Vietnamese Whirl - Part 9 - Coast to Roast

As our bus headed out of Dalat’s pine clad valley, tea plantations covered the hillsides as the road slowly wound its way south towards the coast.  I say “road” but it became more of a “work in progress” as large chunks of it were in the process of being dug up for a huge widening and expansion project.  This made for an incredibly bumpy journey – although the scenery was to die for (not literally, we hoped!).

Craving a bit of beach time, we were heading to Vietnam’s southern coast to the kite-surfing town of Mũi Né.  I was a little put off going by reports of how some of the beaches there had eroded quite badly due to climate change creating stronger tides and storms.  Poorly planned tourist developments along the coast had again affected the infrastructure of this once picturesque fishing village – but we had one week remaining of our stay in Vietnam, and were determined to get some sun and sea!

We were relieved to find our hotel room had a balcony with a wonderful view of swaying palm trees with the sea glistening in the distance.  This was complemented by a relaxing pool area with huge four poster sun beds, shaded by bougainvillea trees. I could tell where we’d be spending most of our time!

As we walked down what there was of the promenade, there was no sign of a beach, but plenty of fishing boats and fishing debris strewn everywhere.  I guess the fisherman were here first, but it was disheartening to see so much rubbish left around. Along the seafront, hotels had attempted to construct makeshift barriers to break up waves and protect what was left of any sand, but these giant tunnel sacks called “Geotubes” completely block access to the sea for guests and create large and dangerous steps for walkers. 

We did find a small length of beach to walk along one morning, which led to the fishing village – we could see the brightly coloured boats bobbing around offshore, but the smell of the fish put us off visiting more closely. 

In the other direction, the main road which ran one block in from the coast, was our only walking option as many parts of the beach were cut off by hotels and bars. We began noticing more and more shop signs were in Russian, and it seems that this resort was very popular with Russian tourists seeking a bit of winter sun (and avoiding the war, no doubt).  In fact, the locals would often address us in Russian, until we explained that “we were British, spasibo!”.

It seemed very touristy and busy the further down we walked, so we were glad to return to our end of “the strip”, although more major roadworks were taking place here!  Luckily, our hotel was down a small side street, so remained quite tranquil (apart from the dogs barking at night). We were fortunate to discover a wonderful food court just at the top of our street, which served everything from Vietnamese, to Mexican and an amazing Indian which made us hungry every time we walked past.  Its popularity made it a very sociable and lively place to dine each evening, and the prices were so reasonable!

So we settled in for a week of relaxing by the pool, the occasional walk to the supermarket (or I should say, swim – the workmen had burst a watermain outside) and trying out the wide variety of dishes at the food court.  Not a bad way of seeing in the New Year I guess!

I did manage to drag Ian away from the pool for a trip to the famous local red sand dunes.  We had passed several large areas of sand dunes on our way to Mui Ne, but these were notable for their distinctive colour caused by iron ore in the sand.  Visiting just before sunset set them alight with a gorgeous bronze tint, and after renting a makeshift sandboard from one of the locals, we partook in a bit of “sledging” to finish off the year, as you do…

Next Stop:  Return to the Land of Smiles