The title has been taken from the tagline of Vietnam Tourism but it’s something we felt when we decided to explore this country for our first trip after marriage!! Yes agreed, Vietnam is not the first destination which comes to your mind for honeymoon. But yes, we were in the phase of trying out something new and wanted to explore a unique sort of destination. We had planned all the details and destinations of the trip ourselves, thanks to Google and different travel portals which came to our rescue. By we, I mean me (Radhika) and my husband Varun. We are based out of Mumbai, with nerdy professional degrees of CA and MBA and have found our true calling in the field of travel and photography.
I have just started blogging, so my posts would be of our trips which may not be the latest but are truly special. The intention is to give you'll a sneak-peek and share the beautiful and heart-touching experiences felt while travelling various lovely places.
So, coming back to the trip; we had 2 destinations in mind - Vietnam and Philippines and we selected Vietnam since it offered a variety of topographies such as deserts, beaches, villages, etc. Our trip to Vietnam started and ended at Ho chi Minh City and the journey was:
Ho chi Minh City --> Phú Quốc --> Mũi Né --> Hanoi --> Halong --> Ho chi Minh City (Saigon).
I would be covering Phú Quốc and Mũi Né in this blog and will continue on the other destinations on my next blog!! So yes, stay tuned :-p
There is a reason why we selected these places; as we had a keen inclination to venture in water sports, which we did to our heart's content. We were at Phú Quốc for almost 4 days and tried our hands at Fishing, Scuba diving and snorkelling.
We went for a day trip which starts at about 9 am and goes on until 4 pm. You go for a scuba dive first followed by snorkelling. The trip is quite satisfying and you meet a lot of foreigners on your boat. We had a big family of Germans in ours, who kept to themselves but the tour group were very friendly. There was a small issue with my scuba mask and it got completely fogged because of which I couldn't clearly see all the visuals underwater (something which makes me sad till date). It's the same feeling when our spectacles get fogged after leaving an AC room; irritating isn't it?... Anyways the snorkelling experience was very good but let me highlight one point, the visibility and corals at Phú Quốc was not as amazing as I had expected; I had a better visibility and view at Ko Mak Thailand (Detailed blog coming soon).
Fishing was a completely unique experience and I was horrible at it as expected; but couldn't believe that Varun actually caught 4 fishes. The entire boat was surprised at this.
Next stop - Mũi Né
Before I start talking about Mũi Né; I have to mention about the buses we travelled in Vietnam. We had never seen such type of buses in India or anywhere till date and it deserves a special mention. These buses have a comfortable recliner type seats which are appropriate for a 5-to-6-hour journey. Completely air-conditioned and very clean (they make you take out your footwear and put it in a cloth bag before entering the bus). You can catch a good nap or read a nice book on your journey (I did both!!).
So, we reached Mũi Né and headed straight to our Airbnb place... it was beautiful and the host was really sweet. He also gave me a present - a necklace which he had himself made out of the sea shells and corals, isn't that really sweet? Have posted a pic of the gift :-).
Coming back to Mui Ne, the best thing about this place is that it offers an array of topographies - you have the sand dunes - white and red, you have a decent stretch of fairy stream, where you can walk in ankle-deep water and a coastal strip of blue waters all across the town.
We started our journey at 4 am to reach just in time for the Sunrise. After reaching the place, one can either book the Dune buggy or can choose to walk it out. While going we chose the buggy ride, as we thought we would miss the sunrise.
We reached before time and there were already a lot of people who had reached before us. Was just wondering when did they get up? :/
The entire lot were just waiting for the Sunrise, and as the sun unveiled itself, it was truly a magical moment and was totally worth the sleep which we were deprived off.
While returning back to our vehicle, we chose to walk it out and that's when we realized that the distance is easily walkable. So, the conclusion is even though they convince you to take the buggy, one can walk and reach the sunrise point. Trust me you will enjoy the walk!!
That's not all, the best is yet to come!!! Our next stop was the red sand dunes which was good but the sun was shining too bright which created some discomfort as we didn't have a hat. Over here we just hung around for a while, took some photographs and proceeded with our next destination.
Our next stop was the highlight of the place - The Fairy Stream!!!
Fairy Stream - basically it’s a stream of water which is surrounded by giant rock formations with red sand one side and greenery on the other. It’s actually like the fairy land! Initially before stepping into the water I expected some small stones which accompanied the thought of a stream. But to my utter surprise there was this soft and cold sand underneath just like a beach with only ankle-deep water, which made the entire walk extremely magical. It actually felt like a mystic land and I'm yet to get over the feeling of the cool water over soft sand surrounded by beautiful rock formations. This is definitely a must visit if you are at Mũi Né!!
So, yes summing up our experience till Mũi Né on this mysterious trip to Vietnam! Will be continuing on our next destinations i.e., Hanoi, Halong bay and Ho chi Minh City in the next blog which will be uploaded soon, so stay tuned and do check it out.
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