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Published: August 15th 2009
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We have had several holidays within the holiday that has been this trip. Unawatuna, was the first, followed by Mirrissa, Kota Kinabalu and now Phu Quoc. What they have had in common has been staying for a period in one place, and beaches. The children are instantly happy doing very little but urgently. They run around and cast spells, dig holes, build sandcastles and irrigate water trenches. Our accommodation this time is on the beach so they can run about paths and explore. There are only 10 rooms and we have 2 of them. Each room has its own front door and porch, with a barrel of water outside and a coconut shell ladle to wash the sand off. For the boys these have made cauldrons and they have sat doing lessons as the next generation of Hogwarts, Jake now Harry as headmaster, Elliot as eldest son James dominating Hogwarts like potent combination of Fred, George, Harry and Hermione.
We watched from our hammocks where we had been reading in stitches as in an attempt to save a sandcastle they had built Elliot stood shouting “stupefy” and “impedimenta” at the sea before running and hitting and kicking the waves. “Our”
Tough decision for Jake
Too many choices on the ice cream menu beach is lovely, but the sea quite rough as it is the rainy season on this side of the island. Better conditions are forecast on the East.
We hired scooters again, from the hotel we were staying in. It was probably a little more expensive than we could have got, but we were 4k from town, along a rough red clay road that is in the process of being upgraded for the international airport that is being built further along. If you want to get anywhere other than the beach you need a scooter or a taxi, and one taxi to town and back is the daily price of the scooters.
On the day we arrived we did nothing but hang around our beach reading, chatting, writing and watching the boys play. The next day we headed off on expedition on the mopeds. From the state of the roads we were glad we have been mountain bikers for years. We had planned to meet friends here, but arriving at their hotel there was no sign. We made for the internet at a lovely ice cream café (great ices, but unsatisfyingly small food) and discovered we had somehow messed
up the dates, and arranged to meet them on the day we leave, rather than the day we arrived. Disappointed and guilty feeling we set off for the beach Bai Sao, on the south east coast of the island. The coastal road was beautiful, a wide red dirt track following the aptly named Long Beach the length of the island. For long stretches we were the only vehicle and with the sun on our backs and wind in our hair we felt like real bikers. Some of the route was pretty extreme off road, and we would have been more at ease on scramblers rather than mopeds.
We turned off, crossing the main road (obvious as it had tarmac) and down a windy and at times steep track to the beach. Bai Sao is potentially the loveliest beach we have ever seen (and at this stage of our adventure that is saying something). Tree clad hills drop down into a wide shallow bay of turquoise warm sea water. The sand, lined with palms and trees, is like icing sugar, finer than any we have seen, and white. One downside though, as we wandered into the water Elliot first began
CHiPs
Elliot models yet another pair of sunglasses... to complain of little pinches or needles. We all experienced it, but could see nothing. Later as we walked back along the sea from a delicious lunch, we saw tiny transparent jellyfish washed up in the shoreline. Apparently these are only there rarely, for a week or two, we have just got lucky. After a day on the beach we returned along the main road, which was both better and busier.
The following couple of days were again spent mostly at our home beach, and we watched a fisherman laying his nets in the strangest craft. He spend hours floating about in an inner tube. Local fishermen are the main inhabitants of the beach along with women who wander up and down offering massage, manicures and pedicures to the few tourists here off season. I had my first manicure and pedicure and Nicky laughed as 3 ladies crouched around me, one doing my fingers, another my feet (poor girl) and the third doing all of the talking and trying desperately to get Nicky to let her loose on her legs with a piece of cotton. The whole thing cost just over £2 and was a lot better way of
getting my nails done, and they did a far better job than I ever have. Mostly we read, interspersed with swims and quick jaunts into town for ices and cash.
Internet arrived at the beach club during that couple of days and the first day there was a permanent queue at the laptop. The next day wi-fi arrived too, a huge upgrade for us, but the owner has gone to Saigon taking his laptop with him so many cannot now get on. The little net book computer we bought before coming has been brilliant, and we would recommend something like it to anyone setting off on travels. It has given us free internet in lots of places, enabled us to track finances in excel, manage digital photos and keep records.
After a couple of days off and getting more confident on the mopeds we headed off again to Bai Sao. There were two reasons for our increasing confidence: we were now more practised on the bikes; the road outside is being done up, and everyday there are fewer bumps and more sections that have been hardcored and steam rollered.
This time we drove down to the beach club
at Bai Sao, which was a touch more civilised, but still beautiful, and with a much better section of dirt road leading down to it. Better still the pesky jellyfish seemed to have all vanished, so it is now the perfect beach! At lunch the boys ate well under our thatched roof, and then pleaded for a go on the jet skis. Neither of us is a fan, but it seemed unfair to deny them, so we hired one for 200,000 for 10 minutes (just under £7). I set off with Jake on the back and Elliot on the front, just as I used to cycle them to the childminders way back when we lived in Glasgow. Unlike then however once out I let Elliot take control. He loved driving it, and then we swapped places to let Jake have a shot. They were both exhilarated both by the jet ski and by driving, and contemplating whether to spend some of their own money (heaven forbid) on another go.
On the way on the flat straight road we swapped places on the mopeds letting the boys sit in front. Jake even took a shot at driving (though adult hands
were never far away) later claiming it was like flying a broomstick (well he’d know!) How they will cope with Britain’s strict rules now is hard to guess. Out here things are your own responsibility meaning it is up to you.
Our final day here was spent on the perfect beach again. It really has been a tough few days: one beach or another or Buddy’s Ice cream parlour. Oh and yes, the boys did decide on another shot on the jet skis.
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Grandad
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Very glad I can be with you more in spirit since we came out but can't convince myself that Boots is a better option than Beach today. Stay well and fare well X