The White & Red Sand Dunes
From the Fairy Stream we set out northwards, cruising along the beautiful Mui Ne coast. Dark clouds that wrapped the whole village had totally disappeared, leaving a bright sunny sky behind. It was a beautiful sight; the sea and sky were in rich deep blue, and the whitish bubbles of waves lapping the shore gently, murmuring of what sounds like music to our ears. From a distance we could see a cape pointed out to the sea, where I imagined must be a great lookout point.
Ain’t it beautiful?
No one was in sight, and we enjoyed our moment of solitude at this very heaven on earth. Well, if you discounted the cows that were trimming the grass at the side of the road.
From the beautiful beach the driver continued driving further inland, and after a right turn at one of the junction we found ourselves in a middle of a red, barren land. Gone all the comfy and breezy ride, welcome untarred road!
It has been an hour and I was curious to how much further we need to go, but I kept the question to myself as the driver seemed to be focus with the driving . Besides, both of us were busy covering our head from banging the jeep’s metal roof, as the jeep swerved around potholes and some cow-pulling carts. Bumping and shaking all the way, the question somehow stucked at my throat, and the constant ”uh, oh.. ouch… ” were the only words I managed to muster.
The carts made a nice scene actually; seing them along the red, dry land one would easily forget that it is indeed in Vietnam.
Man and his cattles, Mui Ne.
Suddenly my eyes caught sight of a fantastic view of white and blue. After years of admiring her photos and dreaming of meeting her, there she was, lying in front of our naked eyes. What else if not the white sand dune herself. Finally!
Our jeep stopped by the blue lake full with lotus, with the dune as it backdrops it was like an oasis. Beautiful indeed.
Our jeep.
I was happy to see such huge rolling hills of sand at first, but got a bit distracted as I realized how much effort would it take to climb those hills. There are other alternative of course, if you don’t mind spending, but I felt the ATV would not be the best option to experience the dune, naturally. (Rather the USD30 per hour is way too much for us!).
As they say, the best things in life are always free; hence without wasting time we took off or slippers and started walking. The sand was soft and warm, and it felt great!
Marks of ATV tracks criss-crossing the vast land, and I was struggling to get a clean photo without those marks and footprints. Needless to say about those camera unfriendly wind kept on blowing fine sands into the lens that I had to wrapped her with plastics and all. I guess early morning would be the best time to visit as it will be less people and over the night the wind will remove all those tracks again. But that did not deter our spirit. We were kids once more, spending time at the dune taking photos in various poses and angles, jumping here and there.
We saw the sand ridge over the lake, and decided to head there. There were blobs all over the sand, thanks to the morning downpour.
We walked along the steep ridge towards the end of it, with the sand on one side and the lake on the others.
Somewhere in the middle I had to stop and let DH continue with the walking, as I was having a sudden rush of vertigo. The wind was blowing hard, and it was difficult not to lose balance. The image of me rolling straight into the lake down below kept popping in mind.
But that did not stop me from enjoying the splendid view. If only those marks and patches were not there.
Sand, sand and more sand. As far as the eyes could see.
Another view of the dune as we walked back to the jeep.
We drove back towards Mui Ne, and made a stop at the red dune. Unlike her sister, it was crowded, perhaps cause it is nearer and easily accessible from the road. Everywhere we could see family on outings, couples on a date, peddlers with their shoulder poles, flock of tourists unloading from the colorful tour buses, persuasive local kids with a scrap of plastic offering the slide down the dune, travellers who seemed at lost (that’s us!), yadda, yadda, yadda. Even the sands are not as fine as those at white dune, and I have to agree that white dune is in fact the best between the two.
Sliding down the dune must be the “in” thing here, and age is not a factor. Suddenly everyone was a master at sand sliding, and started showing off their styles.
It was fun to see them in action too, like these kids - their faces were glowing from all the excitements. The positive vibes were so contagious that I was laughing and giggling all the same.
Lady in conical hat waiting for customer.
We enjoyed the sunset at the red dune, leaving only when it was almost dark. The trip back to the guesthouse was quiet, and everyone was engulfed with their own thoughts. Our driver, well he was not a man of many words. We will be leaving Mui Ne tonight, and saying goodbye was elusive that it made me speechless.
I’m already missing this place.
