Taking a trip to Hon Rom – Mui Ne grassland

Hon Rom grassland is a small site belonging to Mui Ne ward, Phan Thiet city, Binh Thuan province. It is very easy to access to this small grassland, visitors can take the bus (route No.1 in blue bus or No. 9 in red bus) from Phan Thiet to Mui Ne, absolutely, the bus will pass by Hon Rom grassland where you can get off for the purpose of sightseeing and swimming. It sounds simple, but the locals as well as the bus drivers do not regard this place as a tourist spot, thus visitors should get off at the bus station far from Mui Ne about 6 – 7 kilometres. This is exactly a beautiful place to enjoy.

In every early November and December, Hon Rom grassland demonstrates its attractiveness through the green of the hill covered by grass integrating with the blue of sea, the green of casuarinas, the colors of an expanse of multiform pebbles, cactus’ flowers and the dark yellow of the cattle leisurely grazing grass. The name of this location came as a complete surprise to us. I express my curiosity to a native guy and receive an explanation that: “at this time of year, because of the timely and widespread rainfall, the grass here can grow verdantly. Yet, in other months of the year, the grass is bone-dry covering the hill which looks like a hot and dry heap of straw. Therefore, the name of Hon Rom was born since then”.

Bearing the beauties of sea and grassland, Hon Rom enchants visitors with two opposite beauties. The former is a wild pretty picture of the mountain chains surrounding the sea which consists of white sand dunes softly stretching away to the blue and clear sea water. Taking a look from the seashore, these beauties seem to be embellished with wild islands. The white-caps mildly and repeatedly sweep away some grains of sand from dunes. In contrast to the beauty of the sea, the former which is covered by green grass, an expanse of pebbles in all shapes and sizes, low bushes, prickly cactus, etc help to decorate tourists’ pictures. This location is also in a favorable position for people who love lying on grass, watching the moon, counting the stars, listening to the sound of wind, waves, and guitar or romantic singing on the camping nights by the dancing flame.

But, among the most interesting sites worth mentioning is casuarinas line where people can shelter from burning sun and wind incessantly blowing from the sea. It is really an ideal place to shelter and set the meal, play card or even take a good rest on the canvas.

Tips:

From Ho Chi Minh departure, you can approach Hon Rom grassland by train on the Sai Gon – Mui Ne route at the price fluctuating from 130,000 to 150,000 dong. After that, you can take the bus of Phan Thiet – Mui Ne route or hire a motorbike to Mui Ne.

You can come here at any time of year and do not forget to take food and drink with you because Hon Rom is quite far from residential areas. Remember that you should bring swim-suit besides other outfits such as: sun cream, coats, sun hat.  And if you intend to set up camp, remember to bring a tent, blanket, multifunctional pots. You should keep in mind that the number of participants in the camping must be at least of 10 including both male and female. 

Also, you can rent a room in Mui Ne at a price fluctuating around VND 250,000 in some accommodations in the heart of Mui Ne like Ngoc Hien, Y Lan, etc for a stable price. 

From Hon Rom destination, you can also make a trip to Bau Trang sand dunes and do sightseeing a farm that mainly raises salamander (a lizard of the family Agamidae which lives in sand in coastal areas, can be processed into various delicious and nutritious dishes). Or even you can take a look at Turtle Island (or Nghe Island) – an isle emerging in the mid-sea in the shape of a turtle playing with blue waves breaking on the shore.

My Thien (Source: Binh Thuan Newspaper)