Saturday, February 13, 2016

Family fun at Mui Ne, Vietnam


This is our first time in Vietnam, we arrived with no big expectation.  We had hits and misses along the way but overall, delighted with the food, the rich culture, and the amazing sights especially, in Mui Ne.

We landed at Ho Chi Minh and planned to travel north to MuiNe,  a coastal village intriguing for its unique mix of white and red sand dunes plus the windy and strong waves good for kitesurfing.  We hopped into a taxi to get us to Mui Ne,  took almost 5hours to reach our hotel.  I would think we've been victimized by a scam first thing on our arrival at the airport. I signed up for a car for hire,  we were shown a brand new Toyota Innova for a comfortable ride but 10 minutes later at the nearest gas station from the airport, we were transferred to an old Mitsubishi car.  We reached Mui Ne in the evening so what greeted us upon arrival is the lively Nguyen Dinh Chieu street lined up with restaurants and night market offerings.  First thing i noticed is, this place is swarmed by Russians! In fact, there are plenty of specialty restaurants catering to the Russian clientele, hotels with Russian signs, and the locals able to converse in Russian.

We woke up very early at 5am for us to be picked up by a hired jeep to take us to the popular attractions in Mui Ne. First stop,  after traveling almost an hour with the cold windy breeze on an open top jeep,  we arrived at this desert area with white dunes.  We hired a big motor bike to explore the sandy dunes and whah,  the driver is crazy mad whopping us up and down the sandy hill. There's no safety precautions and we were definitely not given a head's up but it was exhilarating and pure fun!  It was rewarding to see the sunrise above us,  worth the effort to wake up very early to get here. I was amazed by how the sand dunes evolve in shape as it is blown away by the wind. The drama unfolds as light touches the sand from dusk to dawn. If we had the time,  we could have stayed here and watch the contrast from sunrise to sunset.
Next stop is another sand dunes experience,  the difference is in color. We hopped into our open top jeep again and was brought to the red sand dunes.  We were swarmed by small kids offering their plastic board for us to rent so that we can try sandboarding. It was meant to be for my son but we ended up taking turns,  we had so much fun! It is very interesting to find in just 20mins from each other two different experiences of enjoying desert fun.
By this time our feet and legs are already feeling the fatigue,  it is no joke walking on sand,  much more tiring than your usual walk (and very slow walk at that).  We went next to a place called the Fairy Stream.  I saw the photos posted on Google about this place and got me excited for us to see this ourselves. We alighted to what seemed to be like a mum and pop store and were ushered to go in a narrow road that will lead us to the stream. There's no entrance fee but if you have no slippers with you,  you can rent a pair for a nominal fee.  The place is like the convergence of the red and white sand dunes only,  they are not powdery in form yet. They look enchanting in lime stones and iron rich rock formations. The stream in between makes this place enchanting -  it looks so surreal to be here.
We hopped back again to our jeep but this time,  the driver managed to cover it up,  just about time since the sun is already up.  We went on next to the local fishing village and we got to see fishermen selling their first catch of the day.  Seafood is very much an abundance here and costs so cheap. It is very interesting how the local boats are designed,  they are round like big soup bowls floating at sea.
In the afternoon,  we explored the beach of Mui Ne and it was a different experience for us to see the whole stretch of the long beach filled with big kites with surfers attached to them. When Google said Mui Ne is good for kitesurfing,  we never expected it was not only good but it seems to be the mecca of kitesurfers!  We were just exhilarated seeing surfers from different nationalities hover around the open sea gracefully with their kites and would show off their jumping and flying skills. My jaws would just drop how it seems to look so easy.

A day in Mui Ne feels like a 24hour adrenaline experience. We want to catch the sunset so we explored the long stretch of the beach and found at the end a man made cove that is perfect for swimming and waited for the sun to go down.
As we gaze at this lovely sunset,  i prayed in my heart a big thanksgiving for all the blessings we've received so far as a family. This day is also the mark of new year in the Chinese calendar. What a better way to look forward of the year ahead by spending time with the ones you love watching the sun go down drinking local Vietnamese coffee.  Life is good,  thanks be to God!

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