Please don't throw rocks at me. Thanks.

Thunk! Right on the back of my head. And then surprisingly, another whack in the middle of my back before I even have time to turn around. The chanting of “Germany bad!” and “Fu*k you!” instantly stops when I spin around. The 8-year-old boy quickly hides the rock he's holding behind his back and his eyes widen with anticipation. What will I do? What will I say?

I'm a polite Canadian and I idiotically say "Please don't throw rocks at me. I'm not German. Thanks."

He tilts his head with confusion, but at least the mean glint in his eyes is gone.

The day started off on a much more positive note. Along with my counter-part, Van Anh, I headed to explore the small town of Mui Ne just outside of Phan Thiet. We hit the sand dunes first. The Mui Ne area has a unique micro-climate and it was bizarre to see palm trees quickly give way to cacti and sand dunes. Unfortunately, the sand dunes were over-run with tourists, but they were still neat to see.

A vendor on the sand dunes.

Children try to sell "sleds" to tourists to go sledding down the dunes.

We then made a spontaneous stop and took a quick peek at some pungent vats of fermenting fish sauce behind someone's house. You could definitely smell them before you saw them.

Our next stop was the 'Fairy Stream' in Mui Ne. I'd read and heard wonderful things about this spot.

You take off your shoes and walk for a few kilometres in a stream surrounded by a beautiful and strange landscape.

It started off well and the scenery is really gorgeous.

However, things quickly changed when I came across a young German woman. She was clearly upset and on the verge of tears. She explained that a group of children had followed her along the walk and when she reached the end, they claimed that they had been her 'tour guides' and demanded money from her. She said that they had just trailed behind her uninvited and that she felt she didn't owe them anything. They then started to call her names and now wouldn't leave her alone.

I volunteered to walk her back to the beginning of the trail and we headed back. The kids followed along behind us, yelling obscenities. And then things got even uglier. The yelling of “Germany bad!” and “Fu*k you!” got louder and more passionate. They became more aggressive and started throwing rocks at us. I was totally caught off guard. I was surprised suddenly at how unsafe I felt and how threatening this little 'gang' of children looked! Some of them looked to be around 14 or 15 years of age, and there was certainly a menacing look in their eyes. Both the German woman and I were happy when we safely approached the trail-head.

I later learned that these kids are not used to hearing 'no'. Apparently, most of the visitors to the Fairy Stream are Russian tourists who are quick to dole out money to the children, creating dependency relationship. It's a case of tourism gone wrong.