The Perfect Storm in Mui Ne
After all of the bad weather I have been experiencing lately I decided to travel down the coast to a place known as one of the sunniest locations in Vietnam, Mui Ne. All of the literature about Mui Ne discusses how it rarely see’s rainfall and when it does it is light and sporadic – unfortunately for the 3 days I spent there it did nothing but pour it down but on the bright side it did give me some dramatic skies and 3 hours of rain free bliss on my last day!
With the clouds preparing the next batch of rain I jumped onto my motorbike and headed straight to the White Sand Dunes, desperately hoping that the rain would hold off long enough for me to get some photographs taken. The storm was definitely brewing as I raced up and down as many sand dunes as I could reach, the clouds creeping ever closer and growing ever darker. The light was absolutely fantastic towards the end of the shoot and I carried on going longer than most sane photographers with a bag of equipment that doesn’t like getting wet would! It was at this point that the thunder began, almost as a reminder to me that it was time to reach cover, and just as I reached the small shack at the bottom of the dunes the heavens opened and the view in all directions disappeared for what seemed like an eternity.
My window of opportunity presented itself and with a slight drizzle lingering in the air I got back onto my bike and headed back to the safety of Mui Ne – sadly the rain did catch up with me but that is just how it goes sometimes, but I am delighted with my stormy shots, especially as you normally only see photographs of this wonderful place with a blue sky, so I wouldn’t change anything even if I could.
The rain stopped once again on my ride back and I managed to get a few sunset shots along the coast which was a pleasant surprise!
My time in Vietnam has sadly come to an end, but in this profession it is essential to keep moving to new places and countries to get new and updated shots. I have really enjoyed this wonderful country once again and will be sad to leave. Next on my itinerary is Indonesia, specifically Bali and East Java, where waterfalls, temples, volcanoes and rice terraces all make the landscape in this area simply spectacular!
To see the full gallery of new images from Vietnam please click here