Mui Ne: Waves, sand and acoustic bands

A five hour bizarre day time sleeper bus took us to the coastal spot of Mui Ne. A far cry from the risk-your-life traffic dodging streets of Ho Chi Minh City, Mui Ne is home to beach side chills and mad sand dunes, here’s what we got up to...

Ham Tien Beach

When people go to ‘Mui Ne’, people don’t actually stay in Mui Ne itself, mostly because there is nothing there, but they instead stay down the road in Ham Tien- which is exactly what we did. Ham Tien is pretty chilled and runs all the way down the long beach with lots of restaurants and bars to choose from. The beach is clean with cool light sand, but the maddest waves. Hold on to your bikini if you’re going in, because I very nearly lost mine. I had my hair in a bun but the waves stole my hair bands and so I ended up looking like a distressed mermaid, worried that a turtle was going to end up eating them. There are several sun beds to choose from but most are outrageously priced, Bich Ngoc rents them out for the day for around £3 so head over to them to catch a tan without having to roll around in the sand.

Fairy Stream

Part bizarre, part cool, the Fairy Stream runs in between pitted rock formations and red and white sand dunes on one side and overhanging palms on the other. The red hued water flows from Ham Tien’s Dinh mountain and is about ankle deep to wade through. The stream may get its name from the erosion creating strange shapes and holes to look like potential hiding places for fairies, or because the view from the top makes the people walking through the stream look like fairies. Either way it’s a cool little stroll.

Fishing Village

We stopped off here for 10 minutes between the Fairy Stream and the White Sand Dunes. It’s not worth a trip in itself, but if you’re out that way it’s interesting to stop and watch the fishermen for a while. There’s hundreds of fishing boats in the bay and as we arrived the fishermen were clambering into their circular basket boats to take them out to their larger boats. How they steer those things is beyond me. I’d just go round in circles.

White Sand Dunes

Of the two dunes, these are the furthest away, but definitely worth the extra journey. Considering these are fairly close to the sea, they are pretty large and vast and it’s mad to look around and see sand for miiiiiles. You can pay for a ATV to take you up the dunes, or if you’re a Scrooge like us you can walk it (who needs the gym anyway, these things are a right old calf work out) Once you’re at the top there are a few locals offering flimsy bits of plastic to use as a sledge, be warned though, not all of them push you down the dune straight and you may well end up dramatically rolling off half way down a dune, resulting in being covered in sand for the rest of the day. I’ve never seen so much sand in someone’s beard.

Red Sand Dunes

These are closer to Ham Tien but are a lot smaller than the White Sand Dunes and not as cool to look at. They are meant to be good to watch the sunset from though, but when we went there was a sneakily positioned cloud right where the sun was. Someone had drawn a big willy in the sand though, so swings and roundabouts.

Sleep: Cocosands- this is a lovely little spot close to the beach with a leafy green garden, sand underfoot and hammocks in the shade. The bungalows are concrete and are spacious with good air con and sometimes hot showers.

Eat: Choi Oi- the ladies who work here are the loveliest. One evening we arrived as they were closing and they stayed open just to feed us. It’s mega cheap and they do tasty breakfast and Vietnamese dishes for dinner- I’d recommend the super tasty vegetarian Pho!

Jibe- Slightly more pricey (but still well cheap), Jibe looks out onto Ham Tien’s giant crashing waves. The menu choice is huge (even for us veggies!) and they have 2 happy hours. Two. We can vouch for both their breakfasts and their dinners.

Lolita’s- stays open later than many other restaurants in the week, good prices and tasty western options.

Drink: Joe’s Bar- you can catch live music and cheap Saigon beers here, it’s a pretty chill place to spend the evening. They do food too if you get peckish.

Thanks for being a glorious spot of beach sunshine and chills (and the spot where I spent my 100th day of travelling!) Mui Ne, next stop: Da Lat