Sand dunes in Vietnam? Never heard of them? Neither had we, so we thought we had to see it. It also came in handy as a stopover between Ho Chi Minh and central Vietnam with the lantern city of Hoi An and the imperial city of Hue – both of which we really wanted to see. We also really wanted to try out the legendary train route from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi, even if only on part of the route. No sooner said than done, we book a train to Mui Ne and two nights later the 17-hour overnight train from Mui Ne to Hoi An 
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The train journey to Mui Ne is only around four hours and after a subsequent one-hour cab ride, we arrive in the small fishing village of Mui Ne. As it is already late afternoon, we head straight to the nearby dunes to enjoy the sunset. Even if it can’t be compared to the dunes in Namibia or Peru, there is always something magical about sand dunes and the setting sun. In the dark, we wander around the small town for a while, as the vegan restaurant we were looking for has unfortunately closed spontaneously. After several attempts, we give up and let ourselves be driven to a nearby stretch of beach, where there are several hostels and hotels, and we find what we are looking for right on the beach promenade. Unfortunately, you can tell that it’s more of a tourist restaurant, it tastes a bit bland than we’re used to…
The next morning we take a scooter and explore the coast. We were particularly taken with the “white” dunes around 25 km away. However, shortly after setting off, we are stopped by two policemen on a motorcycle, asked for our international driving licenses – which we have of course forgotten at the hotel – and escorted to the nearest police station. Of course, we have the wrong driving licenses for the scooters commonly used in Vietnam anyway, so let’s see what awaits us…
The police station turns out to be a small hut next to a school and the obvious superior of the two policemen tries to convince us via a translation app how dangerous it is to drive on Vietnam’s roads and that there are always accidents involving tourists who don’t know the “rules of the road” in Vietnam. We play dumb and wait to see what he is actually getting at. And as expected, he offers us a benevolent “compromise”. We should just pay a fine of around €15 and then we can continue driving for the rest of the day without any worries. Of course, we don’t get a ticket or quitting, the €15 goes straight into his pocket and he kindly uploads a photo of our license plate to the police system (presumably a WhatsApp group… 
), then nobody would bother us anymore… Yeah, sure, but what can you do.
Whether it’s the great police system or just luck, we have no more contact with the police for the rest of the day, drive to and walk through the white dunes. We also spend the afternoon on the beach and visit the vegan restaurant in the evening, which was closed the day before (simply delicious!!!). We round off the evening with a beer and “fried ice cream” and set off the next day after breakfast on the 17-hour train journey to Hoi An….