On Tuesday I decided to go and visit the sand dunes of Mui Ne, which are apparently one of the more photographed parts of the tourist trail in Vietnam.
You need to hire a driver and a jeep to get to them, which costs around $40 for an afternoon. At least this tour started at a civilsed time. We set off at 2pm in a jeep that must have been about 30 years old at least, and may well have been used in the Vietnam War. I sat back and felt relieved there was no 8am starts, buses and puking on this tour.
Our first stop was the Fairy Spring, which is basically a stream that flows down from the dunes and to the sea. You can walk through it and there are even a few people doing a nice little trade of selling cans of Tiger beer by the side of the water. It was very nice, although I did misjudge the depth of the water at one stage and almost end up arse over tit.
We then drove past a fishing village with a gorgeous fleet of boats and to our next destination, which was a valley of bright red rock and sandstone. I would tell you what it's called but there is no reference to it at all in Lonely Planet, which I find bizarre. It felt more like I was in the centre of Australia than Vietnam.
After half an hour of taking photos and wandering about, we then set off for the yellow sand dunes. Upon arrival I was left literally open mouthed at the sheer beauty of them. If I felt like I was in Australia earlier, now it felt like the Sahara desert. Words cannot describe what an incredibly beautiful part of the world this is. As I climbed my way up the dunes, I felt so grateful that I had the opportunity to see these dunes. I'm not sure who I felt grateful to, but I did feel grateful. At the summit, I cracked open a beer and noticed a group of English travellers had decided to mark getting to the top in similar fashion. Well it is hard work climbing up sand dunes, you know...
I spent an hour at the yellow dunes before we then headed off to the red dunes to see the sun set. Again, the scenery was stunning as the sun fell behind the vast hills of red sand with the sea behind us. And again, I cracked open a beer.
What a magical afternoon, and what an amazing country this is.
You need to hire a driver and a jeep to get to them, which costs around $40 for an afternoon. At least this tour started at a civilsed time. We set off at 2pm in a jeep that must have been about 30 years old at least, and may well have been used in the Vietnam War. I sat back and felt relieved there was no 8am starts, buses and puking on this tour.
Our first stop was the Fairy Spring, which is basically a stream that flows down from the dunes and to the sea. You can walk through it and there are even a few people doing a nice little trade of selling cans of Tiger beer by the side of the water. It was very nice, although I did misjudge the depth of the water at one stage and almost end up arse over tit.
We then drove past a fishing village with a gorgeous fleet of boats and to our next destination, which was a valley of bright red rock and sandstone. I would tell you what it's called but there is no reference to it at all in Lonely Planet, which I find bizarre. It felt more like I was in the centre of Australia than Vietnam.
After half an hour of taking photos and wandering about, we then set off for the yellow sand dunes. Upon arrival I was left literally open mouthed at the sheer beauty of them. If I felt like I was in Australia earlier, now it felt like the Sahara desert. Words cannot describe what an incredibly beautiful part of the world this is. As I climbed my way up the dunes, I felt so grateful that I had the opportunity to see these dunes. I'm not sure who I felt grateful to, but I did feel grateful. At the summit, I cracked open a beer and noticed a group of English travellers had decided to mark getting to the top in similar fashion. Well it is hard work climbing up sand dunes, you know...
I spent an hour at the yellow dunes before we then headed off to the red dunes to see the sun set. Again, the scenery was stunning as the sun fell behind the vast hills of red sand with the sea behind us. And again, I cracked open a beer.
What a magical afternoon, and what an amazing country this is.
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