Blogs from Phu Quoc Island, Mekong River Delta, Vietnam, Asia

I seem to be writing this blog at a rediculous belated post pace, so apologies are extended. I will make an attempt to catch you up on how my winter woes were nearly absolutely avoided - making an excellent beginning to this year of 2012. As I have come to be all too familiar with the winter in Beijing settled in with a fury and the typical "joys" of government controlled heating (set by date: November 15 - March 15) no matter how cold or mild, fierce Siberan winds, colds/flus which never quit, and knock-off UGGS falling apart mere days after purchase. (I have repaired mine by sewing them together again with dental floss so many times they look like some freaky frankenstien footwear). Needless to say, this level of uncomfortability is something I had come ... read more

Heading south the landscape has change to flat dried rice field, less population and cattle (Brahmans) are used as a means of transporting goods Over the past 5 weeks we have seen the humble scooter and small 110cc motorbike carry the most incredible assortment of things. eg another motorbike, piled high and wide with chickens, bags of bottles, bananas, cow, pigs and so much more. Our mini bus has had to make a detour to collect some other travelers who's bus has broken down, we are now running a bit behind time, what was to be 4 hrs has taken 5hrs. On arrival at the Prek Chak - Cua Khau Quoc international border between Cambodia and Vietnam, we are asked to walk through no man's land from one country to another, on the way a sign ... read more

Like we said, when we get home we will fill in the "blog" details, but for now we will at least write detailed descriptions of the photos. This island is beautiful and so far relatively undeveloped, very inexpensive, and the people are extremely friendly. We could definitely stay here a LOT longer - - wish we had more time!... read more

It's not all palm trees and clown fish One of the lovely things about living here (which makes up for the terrible rain for about 9 months of the year - didn't imagine that, did you?) is that you can get to tropical postcard-like beaches quite easily. Not as easily as some people think - quite a few friends back home mention that they imagine us lying on a beach every weekend. The problem we have is that the Ho Chi Minh City sprawl and the dreadful public transport/road system means that it the nearest beach - Vung Tau - is about 2 hours away and an oil port (not the white sand, lapping waves and palm trees you were imagining) and Mui Ne takes about 5 hours to get to. It's not really doable at ... read more