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Published: November 22nd 2012
On November 18, we left Ho Chi Minh City via bus to head to our "honeymoon" resort in Phan Thiet, a small coastal town north of the city. Scott arranged our trip, and we really didn't know what the bus situation would be until we got on it (other than the fact that it would take relatively close to 4 hours and drop us off...somewhere). Luckily, our bus was very nice, spacious and air-conditioned with complimentary bottles of water, and we soon found out it would literally drop us off right in front of our hotel. Score! During the ride, we even stopped at a bus stop/restaurant for lunch that served amazing pho - we were a tad sketched out by the set-up of the place at first, but decided to throw caution to the wind and hope the roadside cuisine didn't make us sick, which it didn't (though I was convinced for a brief time that I was dying afterwards).
We arrived at the Victoria Phan Thiet Beach Resort and Spa around 2:00 p.m. Though our entire 4 month trip is basically an extended honeymoon, this stop was my request for a few luxurious (aka expensive, haha), relaxing days
of beachside cocktails and pampering before we continue our backpacking adventure. Our home this week has been an adorable bungalow with a thatched roof only a few steps from the ocean's crashing waves. Aside from the giant tub, my favorite amenity is the enclosed outdoor shower just outside the bathroom. The clear blue sky and palm trees or the twinkling stars at nighttime make much better scenery than glass and tile. We also have a nice little patio with comfy lounge chairs and an umbrella, which has served as a nice spot for reading or watching the kite surfers and fishing boats pass by on the sea.
One of our favorite nightly rituals of the staff is their manner of preparing our room for bedtime by leaving us little cakes on a banana leaf in a wooden box labeled "goodnight." They also provide us with a piece of paper rolled up like a scroll and tied with ribbon, containing a different "bedtime story" from traditional Vietnamese folklore each night. These are usually quite entertaining and hilarious (even though we probably shouldn't find them to be...). Additionally, they arrange a mosquito net over our bed. So far we haven't seen
many bugs other than ants outside. However, a gecko did make its way into one of our bags of fruit one night (we're still not sure how it got inside), and we found a pretty crazy looking centipede in the bathroom. Oh, and one night there was a giant snake hanging out next to our bungalow. No big deal.
For some reason (jet lag) we've been waking up really early every day - around 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. - so we've gotten to see some beautiful sunrises, as well as sunsets, which happen around 5:30-6:00 p.m. As a result, we've been going to bed as early as 8:30 or 9:00 at night. In the mornings, there's an awesome complimentary breakfast with a huge spread of Vietnamese and Western favorites, as well as lots of incredible fruit that I had never tried before now. They also have an array of freshly squeezed juices, my favorite of which being "passion juice" (it's passion fruit juice, but passion juice sounds better, right?).
We were kind of surprised to find the lunch and dinner menus in the hotel restaurant included more western choices than Vietnamese. I guess since it's a resort, they
presume most of the guests won't be as adventurous as us, haha. We've stuck with the local options, and so far they haven't dissapointed. Also, I have to add that this place has some of the tastiest cocktails I've ever had in my life, probably due to the fact that they use fresh squeezed juices and put chunks of chopped up fruit in them.
The surroundings here are positively gorgeous, with fruit trees and flowers everywhere you look, as well as coconut palms. If you order coconut juice in the restaurant, they bring you a giant coconut from the premesis with the top chopped off. We've been finding lots of great seashells that aren't common on SC beaches and have a pretty nice collection going. The beach itself is a little rocky - we tried to swim in the ocean once and I almost sliced my foot open. Hopefully our next stop, Mui Ne (a beach town slightly north of here) will have a beach better for swimming. There are, however, two nice pools here; one of them is a large infinity pool that gives the illusion that it drops off into the ocean. I swam there the other
day, and the view of the ocean was amazing.
The resort also has a lovely spa area comprised of little huts alongside the beachfront where you can get massages, facials and other forms of pampering (for a pretty penny, of course). The spa does have some beautiful floating flower arrangements made of flowers, petals and leaves placed in a bird bath type pool in intricate patterns. We tested out the cool-water jacuzzi, which was nice in the heat, but we stayed away from the sauna (I'm guessing it rarely gets used...).
Overall the staff have been very friendly and accommodating, but only some of them understand more than a few phrases in English, so the language barrier has been a bit difficult. If only we knew some Vietnamese! We've noticed that food and such are definitely more expensive here than outside the resort, but we expected that. It's been fun splurging a little, and tomorrow it will be back to backpacker guest houses! (which seem to be rather nice themselves, and much cheaper!)
To get out and about a little bit, we decided to sign up for one of the hotel's "excursions" on Tuesday. It was pretty
much an all day deal beginning at 6:00 a.m. We got our wake up call at 5:15 a.m., made some hot tea and watched the sun rise over the ocean before getting ready. Then we headed to the lobby where we were met by our van driver, the chef from the restaurant, and our Vietnamese tour guide who spoke decent English.
We were first taken to the Phan Thiet harbor, just as the boats were arriving and unloading their fish and other seafood. We watched as they put their catches on big containers of shaved ice, produced by a loud, smoky, machine that takes giant blocks of ice and shaves them - kind of like a huge snow cone machine. Then we were led to the nearby covered outdoor market where seafood, meat, fruit, vegetables, clothing and household items were being sold. The chef told us he would be teaching us how to cook a Wahoo dish later on in the day, and he pointed the fish out to us.
After the market, we went to one of the oldest (and best) local places to get pho. It wasn't much to look at, but the soup was amazing
- my new favorite breakfast food, considering at this point it was about 8:00 a.m. It was interesting getting to share a Vietnamese specialty with some locals - they told us this was their favorite spot for pho, and the cook showed us the giant pots where the broth is cooked for a minimum of 12 hours!
When we finished our breakfast, we went to the Van Thuy Temple, or the "fisherman's temple," established 1762. The temple serves as a place for fishermen to pray to the Father of the Sea before they go out to sea and once they return to land safely. The temple is home to the largest whale skeleton in Southeast Asia, which is on display. It also houses the bones of 100 other whales. We were told that whales are revered by fishermen, and when they die and wash up on the shore, the fishermen bury them and conduct a funeral.
After we left the temple, our guide gave us chilled wet hand towels scented with lemongrass (which so far has been customary at many of the restaurants we've been to in Vietnam) to wash our hands and cool us off. He then
gave us a plate of fresh fruit and bottles of water and offered to buy us some coffee. I took him up on the offer and tried it the Vietnamese way - sweetened condensed milk mixed with super strong espresso-like coffee served on ice - a caffeinated kick in the face, and incredibly sweet, but delicious!
Our last stop was a local family owned Nuoc Mam (fish sauce) making establishment. It was basically a fish sauce store with several giant jugs with lids out back. A combination of salt and fish had been placed in them to ferment for three and a half months, thus creating the fish sauce. The chef with us told us not to buy any here though, because they add too many ingredients, like sugar, to the sauce after it ferments. He said his favorite was from a different region of Vietnam, Phu Quoc Island.
We then headed back to the resort for a short break, during which I scrubbed my feet and flip flops with soap and water in an effort to rid them of the film of slime and pungent fish smell they'd acquired while touring the harbor - word of the
wise: don't wear flip flops to a fish market. Seriously. Don't.
After resting a bit, we met up with the chef at a covered outdoor area beside the water for a lesson in Vietnamese cooking. It ended up being more of an observation than a hands-on lesson, but we did get to help make some yummy fried spring rolls! The chef talked us through each recipe as he and his assistant cooked. We learned how to make an Italian inspired carpaccio dish with red tuna and a "hot pot" consisting of a sauce made with sauteed garlic, shallots and chilis in a fish sauce and caramelized sugar combination which was poured into a clay pot over seared Wahoo and baked in the oven.
Once our dishes were prepared, we got to enjoy them at our own private outdoor table and talk to the chef for a while. He gave us the recipes for what we'd cooked, and I think we bonded with him because that night at dinner he made us our own special appetizer that was out of this world.
Our final event of the day's excursion - a sixty minute Asian massage - was (you
guessed it!) the highlight of my day. I must say this was the first massage I've ever gotten where the masseuse literally pulled my underwear down and massaged my butt...but hey, I guess your glutes can get tense, too! This was Scott's first massage ever, and although he wasn't lucky enough to get a surprise butt massage thrown in, I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it. Afterwards, they even gave us jasmine tea, dragon fruit and sweet yogurt before we left.
When we got back, I was deadset on taking a relaxing bath in our huge tub (and finally shaving my legs for the first time since we arrived in Vietnam), so I was pretty disappointed to find that the drain didn't work/I may have broken it...Shh don't tell! Luckily maintenance came and fixed it, but I had to wait because Scott and I wanted to check out happy hour at the bar. He ended up ordering a drink called Ginger Attack; the name was very appropriate considering it turned out to be a martini glass full of ground up ginger with some rum hidden in there somewhere. He liked it, but it was like ginger ale on steroids and
killed his taste buds instantly. I stuck to my favorite fruity concoction. All the while, we listened to the hotel's live entertainment - a Vietnamese male and female duo in matching tie dyed get ups (the night before it had been leopard print) singing classics like "Call Me Maybe" and "Moves Like Jagger" to the electronic beats of a keyboard. Okay, I'll admit I didn't hate it (Scott on the other hand...). The woman did have a fantastic voice though.
After dinner and our favorite dessert - a combo of homemade ginger and coconut ice-creams - we headed back to the room with the hope of staying up and reading or watching TV for a bit before bed. Fail. We fell asleep during the most exciting part of Armageddon. So either we're still jet lagged or already turning into an old married couple. Either way, we got a good night's sleep and enjoyed our last day at this beautiful place. Tomorrow we'll move on to another. We also can't wait to spend our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple...Vietnamese style!
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Cici
non-member comment
Fish Sauce
Will you bring me some fish sauce if possible? :)