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Published: November 17th 2012
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Step 1: Lift the faucet handle up.
Step 2: Then turn the faucet handle to the left.
Step 3: Wait for a few minutes.
Step 4: Then enjoy hot water shower from a clean source of energy.
At first I was baffled by steps 1 thru 3, but then i waited a few minutes and it all came together. I'm glad that something as trivial as taking a hot shower hasn't become more complicated here. Its funny, I was laughing all week at the phrasing of "enjoy hot water shower from a clean source of energy". Water comes from energy??? Very cool, i must seek out this energy source and find all its hot water. But just yesterday, i looked at the top of the sign and read the bit about about how the water is being heated up via solar energy. Ahhhhh... i'm the idiot. All week i was laughing at them, and now they are laughing at me.
I must say, i absolutely loved this place (SeaStar Resort). The staff were extremely friendly and helpful. The bungalow we had, had a little front porch with lounge chairs that faced the beach. Our view was
perfect. Sand, palm trees, and the ocean. If we ventured off our porch, it was a only a few steps until we got to the deck chairs on the beach. And since most of the resorts are quite small, the beach was not crowded in the least. Every once in a while "fruit ladies", as I like to call them, would stroll by with buckets of fresh fruit slung over their shoulder. They are very respectful as they won't just walk up and hassle you to purchase it, instead they will only approach you if you signal for them. They had fresh bananas, mangoes, pineapples, etc. And they slice it up right in front of you, and give it to you in a plastic bag so your hands don't get all sticky. It ended up being one of my favorite aspects of the visit to Phu Quoc.
Another high point was meeting one of the employees at the resort, named Khanh. He is probably 16-17 years old. He took a liking to Sara and me on the first day, because he was able to practice speaking English with us. He asked us if during his breaks each day, if
it was ok that he stop by our bungalow and just talk with us for 10 minutes a day. Of course we said yes. The first day Sara was out at the store when Khanh stopped by, he sheepishly walked over, probably not wanting to disturb me. I invited him over, and then he started asking these questions that he had probably spent some time pre-preparing. Questions like:
- where do you live?
- what is the population of Minnesota?
- what is the biggest university in Minnesota?
And one of my favorite questions was:
- what are common jobs in Minnesota?
I froze on this question, didn't really know how to answer it. So I told him that people work at stores and restaurants and work with computers (had to cover my own profession). Ha! Sorry I left out farmers and doctors and bankers and everyone else.
Then we started talking about how many hours people worked on average. When I told him that most people work 40 hour weeks, he seemed surprised. I asked him how much he works. He said he works 14 hour days. 11 at the hotel and
3 with the fishing boat tour company. And he gets only one day off per month. I asked him why he works so much, and then he told me how he's supporting his mom because she is unable to work. This is why he wants to become more proficient in speaking English, so he can work at the tour company office. He could work shorter days, get one day off per week, and get paid more. But in order to have this job, he needs to pass an English examination which is offered on the mainland in Saigon. So when he feels he's proficient enough, and he's saved up enough money (for airfare, hotel, and test fees), then he will go take the test. I felt bad for him. So much responsibility for a kid that age. So everyday around 1 or 2pm, without fail, he would stop by and we would just talk until he had to go back to work. I think he was very appreciative for the time we spent with him.
Anyways, on the 2nd to last day on Phu Quoc, we decided to go scuba diving. We went with "Rainbow Divers" because they had
the best reviews. They picked us up from our hotel around 8am and brought us to our boat. The diveboat is the biggest we've ever been on. It was a doubledecker with a sun deck up top. We went on two dives, both were pretty shallow (around 30 feet, which was cool because we got to use our waterproof camera which was rated to 40 feet). Visibility was decent, and there was enough coral to keep the dive interesting. But it was a little dissappointing that we didn't see any big fish. We still had a good time, because the dive masters were really outgoing and enthusiastic. And we also met this couple from Poland (Lukasz and Basia) that we talked to for the hour and a half boat ride.
That night, we went to the Night Market, which is supposed to be the best place to get seafood for cheap. As we walked in, the market is lined with food stand after food stand, all with loads of seafood on display. Anything you could possibly want, including some exotic options like frog (which were still alive at the time). When asked if we wanted frog to be grilled
up, we gave a look of disgust. They snickered at us. We ended up getting an entire Red Snapper fish (not just the fillets). They grilled it up along with rice and vegetables. We also got a few tiger beers all for the price of $8. Not too bad. It was kinda funny. Sara is a bit new to trying seafood, she was a bit bothered by the fact that she could see the fish's eye, so she covered it up with a napkin. That made her feel better. After this, we went to a little bar called La Luna where we met up with some of our diving friends for a "Pirate" party. Of course since we did not have anything to make a costume out of, we did not look much like pirates. But they were all decked out in eyepatches, tattered clothes, and fake tattoos. It was a good time.
The last day we did some scootering around the island which was pretty enjoyable. Although as we were trucking around the island, we discovered that an international airport is near completed, and a bunch of new resorts are being built. So the this quaint little island,
"ain't be so quaint" for much longer.
Well, off to Hanoi!
-Nick
Video Links some videos from our cool under water camera:
Mama Ox
non-member comment
Loved the last entry.. Can't wait to hear about your cruise now. Loved the story of the guy you helped out with his english.. So sweet. Sounds like an amazing trip so far.