Vietnam
Mui Ne
Sahara-scale red and white sand dunes advancing on a coast smelling heavily of fermented fish.
The dunes should not be here. Sahara-scale slopes of red and white sand rising thirty metres from a coastline that smells overwhelmingly of fish sauce — barrels of it fermenting in wooden vats along the road, the pungent vapour mixing with the sea salt wind. At sunset, the red dunes turn deep crimson and the kite surfers launch from the beach below.
Mui Ne is a coastal strip in Binh Thuan Province where sand dunes, a fishing village, and consistent wind conditions coexist in an unlikely combination. The red dunes turn vivid crimson at sunset; the white dunes to the north are large enough to sand-board. Fairy Stream, a warm ankle-deep river, cuts through layered red and white sandstone into the dune system. The fishing harbour at dawn presents a wall of blue wooden boats, drying nets, and the pungent reality of Vietnam's fish sauce industry — Phan Thiet, adjacent to Mui Ne, produces some of the country's most prized nuoc mam. Kitesurfing conditions from November to March draw international riders, with fifteen-to-twenty-knot winds blowing consistently off the East Sea.
Couple
Sunset on the red dunes turns the sand to crimson, Fairy Stream winds through sandstone canyons, and the fishing harbour at dawn is one of Vietnam's most photogenic morning scenes.
Friends
Kitesurfing, sand-boarding down the white dunes, and then grilling scallops on the beach — Mui Ne delivers adrenaline and absurdity in equal measure.
- Red and white sand dunes rise to thirty metres, with the red dunes turning deep crimson at sunset.
- Kitesurfing conditions from November to March draw international riders — consistent fifteen-to-twenty-knot winds off the East Sea.
- Fairy Stream is a warm, ankle-deep river cutting through layered red and white sandstone into the dunes.
- The fishing village harbour at dawn is a wall of blue wooden boats, nets, and the pungent smell of drying fish sauce.
Banh quai vac translucent shrimp dumplings dipped in intensely local fish sauce.
Scallops grilled with scallion oil and crushed peanuts directly on the beach.
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Prehistoric swimmers painted on cave walls in the deep Sahara, from when this wasteland was green.
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