05/05/2023 From Saigon to Mui Ne
Taking a bus in Vietnam
Taking a bus to the next city in Vietnam is always interesting. Our bus from Saigon to Mui Ne was supposed to take 4.5 hours. In the end it took up to eight hours. Nevertheless, it seemed really quick to us.
Even though we took a bus during the day, we got a “sleeper bus”, where you lie in your seat and your feet go into a cubbyhole underneath the head of the person in front of you. Unluckily for Blake, these “beds” are designed for Asian-sized people. So his level of comfort was pretty low and rather painful.
What to expect
Mui Ne
Mui Ne [is] located on the Vietnamese coast, about 200 km north of Ho Chi Minh City. [This] traditional fishing villages is fast becoming popular leisure destinations. Resort-style developments have been rising along the coastline, though so far the lives of the fishing communities remain unchanged and Mui Ne’s long beach is quiet and serene – great for walks, jogging and spectacular sunsets.”
th.hotels.com
Eat seafood by the ocean
In Mui Ne we went to one of the many fish restaurants right by the coast. Luckily, the wind of the ocean made the heat a bit more bearable than in the big city of Saigon.
I got a huge Vietnamese pancake with seafood that was drenched in oil (not that delicious). Blake ordered shrimps with veggies in a sweet and sour sauce (not so tasty either). But at least the views over the ocean were good.
06/05/2023 Mui Ne
Has anything changed?
Over seven years ago when Blake and I had traveled around Vietnam separately, we both did the famous sunset tour in Mui Ne. Today we were curious how much this tour had changed over the years (spoiler alert: not at all).
Do the sand dunes tour
After a tasty breakfast on the waterfront at “Feed your Soul” our driver picked us up in a jeep together with two Danish boys and one French girl.
Walk around the fairy station
…that doesn’t look very fairy-ish
For our first spot we stopped at what looked like a canal. All we were told was to take our shoes off, walk through the water and be back in one hour. And then we had to walk through the murky water with lots of other tourists from other jeeps for the next hour. We all didn’t really understand the point of it. The name “Fairy Station” doesn’t really fit as there wasn’t anything fairy-like about it, other than some sandy dunes around the canal.
Visit a fishing village
Our next stop was a fishing village. Again, I remembered this part with calming water and lots of cute round fishing boats in the water. This time we arrived at low tide, so the fishing boats were further away in the distance and everything that was left was a lot of plastic and other garbage on the beach.
So much garbage everywhere
The garbage in Vietnam’s nature is a big problem over here! So far we haven’t been to any other country on this trip that has as much garbage on the side of the road, in the rice fields, in the forests and in the water as Vietnam. It’s pretty sad to see.
Go quad biking on the white dunes
After a quick stop at a lookout over the ocean, we drove to the white dunes. Here we could pay 10€ to sit on the back of a quad bike to drive around the sand dunes (or 30€ if you want to ride your own quad). We felt a little ripped off as we had already paid for the tour (only 5€ each since we had bargained – everything in Vietnam seems to be negotiable). The quad tour was fun, but very short. Furthermore, the sand blew into our faces at the top of the dunes and unfortunately, there wasn’t much of a viewpoint as promised.
Go sandboarding on the red dunes
Our last stop were the red sand dunes, where we paid one euro each for a sandboard that we carried up the dunes. Here we sandboarded down the dunes, which was fun, but definitely not as high and fast (and scary) as the sandboarding in Huacachina, Peru.
Watch sunset from the top of the dunes
After quite the exhausting walk up the dunes again, Blake and I sat down to watch a (non-existent) sunset.
Room for improvement
Overall, we are glad we did the tour again together. However, it felt very touristy and we got no information at the different spots. Therefore, we don’t think you would miss out on a lot if you were skipping the tour completely.
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