Mui Doi is one of the 4 polar points of Vietnam, along with the northernmost Lung Cu (Ha Giang), the westernmost A Pa Chai (Dien Bien), the southernmost Dat Mui (Ca Mau) - milestones that any tourist longs to visit once in a lifetime. The reason why it is called Mui Doi is because this place has two large rocks protruding into the sea.
The easternmost point of Mui Doi is located on Hon Gom peninsula, Van Phong Bay, in the territory of Dam Mon fishing village, Van Thanh commune, Van Ninh district, Khanh Hoa province. No matter where you come from, you have to go to Dam Mon first.
I arrived at Dam Mon when the sun was out. Like other coastal lands, the two sides of the road are the sea on one side, and the lagoons raising shrimp and fish on the other. In the afternoon, the atmosphere was desolate and quiet. In the distance, there was a glimpse of a small figure like tiny dots in the middle of the vast sky and water dyed purple by the sunset. When I arrived at Dam Mon market, the starting point of the trekking journey to Mui Doi was also the time when darkness was already covered. In this remote and remote land, accommodation services are extremely sparse. In the flickering light of the motorcycle lights, I was lucky to find a motel after a few minutes of struggling
The journey to "find the first sun" begins the next morning.
I contacted the local guide who had made an appointment. After breakfast, we started our 12km trek to reach the easternmost landmark. This journey took me through different terrains, watching landscapes change from sand dunes to beaches, from winding coastal forest trails to undulating rock rapids.
The first leg opens with desolate sand dunes that make me imagine that I am walking in a desert. The early coastal sun is not too harsh, but it is enough to make me sweat. After walking for a while, I had to continue the journey alone because the guide came back to pick up another group of friends who were going to join the group. I dragged step by step across the miniature desert. The foot sank into the sand. The sun makes the sand heat up gradually, causing the speed to decrease even more. Alone, both scared and having to cross the sand dunes one after another without a shadow of a tree made me think about turning around.
After a moment of hesitation, I decided to move on. After crossing the dunes, I entered the trail. There, what caught my eye was the blue silk strip of the sky and the sea adjoining each other. Golden sun. The water is clear. In the middle of that space, I felt so small.
At noon, I stopped by Uncle Hai Chau's house to stop for a break. His house is tucked away under the green of the trees. The sea in front of his house is crystal clear, and the bottom can be seen. Large stones are stacked on top of each other. There, I met 5 more girls and we will conquer the rest of the journey together.
After the lunch break, our 6 daughters set off to follow the guide. The destination of the first day is Bai Rang. We will camp there so that we can get up early the next morning and move to Mui Doi before dawn. The journey from Uncle Hai's house to Bai Rang is mainly a coastal forest road, steep and perhaps the most laborious. There are mountains about 300m high. Already, because we could not reach Bai Rang before the sun went down the mountain, we had to conquer the last part of the day when the sun had gone down the mountain.
The flickering flashlight flickered in the darkness that covered the entire forest. At about 7 pm, we arrived at Bai Rang. Using the last bit of strength to set up a tent to recline overnight.
In order to catch the sunrise, we had to get up very early, starting at 4:30 a.m. Overcoming a rocky road, the last challenge that we had to overcome to reach that milestone was an extremely dangerous rapids that had to swing a rope to go up.
We sat there, enjoying the reward of the journey was a vast sky and water, the cool breezes blowing in from the sea. The sun slowly rises from the surface of the sea. The rays of the sun began to appear, causing the sky to change color like crystal. Occasionally several fishing boats pass by turning on the sea. Perhaps, this is the most beautiful moment that no one wants to miss on their journey to the Far East.
At the milestone of more than 1 hour. We returned to Rang Beach to arrange our tents and returned to Dam Mon. We chose to return by train instead of walking like the trip. The boat soared on the surface of the sea, I took advantage of this endless feeling of pleasure before leaving Mui Doi.
Photo: Le Phuong
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