Red clouds and kingdom of sand in Mui Ne

Extremely satisfied. That was how I felt as I entered a new city, Mui Ne, after the occasional thoughts of death in Vietnam on my way to Phan Thiet. As I drove my bike slowly at 20-30km/h cruising this new city, I noticed numerous shops written in Russian. Most of the restaurants have names, signs, ad menus in Russian. This reminded me of my recent travel to Phuket, Thailand, 5 months ago. Mui Ne is located at a coastal area northeast of Phan Thiet. I decided to stay at Huyen Tran Nha Nghi. This hostel also has a restaurant outside so it saved my time to look for a place to eat outside.

Huyen Tran II

112b Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Mui Ne

Tel: 0623 741038 / 0908 216 399

It costs VND 168,000/night. Here is a peek of the room. Pretty comfy with air-con. 

 

View of Mui Ne at the coastal area in the next morning

Red Sand Dune

In the early morning, I set off to do red sand dune (bao cat do in Vietnamese). There were not many signboards to this place, so I did ask whoever I could find for directions. The sun was fiery that late morning when I reached red sand dune. I parked my motorbike at one of the restaurants there and later on discovered I did not have to pay for anything. I guess it was because I was alone, not joining any tour so they would treat me like a local.

I could find many kids trying to rent their plastic slides to the tourists. I read the article online that the cost to rent the plastic slide is around USD 2 per time. It is expensive and totally not worth it. Besides it offers the kids a chance to steal your belongings when you are not looking… so, avoid them! This is my first time to see sand dune and I did not have much expectations. The area was huge and I was all alone. Looking from a distance at the kids and the people on the road only made them appear tiny. One lady followed me and tried to rent her slides but I kindly refused her offer. She followed me persistently. I then asked her to help me take a some pics and video from my camera and then gave her some VND 10k.

Some greeneries (pine trees) that can be found at some distance away:

Sand dune (or white sand dune)

I did not spend much time here and then made my way to white sands dune (bao cat trang). There were even less signboards for the directions to this place so in order to save time not getting lost, I constantly asked people I met on the road, just to make sure. Wonderful views along the way...

The road was damn quiet. For most of it, I felt like I had it all by myself. And then suddenly, as if all the red sands gathered their way to the sky... I noticed a flock of red clouds formation in the sky. It was my first time to notice such a phenomena and it was a bit out-of-the-world stuff!

It's a bit further to get to this place from red sand dune (around 40km). As you get nearer to white sand dune, this is how it looks like. Notice the significant difference on the color of the sand.

Unlike red sand dune which did not charge me any fees for entering, the entry fee here was VND 10k.

when the flock of clouds got exactly above certain areas of the sand dune, the areas were shadowed and it looks majestic

There was also an all-terrain vehicle (Jeep) that could bring a group of people to have a tour around the sand dune. It costs around VND 350,000 to rent one

 This area is the driest known location in all of Southeast Asia with average rainfall of only 50 cm annually

This area is undoubtedly massive

There was intense sunshine and a reflective glare off the dunes - it was wise to wear sunglass and put on sunblock prior to going to the dunes.
I got sun burnt after this trip but nevertheless a truly memorable trip, one not to be missed if you are in Mui Ne!

Mui Ne is 225km away from Ho Chi Minh city. It takes 6-7 hours by bus. Alternative options for transport are by taxi, private car, and trains.

Remembering Dalat

This was a post that was overdue. The first time I went to Dalat was in August 2009 with my friend's Dad. We reached there slightly past midnight and we went to stay in Hoang Viet Hotel. Its location is very central, and around 3-minute walk to Dalat central market.

I met the owner of the hotel, the lady with jeans, for the second time.. you can also use the internet there for free.

This is a shop selling tea next to the hotel

This is their address:

Hotel Hoang Viet

22A Nguyen Chi Thanh

Dalat city

The most beautiful sunset and the most terrifying road ever

I had a good brief time in Dalat. It was my second trip to Dalat and I decided not to spend so much time there. All these people who sell their stuffs in Dalat market were too shy and refused to take a video with me, but agreed to take pics instead. 

Dalat to Di Linh pathway was dangerous.

I was unsure where this road will take me, but somehow it made me stop for a while to take a picture here before I headed on to the possibly jungle or mountain pass.

The signboard says:Phan Thiết, another 85km away.
Almost no one was around. I thought it was still alright.
This was my way from Di Linh to Ma Lam city before Phan Thiet.

I knew I did not have much time to reach Phan Thiet before sundown. I became so mesmerised by the sunset I stopped for a while to enjoy the most beautiful sunset in this motorbike journey here. This happened shortly after the rain. It was at a high altitude and you drive alongside open plantation so you could have a large, open view of the sky. Took my breath away.

Those were the last photographs I took before I continued my journey to Phan Thiet city. The roads were mostly curvy, snake-like pathway... and the longer I drove passed through trees and its track, the more I feel like the road was similar... like a maze. For the next one hour, I did not meet any civilization. I started to have goosebumps. There were thoughts of mine that I will die at that place, and no one will know or able to identify myself and I will be left alone dead on that passage. That would be the end of me. To think that I had come so far, that kind of death was such a miserable ending.

As the time has come to 6 plus pm, it got really dark and I had to take off my sunglasses. And then something magical happened; I saw fireflies on their natural habitat. I have seen fireflies before around riverside area together with other tourists (a planned trip). This time was totally impromptu and I was totally amazed by their existence-  they light up my journey. The fireflies were all over the place.

After what seemed like forever, I reached a village that has no electricity. AHHHHHH FINALLY... I saw people and that was a huge relief !!! Like I have never been so glad to see people with this motorbike at night! I guessed this was Ma Lam area. I stopped to ask two men on the direction to Phan Thiet (that was still in total darkness) to make sure I was on the right track. Yep, I was. I headed on to Phan Thiet city a few kms ahead. Upon reaching Phan Thiet, I asked around and found out Mui Ne city is another 25km away.

Let's go there tonight.

Spectacular (and eerie) Ngoạn Mục Pass

My next destination would be Dalat city. It was still so damn freaking far. I had been in awe to travel to mountain passes since I saw Hai Van pass a couple of days ago. I decided to go to Ngoan Muc Pass and took a longer route to reach Mui Ne city.

Care to join our rides?

Breathtaking scenery, dark and cloudy on the left side and so bright on the right side

The Ngoạn Mục Pass is also called Song Pha Pass, after Song Pha (area) at the foot of the pass (seen in the picture below indicated by the road). The pass is a scenic mountain pass between Ninh Thuan province and the Lang Biang plateau. This pass was known to the French as Bellevue Pass. It is 43km from Dalat city and 64km from Phan Rang city.

Views below are gargantuan water pipes that link with Da Nhim hydroelectric power station at the base of the pass.

Ngoạn Mục Pass at dusk... I got really scared at this time of my motorbike journey as there were no lamp posts (really dark), no barricades (very different compare to Hai Van Pass). I was all alone at altitude more than 1000m and I have not reached the end of mountain pass. I could have died anytime! This is the most frightening motorbike journey so far!

Upon reaching the foothill, I reached a small community of people with a few houses. I drove on and I stayed at Trung Duc Nha Nghi for a night in a very small city called Dran at Don Duong province. It was extremely windy today and quite smooth for most parts of the road.

I came back to Ngoạn Mục Pass, around 25km from where I stayed. Views in the morning...

And some of the road signages that I only noticed in the next morning... scary it was ! 

Though the sun was fiery, the amazing scenery took my breath away. I was ready for Dalat.