Mui Ne, Vietnam

 For six weeks over summer I went travelling to South-East Asia with two friends from University. We spent 3 weeks in Thailand, 2 weeks in Vietnam and 1 week in Cambodia. I thought I would do a series of blog posts on some of my favourite places I went to on the trip; hopefully it will inspire some of you to travel!

White Sand Dunes ft. our quad bike

In the South of Vietnam lies a beach/coastal town, home to an old fishing village and beautiful sand dunes. After just visiting Nha Trang, the Asian equivalent to Benidorm, we were mesmerised as soon as we stepped off our bus. Even if it did rain within half an hour of us getting there..

We did the most amazing day trip booked through our hostel, which saw us visiting the old fishing village, the fairy stream, the white sand dunes and the red sand dunes for sunset. It was very cheap, I think it roughly worked out at about £3 each or something ridiculous. We were transported to each place in a small group in a 'american style' Jeep, which after a few weeks in Asia we had worked out basically meant us climbing in and out of a boot of a 4x4 vehicle. Safety definitely is not considered as much in Asia, so look after yourself and your bags etc when out there as much as possible.

Our first stop was the old fishing village, which was pretty dreary and run down, which would explain me not taking ANY pictures. However, we were quickly cheered up with a walk down the fairy stream. It was about midday, so this did consequently end in some rather sweaty hairstyles. Plus I felt forced to wear trousers as a day in the sun the day before had left me with some extremely burnt and painful pale girl legs, which probably didn't help with the extreme heat...well done Katie. But anyway, it was beautiful. We were able to take our shoes off, and walk along the soft red sand at a leisurely pace.The limestone walls, set against the stream was very pretty. I think it took us about 1 hour to do a round trip of the stream. 

Walk along the Fairy Stream

Next we were taken to the amazing white sand dunes. We were given the opportunity to ride quad bikes at this point, either individually or in pairs. My anxiety decided for me that I would ride on the back of my friends bike, as she is a confident driver. We had 45 minutes up on the dunes, and it was SO much fun. I took a lot of videos of this, which resulted in basically every video of us screaming, laughing and getting lost (how do you even get lost on a sand dune?!). I thought it would be really hot on the sand dunes, but it had a lovely breeze up there. It really was special.

Quad biking on the White Sand Dunes

Dancing on the White Sand Dunes

The final part of the day trip took us to the red sand dunes. There were locals at the bottom of the dunes, trying very forcibly to sell us boards to sand surf with. However, we opted against this as were a bit tired and thought walking up and down the dunes would tire us out. This was my favourite part of the day, the colour of the sand was a spectacular orange/red colour and so soft. We took a lot of photos and enjoyed the view. Our tour guide had timed it perfectly so that we would see the sunset on the dunes. Oh my gosh, it was gorgeous and so relaxing. The perfect end to a fabulous day trip.

Red Sand Dunes ft a happy me

Three amigos- red sand dunes

Mui Ne locals on the red sand dunes

Running on the red sand dunes

Sunset on the red sand dunes

We stayed in Mui Ne for three days, whilst there we stayed in an adorable beach side bungalow at Mui Ne Backpackers Resort . There wasn't much of a beach, but the sunbeds on the sight looked out onto the sea and it was very relaxing. Even if they could do with some cushions for the sunbeds..but having a numb bum seemed to be a running theme of the trip so we were used to it. It was very affordable for three girls on a backpackers budget. The bungalow was very modern and clean, with a double and a single bed, plasma TV (came in very useful on our rainy arrival day) and a lovely bathroom. 

Our beach side bungalow at Mui Ne Backpackers Resort

Sunbathing by the sea

We enjoyed all of our meals in this town too, going back to one restaurant in particular twice; Joes Cafe. It served a mix of Vietnamese food and Western food. It was just what we wanted and needed, a few burgers in our tummys. It also had live music each night, which was very chilled and relaxing. This place was also a hotel, so another lovely option to stay at in Mui Ne. The road the hostel was on was full of restaurants, so we never went hungry.

If you want to visit Mui Ne, I would definitely go now, whilst it is still relatively quaint and not very touristy. It really is beautiful, as is the Vietnamese culture.