Castles Made of Sand

Beauty and the beach
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Ok, this time we're serious.  This is the best beach, ever.  Don't attempt to understand the persistant popularity of Southern Thailand, or the draw of Bali....  Look no further than Mui Ne, this place has it all.  From the first look, it is gorgeous.  All the colors you expect to see in a tropical paradise are here, the blue sky, green water, white sand, and fuschia flowers.  And this may sound cynical, but from experience we know it's an important distinction to make: there aren't touters all over the beach offering to sell you sunglasses or wax your legs.  Sure, there are people selling those things if you want them, but they're not all in your face.  If you want it, there is limitless sand to lay on, ocean to swim in, and if you feel like getting up off your butt, there are a ton of natural wonders to see.

Sunset from our room
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We did a sunrise tour which took us to see white sand dunes, red canyons, red sand dunes, the actual fishing village of Mui Ne, and the Fairy stream.  It was all immaculate, like nothing we had ever seen before.  We went sledding down the sand dunes, climbing around in red sand canyons, and splashing through the sandy banks of the Fairy stream.  It felt like the entire town was made out of sand.

The mornings on the beach are idyllic, but in the afternoons things get a little wild.  The winds pick up, and the ocean starts going crazy.  This is when all the adrenalin starts pumping, and the adventure seakers come out to attach their bodies to different types of sails and go flying.  While windsurfing was popular among the tourists, we were the most impressed by kite surfing (see photos).  Of course we did none of the above.  Ben did some body surfing, and Jenny watched from the beach while doing some math.  We are not adventure people, we admit.  Nor are we party people.  But this is why we love Mui Ne.  It is blissfully, peacefully, beautiful.