Mui Ne: Sand dunes in Vietnam

Chasing sunrises and quad biking on sand dunes

 

 

I only spent two full days in Mui Ne – famous for it’s sand dunes and beaches perfect for kite surfing. Two of the British girls I met on the day tour of Ho Chi Minh City, Tilly and Lucy, ended up leaving for Mui Ne on the same day and same bus as me. We arrived at lunchtime on the first day and headed straight to the travel agent to book our sunrise/sunset trips to the sand dunes. We had wanted to watch the sunset that day but unfortunately the jeeps were already full. Having arranged to be picked up at 4.15 am we left to explore the beach. The beach was nothing special and the waves were quite big. We didn’t stay for long but it was obvious why so many kite surfers flock to the area.

On day two, we woke at 4am to be ready for our jeep at 4.15am. Unfortunately our driver was late. This meant that by the time we got to the bottom of the white sand dunes the sun was already beginning to rise and we still had a half an hour walk ahead of us to reach the top of the dunes. We ended up hiring two quad bikes between the two of us. One of the young guys who worked there came on with me and showed me how to drive the bike meaning that I successfully made it to the top of the dune in time to see the last of the sunrise. Tilly and Lucy weren’t so lucky. Their bike didn’t have anywhere near as much power as mine and they got stuck going up one of the first hills.

Eventually we all made it to the top just as the sun had risen. We spent the next 40 minutes taking it in turns to ‘play’ on the quad bikes on much flatter areas of the dunes. We were back at our hostel in time for breakfast at 9am. The rest of the morning and much of the afternoon was spent reading around the gorgeous pool. I had to retreat indoors as I was too warm and feared getting extremely bad sunburn. I was lucky that I did as both Tilly and Lucy and most others still around the pool ended up extremely sunburnt.

In the late afternoon, we headed to the red sand dunes which were closer to our hostel to sand board and watch the sunset. We arrived far too early so after Tilly and I had had a few go’s of sand boarding down the dunes on pieces of plastic provided by local children we sat down to wait for the sunset. After 45 minutes and a growing urgency for the toilet we ended up leaving right after the sun began to set. The sky didn’t look very impressive so we decided to head home early. This proved to be somewhat of a mistake as on the jeep home the sky lit up in a vast array of oranges and pinks.

On day 3, we had a lie in before our late morning bus to Da Lat. Mui Ne was extremely hot so I am extremely glad to be headed to higher ground in Da Lat which is meant to be a lot cooler – some people even say you need to wear long sleeves!

I hope you’re all well! Em xxx

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The beginning of the sunrise on the way to the sand dunes

 

Tilly on a quad bike
Quad biking on the sand dunes
Looking very happy on my quad bike
Typical scene of cows on the road
Feeling like a fortune teller in the desert with the current Snapchat filters
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Catching the sunset on our return home from the red sand dunes