ne, Vietnam, could be just about your best bet for hot and

varied - still relatively under the radar riding from now until April.

Check out this page of stats, they're a joke! Alex Webb reveals all

Caption>Windguru stats for Phan Thiet (the main town 15 kilometres from Mui Ne) from January through February. To give you an idea; the greens are force 4s and 5s, the yellows strong 5s, the oranges 6s and the reds strong 6s and 7s. It's windy, then. www.windguru.com

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