Chau Doc to Ha Tien to Phu Quoc Island

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We were woken up at 6am to a hammering on the door. “Your 8am bus has been cancelled, you get 7am bus”, the guy on reception told us when we finally stumbled out of bed and found him on the other side of the door. Bless him, he packed us off with a bread roll and some dairylea since we didn’t have time for breakfast.

Then came the bus journey to Ha Tien – and this is what I mean about being careful not to assume that just because you book through a tour company, you’ll be traveling in style. We were on the public bus, with all the locals, who seemed to know something we didn’t as they were wearing helmets – yes, as in motorbike helmets. Hmmm…well, we tried not to be too concerned, as our backpacks were thrown onto the roof of the bus and we took our seats.

3 hours later, we’d made it to Ha Tien relatively unscathed, with our skulls still in tact. Then it was a quick bit of lunch (that dairylea roll didn’t do the job) and straight onto the boat to Phu Quoc. We met a couple who were traveling with their two young children for 4 months, which I thought was really cool, but very brave as well! Lugging a push chair around SE Asia as well as a backpack would prove too much for me I think. They were such a glamourous family – she was Italian, he was French, and they spoke to their kids in both languages so they’d be bilingual. Jealous!

Another 2 hours later and we finally (finally!) arrived in Phu Quoc (or on Phu Quoc? I never know when it comes to islands!). First impressions were that it was indeed a beautiful idyllic paradise – thank God for that! I don’t take 3 hour-head-injury-risking bus journeys for just anything.

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