Mui Ne, Vietnam

Peaceful Mui Ne, Vietnam is known for its enormous red and white sand dunes and a popular beach destination for travelers.  There was limited exploring on the tiny strip stretching approximately three miles along the ocean coast due to the highest tides since 2003, rendering the beach nonexistent.  On the up side, our guesthouse was beautifully landscaped and resided on the edge of the crashing waves.  

White sand dunes



Two doors down from the Nhu Huong Guesthouse was a hopping restaurant named Lam Tong.  Todd and I must have eaten there ten times over the course of our six day stay.  Good rule of thumb when choosing a restaurant in foreign countries or anywhere for that matter is:  “If it’s crowded, there’s probably a reason.”  The good reasons for Lam Tong being packed was the convenient location, the tasty morsels and the ridiculously cheap prices.  Coming from the food service industry, customer service was always a high priority, however, not so much here!  When I politely asked our server if I could receive my fruit plate before the rest of my meal he snapped “no” and sped away.  Being so abrupt with his answer I really couldn’t do anything except laugh.  The service never got better during our stay but when you can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner for two under $20 you have to overlook some quirks. 

Todd spent a whole day in recovery after drinking with Russians we met at a local club the night before. Being challenged to drink “much whiskey with big Russian, Todd was willing to hang in there until the Russian vanished to pass out”, unfortunately Todd lost the next 24 hrs himself. Next day back to normal, we were ready for an adventure on our rented motorbike.  The Fishing village at the tip of Mui Ne Peninsula showcased more boats than we’d ever seen in one place at one time.  Roughly five hundred brightly colored boats in shades of blues and reds and of all sizes swayed in the current as the rank smell of dried/dead fish saturated the air.  A narrow palm lined road runs about 10k along the beach towards the white dunes. 

Seeing the dunes against the crisp blue backdrop of the sky even from a distance was breathtaking.   The huge lotus lake right next to the dunes made for an amazing view. The novelty quickly wore off as the noon sun heated the dunes to an unbearable degree and sand found its way into even the smallest crevasses of our bodies and clothing as we attempted to “sand slide” down the massive dunes. A chained up small monkey made for a great shades break on the way walking to the dunes. We got some adorable pictures and got to wrestle with him for quite a while.

Fairy Springs flows through a patch of the red dunes and would have been a much more pleasant stroll had I have not realized my good Canon camera had tons of sand lodged into the lens and wouldn’t auto focus as usual.  I was bummed and disappointed in my judgment to use it with the fervent winds on the previous white dunes. All in hindsight you know?  Todd did manage to make me laugh by prodding a stream of running jokes about me ruining our camera and not being able to document this life changing journey…oh, and missing all these spectacular pictures of Fairy Springs!  While the stream was interesting in parts, as a whole I didn’t find much pleasure in walking in ankle deep water for thirty minutes.    

Mui Ne was our second to last stop in Vietnam and even though there wasn’t a ton of activities here it was a comfortable place to spend five days relaxing, reading and eating! 

PS.  Todd freed himself from the ball and chain /travel buddy to enjoy a day of “MAN” time at the SeaLinks Golf & Country Club.   Shot 85.  Nice course with caddies, gourmet lunch and posh locker rooms.  Rounds cost about $120.  Our guest house manager hooked Todd up for around $80.  Lucky BreakJ