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Published: December 9th 2006
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Week 5.
Hello from the beautiful shores of
Phu Quoc Island. While you guys are working extremely hard in the office sheltering from the grey, wet and murky UK weather, I've been having a
very stressful time lounging around on white sandy beaches, riding mopeds and drinking cocktails by the sea...
On Monday last week I joined a two-day organised tour from Saigon to visti the
Mekong Delta, which was basically just a convenient way to reach Phu Quoc for some serious relaxation before heading to Cambodia.
Monday was spent boating around various tributaries in the river delta with the tour group and visiting various 'tourist' attractions such as a coconut candy factory, a honey wine factory (more like small workshops) before being bussed to the town of
Cantho. Even though these short trips pack a lot in, it's rather too organised for my liking and you only really experience the manufactured touristy places. In the evening at Cantho I strolled down by the riverfront to eat then find a bar - there were none - I mean there is literally
nothing to do in that town in the evening! The next day was more enjoyable and included a boat trip
Riding around
Just riding around the island! to a floating market, visiting a rice paper workshop, and seeing some old guy's house and garden before sampling his rather potent snake wine (which was a huge jar of dubious spirit containing all manner of strange herbs and pickled snakes). It was actually rather nice and is claimed to be an aphrodisiac (I didn't notice any effects however!).
Later that day the typhoon that had been threatening just off the coast hit and there was a severe downpour for about 2 hours, though there was no real ill-effects in contrast to Ben Tre further down the coast where the devastation was very serious. In the afternoon our tour guide advised me not to head to Phu Quoc as there would be no ferries for several days; however I decided to head there anyway and hang around until the service was back on, after all I didn't fancy going back to Saigon because I really needed a break from cities and millions of mopeds and I'd been there several days already.
It turned out that 2 Aussies (Brett and his sister, can't remember her name) from the 2-day tour were also going to Phu Quoc so we travelled together by
bus to Rach Gia, where I found a cheap but pleasant hotel ($10) in the centre of town. Rach Gia doesn't really have much going for it in terms of activities but it was pleasant enough to spend the evening there for a few drinks. Unfortunately, I was severely bitten by mosquitos (even now it looks like I have some dodgy disease with huge red blotches all over my feet!).
Next day we discovered that the ferries to Phu Quoc were back on and I obtained a ticket for the afternoon departure to An Thoi town on the southern tip of the island. The journey took just a couple of hours and we arrived at the busy town before biking it to Duong Dong 30km up the west coast.
A bit of background here - apparently Phu Quoc is claimed by Cambodia but administered by Vietnam which maintains a rather large military and naval presence here. It's also famous for fish sauce and hunting dogs...
The west coast of Phu Quoc has a 27km long beach called appropriately enough - Long Beach. It was easy to find accommodation (staying in a beach bungalow at the Tropicana) but I've since moved
to a slightly cheaper place as it was only $9 a night (but just off the beach) at the Eden Bar, which was recommended to me by the manager at the Saigon Eden bar (and she gave me 10%!o(MISSING)ff!). Since my guidebook was written it seems many new places have opened, though it's still extremely quiet.
Since Wednesday I've basically sat about relaxing, though I rented a scooter (110cc) on Thursday and drove the
very dusty road north to reach a beach that has been recommended in the guidebook. Unfortunately when I reached the village I couldn't find the beach so I turned back to Duong Dong to avoid getting lost. Still, tomorrow (Sunday) I'm may take a different direction to another secluded beach or the springs in the centre of the island, followed by a day snorkelling on Monday (or squid fishing by night). I have not really seen anything in Duong Dong town (save for a short visit to buy more factor 30 sunscreen) as there isn't very much there (save for the fish sauce factory and a lighthouse). In fact, Phu Quoc Island is very beautiful but extremely empty - I expect in a few years' time it'll be heaving with multinational hotels and upmarket resorts (which will be a shame in many ways). It's also a great dive centre but I couldn't really be bothered yet to spend 4 days learning, so figure I'll do that in Thailand instead (as well as learning to surf!). I also met a rather nice French girl called Sophie who is staying in the same place as me, so we went for a walk down the beach together - quite nice as it's a good spot for couples.
On Wednesday I'm going to return to the mainland to reach the border town of Chau Doc to collect my passport and visa and take a boat to Pnom Penh in Cambodia...according to Lonely Planet Chau Doc is a rather charming little town, so we'll see.
Right now though I'm off to spend a few hundred thousand dong on cocktails!
Check back in a few days for some pics - I've left my camera at the room so I can't upload any photos just yet!
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Felix
non-member comment
Hi, how's the weather there? I'll be in HCM next week and am looking to head up to Phu Quoc for a few days. Can you recommend any good, cheap places there, or put me in touch by e-mail with any people in Phu Quoc? I'd really appreciate it if you could drop me a mail at tragic_requiem@hotmail.com Thanks