Mui Ne

Our Vietnamese trip began in HCMC in southern Vietnam, and we were flying out of Hanoi. Our journey up North started with a bus ride from the capital to Mui Ne, a cosmopolitan beach destination.

The layout of Mui Ne is very strange and unattractive : everything is spread out along the 10km stretch of highway. If you are trying to locate a specific hotel or restaurant, you will be told it’s “next to Km 12” or “just before Km 9”. For us spoiled Thai residents, Mui Ne beach wasn’t as stunning as we expected. In fact, we didn’t even swim in the sea, but the activities we did made up for it.

Mui Ne

Fairy Spring

The Fairy Spring flows through a patch of dunes with intricate sand and rock formations. It's a beautiful trek winding through the jungle. Local youth skip school to make a few dongs and walk next to you as unofficial guides. The sight was truly magical but we didn’t spot any fairies.

One very strange activity offered on the banks of the Fairy Stream is ostrich riding!! Cruel isn’t it? I can’t imagine the pleasure of sitting on such a magnificent bird and getting it to walk around. Very peculiar..

The Fairy Spring

Red sand dunes and rock formations at the Fairy Spring

Sand Dunes

There are two different set of sand dunes famous to Mui Ne, “The White Sand Dunes” and “The Red Sand Dunes”.  We woke up at 4am in order to watch the sunrise on the White Sand Dunes. The experience was well worth it. The desert-like scenery was peaceful and unforgettable.

Sunrise on the White Sand Dunes

Unfortunately, the peace and quiet of the place got ruined when rowdy tourists arrived in quad bikes. At the Red Sand Dunes, many local youths hang around to offer sand-sledding with homemade plastic sleds.

Peaceful sand dunes

Fishing Village

Mui Ne is a fishing village at heart and seeing it all in action is a must. The spaceship like boats are quite a sight and the dozen of women squatting while opening scallops help anchor the hardships of their daily work. Huge quantities of shrimps and other fish are dumped in baskets and put on motorbikes before being zoomed away and sold in the city’s markets and restaurants. The scorching sun burns on the workers even at the early morning hours. I can’t imagine how exhausted they must feel at the end of the day!

Transferring shrimps onto the motorbike

Woman opening scallops

Women hard at work

Strange looking circular boats

We were a bit put off by the amount of seafood laying in the hot sun at the Fishing village, so we opted out of the seafood shacks for dinner. Instead, for a popular local experience, we ventured to the “goat restaurants” in Ham Tien. We shared barbecued goat and goat hotpot, with fresh herbs and noodles. The beer is served with warm but accompanied by ice buckets. Overall, another nice evening.