Here is the next video we made from our travels all throughout Vietnam. I was in search of waves the entire time we were in the country. Take a look and enjoy!
Wanting To Surf
For the whole time we had been travelling throughout South East Asia, I had not been able to find a good surf spot any where. (Shame we didn’t head to Indo hey!)
I had done so many other fun activities like diving at Sipadan Island in Borneo, went Canonying in Da Lat and even celebrated Songkran Festival in Bangkok, but there was still a part of me that yearned to find a beach with some good swell and surfable waves.
I had heard from a few travllers that Vietnam had a few pretty decent surf areas, so as soon as we arrived in the country, it was my mission to find some swell at every coastal town we stopped at!
Epic Fail!
I don’t know if it was just the wrong time of year or that luck wasn’t on my side, but each town Elise and I headed to there was no surf to be found.
No surf....But At Least We Had Beer!
Sam Son
One of the first beach towns we stopped at was that had a decent enough beach was Sam Son. Apart from almost getting our belongings stolen we had a pretty good time there. Ice cold beer and fresh roasted peanuts was the perfect way to spend an afternoon in Sam Son.
I remember sitting on the beach chairs looking out at the ocean and saying to Eise ‘There’s a bit of swell here!’. Ok, so maybe the swell was only about 1 foot, but still surfable waves!
I then proceeded to ask the waiters if they had any surfboards or knew of where I could rent any. Not really understanding what I meantI proceeded to draw a picture and act out standing on the board in the sand.
In the end though they handed me a menu and said ‘Yes, we serve snake here’. Hmmmmm not really what I had in mind.
China Beach
Heading further down Vietnam on our trusty bike ‘Bullet’ we stopped at probably one of the most beautiful towns in all of Vietnam, Hoi An. About 30 minutes ride away was China Beach. This was one of the two spots I had heard from other travellers that if there was surf to be found in Vietnam then it would be here. Sadly, on that day, the ocean was flat as a tac.
I hadn’t even thought about where I would find a board if I did find surf, instead I was just keen to see a bit of swell!
No Surf Here
Mui Ne
Ok, so remember when I mentioned the two places that surf could be found in Vietnam? Well, Mui Ne was the second one. When we arrived we even found a few stores selling and renting out boards. I really thought I was in luck! It turns out that Mui Ne was more of a paradise for Kite surfers than actual surfing while we were there. Luck really wasn’t on my side!
Vung Tau
Our final coastal stop before we heading into Ho Chi Minh City was the town of Vung Tao. In all honesty it was a pretty seedy town with a small expat community, but we did stay in some amazingly cheap and fantastic accommodation there (hot water, cable tv, wifi & air con) .It is popular with many Vietnamese from Ho Chi Minh City as a weekend spotbecause it is only a couple of hours away.
To sum it up. There was a beach. There were no waves.
At this stage I shouldn’t have really expected anything else!
Vietnam showed me no waves, but I haven’t given up and am still on my search for some clean, crisp peaks to ride.
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Almost! I really thought you were going to find surf…
So close but no cigar! I still haven’t had my fix. Hopefully soon though.
Brilliant video! I used to go to Mui Ne beach about once a month when I lived in Saigon and I have to say that although there were hundreds of kite surfers around I don’t ever recall seeing regular surfing.
Hope you find some surf soon!
An Australian guy walks into a shop called “Africa” in Vietnam looking to surf… ah the life of a traveler, haha love it! Good luck on your quest for surf Anthony.
I will do anything to go for a surf! To bad I didn’t find any though. I was told that China Beach can have up to 5 foot of wind blown swell at times. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.