Mui Ne

From Saigon we coached it 4 hours north to Mui Ne Beach. What was 8 years ago, a sleepy beach with a few simple huts is now a full on tourist destination attracting droves of Russians and backpackers alike. The Beach itself is not much to write home about but is perfect for the kite surfers that flock there in their masses. To be honest I was really disappointed and didn't see why anyone would really bother going there, until the last day when we got a 4x4 and went on a little magical mystery tour. First stop, Fairy Stream....

 

It resembles a mini Grand Canyon and once you get past the pesky kids being whored by their parents to sell you guided tours, the tranquility was amazing. You take off your shoes and follow the blissfully warm stream as it meanders through palm trees and these amazing land formations up to a little waterfall.

Next up was the Yellow Sand Dunes next to Lotus Lake..

 And from the Grand Canyon it was like being transported to the Sahara, absolutely breathtaking but incredibly hard work walking through it. I think i discovered some muscles in my feet that have never been used before! We tried sledging down them with little success.

 For the last stop of the day we went for sunset on the originally named Red Sand Dunes

 I have never been in scenery like this and it was just spectacular and incredibly exhilarating with the bonus of not being stranded in the desert.

 The food in Mui Ne was really expensive ordinary tourist fare but we got on our bikes and went closer to the fisherman's village at the other end of the beach where we were rewarded with these amazing barbecued scallops. We just had to make sure we chose some place up wind of the smell of fish sauce fermenting plants which is pretty fierce to say the least.