From Ho Chi Minh City we caught a 3 hour train to Mui Ne. This place was heaven after the hustle and bustle of HCMC. Mui Ne is a coastal resort town which has a beautiful beach. Kite surfing is really popular here due to the strong breeze. You will find a lot of Russian tourists here, many of the restaurants and resorts are Russian owned. If you want to get to know Vietnam, here is not the place. This is more about relaxation.

We spent two nights at the Mui Ne Hills Budget Resort. I would highly recommend this place! It was super cheap, and you get to use the facilities of Mui Ne Hills Bliss. We spent a lot of time around the pool.

Apart from relaxing by the pool (which consumed most of our time) we went on a day trip in a jeep. The trip jams in all the touristy things you can do in Mui Ne – fairy stream, fishing village and sand dunes (red and white). Don’t ask me the history behind any of the sights we saw though as the Vietnamese ‘tour guide’ just dropped us at each spot and told us when to be back.

Our first stop was the fairy stream. You walk half an hour down a shallow sandy stream past limestone formations and at the end there is a waterfall. This was beautiful, it reminded me of The Pinnacles at home in NZ. This was probably the highlight of the day trip along with the white sand dunes. The red sand dunes were crowded with tourists and little kids everywhere trying to sell you sheets of plastic to slide down the dunes.

Tips:

• If you are planning a trip to Vietnam I would definitely recommend Mui Ne, it’s a great place to relax and recharge your batteries.
• Stay at Mui Ne Hills Budget Resort – I think our accommodation is what made our time in Mui Ne so amazing.
•  Do the touristy day trip, it’s a great way to see all of the sights. Who knows maybe you may get someone more into communicating with you! Be careful of cute local girls offering to show you the way to the waterfall, don’t forget nothing is free.