Vietnam TravelTravel Special FeaturesVietnam - A Coastal JourneyPhan Thiet - Sun, Sand and Sea

Phan Thiet - Sun, Sand and Sea

Once a small fishing village, the town of Phan Thiet is now a popular beach getaway, thanks to its fine sandy beaches, clear water and relaxed atmosphere. A five-hours drive from Ho Chi Minh City, this sleepy spot offers world class resorts, water sports like windsurfing and sailing, plus a gorgeous, seaside golf course.

The town itself, which lines both banks of the Phan Thiet River, is home base to a colorful fishing fleet. Fisherman paddle past in round bamboo coracles, fishwives advertise their wares, and children dive off the docks, where hundreds of brightly painted blue and red boats are moored. Thanks to the staring ‘eyes’ painted on the boat's prows, the harbour looks even more crowded with life than it is.

A short distance from town, however, the beaches lie all but deserted, offering visitors the chance to stretch out beneath waving coconut palms or under small thatched-roof shelters. Golfers, meanwhile, can take advantage of the stunning 18-hole Ocean Dune Golf Course, the manicured green studded with small lakes, flowering hedges and palms, which part to reveal glimpses of the sea.

Continue up the coast from Phan Thiet and you'll reach Mui Ne, a stretch of coastline as startlingly beautiful as it is deserted. A row of coconut palms stands guard over the beach, as if to protect the shimmering blue water from the towering sand dunes, which crest high overhead, like huge golden waves.

It was this harsh landscape that inspired one of Vietnam's best-loved poets, Han Mac Tu. An ill-fated genius, Han Mac Tu saw this starkly beautiful coastline as a metaphor for his own suffering. While living Phan Thiet in the 1930s, the young poet fell in love with a woman named Mong Cam. The lovestruck pair often met on Lau Ong Hong (Prince) Hill, beneath the crumbling ruins of a 15th century Cham Temple, six km from Mui Ne. But tragedy struck when Han Mac to contracted leprosy, a disease that condemned him to total isolation.

In 1940, at the age of 28, Han Mac Tu died penniless and unknown, leaving behind nothing but five volumes of poetry, each of which contained hundreds of verses about love, insanity and despair. Today, as you stand beneath the Po Sha Nu Cham towers, cast your thoughts to this doomed poet, who sought solace and inspiration from this view of endless sand and sea.

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