Mũi Né beaches and sand dunes

26 and 27 October 2008 - I traveled by Sinh cafe bus from Sài Gòn to Mũi Né. Sinh cafe is a famous company in Vietnam, which provides various services for the backpackers at reasonable prices. Although the distance is only 220km, it took us 4 and half hours to get to Mũi Né. Our bus had to drive slowly, as the speed limit is 50 km per hour and the police check traffic speeds and impose heavy fines on drivers who break the speed limit. This is my second visit to Mũi Né, which is a lovely beach town with great sand dunes and fishing villages. It's also my favorite destination in southern Vietnam.

Our bus stopped at Sinh cafe office in Mũi Né and I found a nice resort owned by a French man, only VND 150,000 (US$9) per night. The room was very close to the beach and it was really relaxing to sit by the sea, watching the sun and coconut trees and hearing the waves at night. The landscape was so beautiful, but it was pity that I was there alone.

At 3pm, a local motorbike driver came to pick me up and we went to the sand dunes and fishing village. He saw me at Sinh cafe office and followed me until he reached a verbal contract with me. It turned out that he was a nice guy who helped me a lot for a couple of days. The 3-hour tour at Sinh cafe office (from 2:30pm to 5:30pm) costs VND 80,000 (US$5), but I didn't want to be in a hurry while I was on holiday, so going with a motorbike driver would be a better choice. We can go anytime we want, stop on the way for taking photos etc., and most importantly I wanted to have time for taking photos of my Áo Dài. My major purpose on this trip was to take some Áo Dài photos at the sand dunes and nice landscapes in Mũi Né.

There are 2 sand dunes in Mũi Né, which are Yellow sand dunes (đồi cát vàng) and White sand dunes (đồi cát trắng). The latter one is far from my resort, so it would be expensive for me to rent a Russian jeep and I would not feel comfortable to sit on a bike for 30km one way. I decided to go to the Yellow sand dunes. I was at this place before and loved it, but my motorbike driver said the White sand dunes look better for photography and there is a beautiful lotus lake near it. Well, maybe next time.

We spent an hour taking photos at the sand dunes. There are some local kids renting their sand surfing boards, which you can slide down the sand dunes. On the way back to the resort, we visited a fishing village and the friendly local men explained to me how to catch sea snails (ốc hương) by small boats (thuyền thúng). It is always a great experience everyday when I travel and meet with many people and learn something new.

It was Sunday evening and the street by the beach was empty. I guess now it's low season, that's why there were very few tourists at the area. A guy at my resort said only at weekends there are more visitors.

Next day, we left the resort at 7:30am and went to the cape of Mũi Né. From the town, we can see the cape far away. We passed by the fishing village we visited the day before, went on a flooded soil road through a village and reached the rocks, which are the cape of Mũi Né. Unfortunately, there was no sun when I was there. I expected to take some photos at the beaches, but saw very little sun during my stay.

My next destination was Suối Tiên (fairy stream). I was reluctant to go there, as my green Áo Dài and white trousers are not suitable for walking in the water, but then I decided to take the chance anyway and it ended up the highlight of my trip. The water at Suối Tiên is red because of the sand and we had to walk in our bare feet along the stream. The landscape is amazing. The stream runs between red and white rocks on one side, and green trees on the other side, as you see in my photos. Although my trousers were wet and dirty and I had to walk slowly, the Áo Dài photos look great in this scenery. At the end of the stream, we saw a waterfall which runs from one of the mountains there. Some local people near the site, who were making fish sauce, saw my wet dress, they smiled and said that I should wear shorts instead of traditional dress when visiting this place.

All these great photos in my blog were taken in Mũi Né thanks to the help of my motorbike driver. He also climbed sand dunes, rocks and even walked in the stream up to the waterfall with me. He said that I was a special case, often he only takes people to the sites then waits outside. I like Mũi Né very much and hope to visit the place again soon.

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