Mui Ne was going to be a one-night stop to break-up the journey to Nha Trang. But after a few minutes staring out at the wavy ocean and thinking about how flexible our itinerary is, we quickly decided to stay an extra day. It was well worth it too. We stayed in a nice little room on the second floor of a guesthouse overlooking the green South China Sea. Most of the time here, the wind was strong and the waves were up. We walked a couple kilometers down the windy beach our first evening there. It felt like our shins and calves were getting sandblasted, but at least we were entertained by the dozens of kitesurfers flying around just offshore. Closer to shore, teenagers surfed in on the small waves. The windy, green-watered beach was unlike most of the picture-prefect beaches we’ve been to as of late, but the wind, surf, and activity made it a dynamic and enjoyable beach.

While we spent yesterday and this afternoon at the beach, the coolest thing we did here was visit some massive sand dunes this morning. We took a pair of motorbikes 15 km north, through villages along the fishing-boat-filled bay, to the huge dunes. Hopping off the bikes, we slippily hiked up a mountain of sand from the road. A group of small girls ran to us with plastic sheets, which they hoped we would use to slide down some dunes in return for a few dong. They followed us as we walked up the dunes and along the ridges past giant bowls of sand. The dunes were much bigger than I had expected and it seemed almost like a scene out of Lawrence of Arabia, with the huge dunes overlooking the sea. It was really windy up there, so for a second day in a row, our legs got sandblasted, but the wind continually altered the texture of the surfaces. We did eventually slide down the dunes which was fun, but my favorite part was taking in the unique scenery.

Besides the beach and the dunes, there doesn’t seem to be a lot to do in Mui Ne. It’s pretty much a tourist enclave strung out along a road of tour agencies and restaurants. On the plus side though, Mui Ne wasn’t very crowded and it was a quite place to relax. It wasn’t a bad place to stop for a few days.