A Family-Run Establishment – Saigon Café Guesthouse By The Beach of Mui Ne
After spending half a day travelling on the sleeper bus from Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) to Phan Tiet, Mui Ne (read the story here), my sister and I was dropped off right in front of Saigon Café Guesthouse at about 8 pm. True to its name, the front section of the guesthouse is actually an open-air café that serves both Vietnamese and Western dishes to its customers.
The wonderful rooms are located behind the café, barely a stone’s throw away from the beach. Because of that, not many people know of this establishment, thus making it a hidden gem in Mui Ne, Vietnam. 😀 We made our way towards what seemed like a counter within the café and proceeded to check-in to our room with the assistance of a young woman named Lin who spoke little English.
From there, we found out that Saigon Café Guesthouse is a family-run business. Next to the café was the building where Lin and her entire family live. Because of that, young children were seen playing about as the elderly leisurely enjoyed watching local programmes on the television at a certain area of café.
.
Vietnam’s Foreign Visitors Check-In/Check-Out Passport Safekeeping Law
For your info, Vietnam law requires foreign visitors to handover our passports to the establishment for/during check-in and safe-keeping purposes where they will keep our passports until we check-out of the establishment.
I was very reluctant to handover our passports to Lin for safety reasons, but no amount of excuse or reasoning was able to prevent Lin from taking away our precious passports. 🙁 She assured us that our passports will be kept in a safe place and be given back to us when we check-out of Saigon Café Guesthouse 3 days later.
A Simple Vietnamese Home-Cooked Dinner & It’s Off To Bed!
After we received the keys to our room, my sister and I ordered some food and drinks for dinner and chilled at the café. A good look at the café’s menu revealed an extensive variety of food and drinks for guests/customers to enjoy at an affordable price. One could enjoy luxurious seafood such as crabs and lobsters, and sip red/white wine or have a bottle of chilled beer by the beach.
Travelling on a budget, we decided to have a simple yet fulfilling Vietnamese meal of steamed fragrant rice, stewed mushrooms with tofu, and stir-fried vegetables with meat. To wash it down, we each had a glass of chilled mango juice. Lin was not only the manager of the guesthouse, she was also the cook and a good cook she was! We savoured the mouth-watering dishes as soon as it arrived, and retired to our room after. 🙂
Highly Satisfactory Standard Double Room By The Beach At Saigon Café Guesthouse
Based on our research, my sister and I specifically requested for the standard double room nearest to the beach, on the upper floor of the guesthouse. 😉 We got our wish granted and had in our opinion and most of their satisfied customers’ opinion, the best room with a view of the private beach at Saigon Café Guesthouse! It costs approximately 420,000 VND for a night’s stay in the standard double room.
Our first impression of our standard double room: it was clean, spacious and comfortable. The room has sufficient storage place for our luggage and huge windows that allow natural light and fresh air into the room. The bathroom was equally clean and spacious. The hot shower and air-conditioning in the room was working well too. And, the breathtaking view from the room is something to die for! It was how we imagined it to be – perfect bliss!
The only thing that we would like to point out was the television in the room was not able to get a reception but hey, that did not bother us at all for we will be spending most of our time outdoors. I took the effort to inform Lin about the problem. Other than that, my sister and I simply love the room to bits!! And the best part is, we can hear the soothing sound of the waves crashing upon the shore even with the windows closed. It was not long before my sister and I got cosy on the bed and dozed off with happy thoughts of the adventures that await us first thing in the morning. 😀
.
Up next: Sunrise and a refreshing stroll on the beach, exploring the guesthouse, and chilling on our very own private beach paradise in Mui Ne, Vietnam