Mui Ne, Vietnam: Photo Gallery

My last trip was in late December into Vietnam where I had a chance to visit Binh Thuan province and Mui Ne along the coast. Once just an area known for its fishing and fish sauce, it has become a bit of a tourist destination with the prime draw being a nice beach and the most consistent sunshine in Vietnam. I’m posting a few photos that show a bit of the setting. More photos of where I stayed and what I saw will follow. Its proximity to Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon makes it an easy getaway. (If you’ve never been to Vietnam it might surprise you just how LONG the country is from north to south.) The surprise here for me was the abundance of sand dunes, some of them red like Mars.

The boats above are made of reeds and require frequent maintenance. They are sometimes paddled or have their own little motor but frequently they are strung along on rope and towed behind a bigger boat back into the harbor.

The harbor at Mui Ne offers some great photo opps. Colorful boats get nice and warm toward sunset and the beach runs east to west at the bottom of a scenic overlook.

I took a motorbike farther out and found other smaller fishing communities. People are quite friendly but know little English. Kids walking home from school shout the classic sing-song Heeeell-ooooooo!

Few would imagine this was Vietnam. The war and decades of movies have done much to make us believe ‘Nam is one big jungle. The dunes along the coast seem out of place and the red color of a portion of them doesn’t even seem the right planet.

And of course, the war, no matter how distant, always lurks somewhere in the setting or the psyche.

Taking refuge from the afternoon sun likely after a very early morning start at sea.

More on Mui Ne to come…

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