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Showing posts with label Vietnam. Show all posts

1

Vietnam Visual Diary: Sights, Streams & Sand Dunes

Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2016

I'm heading off to BKK for yet another girly trip, so I figured it's about time I (finally) do up my last post for Vietnam, a trip of which I am super fond of. All the important sights around Mui Ne can be seen in just 4 hours - our hotel had tours for USD35.00, but we found one in town for just USD15.00, and apparently you can bargain even more!

The White Sand Dunes
The reason why everyone comes to Mui Ne! It felt like I was back in Morocco, but so much more affordable, haha. I strongly recommend coming in the morning to catch the sunrise, even though though it meant waking up at 4am for a 5am pick up, and another bone-chilling 45minute ride in an open air jeep to the dunes (bring a jacket!) They do have afternoon tours, but we were advised against it because the sand gets very hot. There's something about cold sand in between your toes that made the trek up the dunes worth it.

Wearing The Fifth Label Modern Love Dress

The Red Sand Dunes
Much closer to the main tourist area of Mui Ne, I found the Red Sand Dunes are not as grand as the White Sand Dunes, and slightly dirtier to be honest - but the colour of the sand was stunning in contrast with the bright blue sky (I swear my photos didn't need any editing - it really just was that colour)!

Wearing Al Et Clar Denim Dress, Hat of Cain Fedora

 Fishing Village
It was quite amazing to see the sheer amount of boats! The smell of the sea was quite overwhelming as well as the rubbish lining the streets, and sadly we didn't learn much about the background of this fishing village since our tour guide literally just dropped us there to take pictures (pick your tours wisely, folks!) Seafood in Mui Ne is super affordable, so it's still kinda cool to see where it comes from.

The Fairy Stream
The entrance to the Fairy Stream was looked like a nondescript longkang (drain) in the middle of a town and we were wondering why is this a tourist attraction? But after a short trek with the cool water running through our toes, it opened up to a country side with the most inspiring rock formations made of layer upon layer of bright, blinding orange. Super unexpected and super glad we didn't skip this (we almost did because of time)!

So there you have it! The end of our Vietnam journey! After baking in the sun all day, we even managed to make it back to our hotel by 10am for breakfast and lounged by the beach for the rest of the day. Mui Ne made me realise how much exotic sights Asia has to offer without having to travel too far away or break the bank, and I'm looking forward to exploring more of Vietnam in the super near future!

Photos by Trishna Goklani and Myself

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Vietnam Visual Diary : Mia Resort Mui Ne

Posted on Monday, June 6, 2016


Outfit 1: Hat of Cain Fedora | Victoria's Secret Bikini Top | Missguided Bikini Bottom
Outfit 2: So Frocking Good Crop Top (now LazyGirl.co) | Zulu & Zephyr Bikini Set

Trishna and I have so much love for Mia Resort. After a bumpy 5 hour bus ride from the mountains of Da Lat to the beach town of Mui Ne (mooi-neh), it was like a paradise of lemongrass scents, freebies (oh yes, there were tons) and impeccable service. I'm so glad we intentionally left Mui Ne till the end of our trip to R&R after days of chiong-ing through Vietnam.

Yes, Vietnam is a huge country and I would definitely recommend tackling it in two parts - the South, and the North because there are little gems along the way such as Mui Ne, which is only just getting more popular (we picked it over the more touristy Nha Trang) and I think us staying at Mia Resort definitely made our experience so much better!

Breakfast
Firstly, Their breakfast was AMAZING. Nothing typical or expected (ahem *continental breakfasts*). There was a fruit juice of the day. We got custom, freshly made Vietnamese coffees every day. Wildly colourful tropical fruits. Our favourite, BANH MI sandwich was just there, free flow. And we even got a cute as a button blue paper breakfast box to take away food on the day that we were out early (4am) for our sand dunes tour. The box contained things like yogurt, bread, a hard boiled egg and bananas. On our last day, we took another box to take away food, which the staff happily let us do.

At night, their hotel restaurant, Sandals, where we have our breakfast is also one of the top recommendations to eat at in Mui Ne too!

The Beach
I never broke a sweat, even when lying in the sun on the Mui Ne beaches because of the strong and consistent sea breeze, which also makes the Mui Ne an excellent place for wind surfing too. You can literally walk from the hotel pool right onto the public beach so it was super convenient and we didn't have to think too much on how to get anywhere!

Tips:
Yes, we got a lot of freebies - and here's how you can too!

Room Upgrade: First of all, we got upgraded from our original Sapa rooms (the lowest tier) which cost us S$150.00 (or $75.00/night each), to a gorgeous bungalow with an open air bathroom and complete with attap roof. This was because I requested for twin beds beforehand, and the rooms we booked did not have twin beds, hence... upgrade! Ta-dah!

Free Cocktails: The staff noticed we were taking a lot of pictures around the hotel and informed us that there is a contest on their hotel Facebook page in which they pick a winner every day at 4pm to win a pair of damn fancy cocktails. Needless to say, no one joins it, so we won for two days straight - haha!

Free Fruits: There are many Vietnamese women walking along the public beach selling fruits. However if you have the patience, in the middle of the day (between 1pm-4pm) our resort pool boys will come around with free fruits just for us hotel guests! So refreshing to enjoy with the palm trees swaying overhead. Also, a great time for us to play Lana Del Rey's High by the Beach and Music to Watch Boys to in the background, cause we chill AF.

Free Bicycle Rentals: Ok, not really recommended because traffic in Vietnam is CRAZY and a taxi ride from the restaurants costs us all of S$1.00 in comparison, but Mia Resort has bicycles that they let their guests rent, for free! Do yourself a favour and take one with a bell if you decide to do it... but don't, haha.

Free Yoga lessons: Sadly we didn't have time for these, but there are certain days of the week that you can do yoga in the resort, something I wish I did!

If you want to visit Mui Ne, definitely book a resort along the beach stretch in between Phan Thiet and Mui Ne as there is a little tourist town with all the amenities you need to complete your Mui Ne experience, like abundant seafood restaurants, places to book your tour to the famous sand dunes, and mini grocery shops for holiday necessities like beer and sunscreen! I've had friends who visited Mui Ne but stayed in the city center which is quite dreary looking having passed through it on our bus. All of my friends also recounted the locals not being very unfriendly to tourists, and hence their experiences were not as overwhelmingly positive as mine and Trishna's was! We heart Mui Ne, really.

Mia Resort Mui Ne has a full 5/5 stars on Tripadvisor, so they are definitely doing something right. Do yourself a favour, and if you come to this part of the world, definitely book a stay here!

Photos by Trishna Goklani and Myself
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