December 7th to 14th
A beautiful day dawns as we look out on the activity on the river with fishing boats off loading last night’s catch for sale at the market down the street….
In the distance, an earlier fast ferry is heading down the Giang Thanh River, which leads out into the Gulf of Thailand and our next destination, Phu Quoc Island…
The River Hotel is a decent hotel and a good value at 57 CAD. The breakfast was buffet style mostly Asian food but with an egg station and some other Western choices. Quite good, we are the only Westerners and end up briefly chatting with some Vietnamese from Australia who have brought their aged parents for a visit.
Time to check out and head for the ferry dock. A 50m Dong (2.50 Cad) taxi ride across the river and we are at the wonderfully named Superdong Fast Ferry Dock. The passage to Phu Quoc Island, our destination for the next week, is about a 1.5-hour journey for 230m Dong (13 Cad) each.
We are on the Superdong IX, Annie wonders what happened to Dongs 1 through 8, but that is a story for later.
It is a long and slender vessel carrying about 250 passengers and a few dozen scooters, on two air-conditioned decks. Seating is on soft, coach-style, reclinable chairs, in two rows separated by an aisle. There is WIFI and large TVs which play soap operas, reality shows, or music videos. The volume is quite loud, but you hardly notice it after a while.
At the back, there’s a surprising amount of outside deck space, with seating on metal benches. However, the decks are closed for departure and arrival. Light refreshments, such as instant noodles, chips, beer, coffee, and soft drinks, are available onboard at a little bar on the deck.
With a flurry of last-minute arrivals, everyone & everything is loaded on board and we depart on time…it is a lovely day, but windy. As we enter the Gulf proper the waves quickly start building and it promises to be a bumpy crossing ….this is confirmed by the crew who start distributing vomit bags !!
Well, from there the fun starts, and my plan to go out on the aft deck and take pics is quickly shelved, as the boat powers through the waves sending up giant sprays of water, totally covering the windows (we are sitting on the lower deck)….
…..periodically twisting and yawing, somewhat sickeningly (Annie is seriously reconsidering her decision of NOT taking Gravol), the crew distributes more barf bags and a lot of folks are starting to lose their tans and take on a lighter shade of pale. There is some respite as we pass in the lee of several islands, but soon it gets worse as we head through the last 40 minutes of open water. When the waves get seriously large the Captain eases up on the throttle and the ferry does a kind of slow roll through the waves ….no more selfies as people clutch their armrests and sneak furtive, somewhat anxious glances out the windows…others focus laser-like on the TV show to keep their horizon steady….I must say I wasn’t thrilled with the ride, Annie kept breakie in and we were both quite happy to arrive at the dock…the good news is our return to the mainland will be by plane !!!
Phu Quoc is Vietnam’s largest island, and fast becoming the country’s premier beach destination. There are dozens of excellent beaches and numerous resorts in every price bracket. With an international airport and no requirement for a visa for most countries, it is a big draw for Chinese, Malaysians and in particular Russians.
We are staying 7 nights at the Ancarine Beach Resort on Ong Lang Beach with accommodations rising from the beach up a tropically forested hillside….we are considering this as a vacation and have gone all-in securing a beachfront villa. The deal includes pick-up from the ferry dock and sure enough, our ride is there. Another 30 minutes and we arrive, welcome drink, orientation and it seems that the Tripadvisor reviews were accurate …YESS!!!!
We are not planning to do much except walk, swim, kayak, read, eat and generally lax out…this is certainly one of the nicer beach locations we have come across in our travels in Southeast Asia >>> quiet, clean water with a beach which the staff work hard at keeping pristine.
The resort is low-key and rather simple but the grounds are well maintained, the rooms super clean, and comfortable with rather funky bathrooms >>>if you dislike large geckos this may not be for you !!
…the cleaning staff even made up some friends for Moosie, our travel buddy…
Breakfast is at the hotel resto, with a nice selection of Western and Asian dishes (loved the pho) and is all you can eat….as usual in these situations I make up for those who are modest in their caloric intake…
For lunch and dinner, we generally head up the road from the hotel where there are numerous restos and bars within a 15-minute walk…everything is pretty low-key…
….and although not as cheap as on the mainland, it is certainly very affordable with the food quality ranging from quite good to excellent. You can get Western dishes but we stuck to Vietnamese mainly because it was so good and we didn’t tire of it….we probably had our best meals of the trip at Mai Jo, in particular the squid with a minced pork/veggie stuffing >> outstanding!!!!
…. although the medley of spring rolls fresh and fried weren’t chump change either…
I did stumble on the resort “gym”, and to my surprise it had a functional spin bike which I put to good use 4 times…so was quite happy with that…
One of the main evening pursuits is taking in the sunsets, with cocktail in hand…..they are sublime…..
We did get off our butts and signed up for a full-day tour visiting several attractions in the south of the island:
First up was a pearl “farm”, we have been through this performance several times. It seems to be an inclusion in any tour where there is pearl farming anywhere in the vicinity. In any event, a pretty large store with a seemingly never ending stream of tourists being led through it…not being in the market for pearls we did not succumb and truly don’t know if it is a “good ” deal or not.
We did get a chance to look at the beach, which is on the outskirts of Duong Dong, the main town (very touristy) on the island…
Coconut Prison…originally built between 1949 – 1950 by the French as a detention camp for dissidents and later used as a prison camp during the Indochina War. Then during the American/Vietnam war, it was used to house Viet Cong/North Vietnamese fighters where some 40,000 were held, with many tortured by their South Vietnamese guards. Of this number, some 4,000 died, with the balance retaining physical and mental scars. Our guide was very adamant about placing the brunt of the blame for the terrible conditions on the Americans as he showed us the portrayals of the torture, conditions etc. Not a balanced presentation, but then again the barbaric activities were confirmed by the Red Cross …it seems the message behind this historic monument is meant for the Vietnamese who come to visit in droves…
We then went to Sao Beach quite a pretty beach with many seaside basic restos most featuring plentiful seafood, and lots of rental stuff: kayaks, sea doos, super-sized water toys etc. It was pleasant as there were few people there, but on a busy day, it is likely quite a circus.
Cl
Another attraction was the Ho Quoc Pagoda built in 2012, it provides lovely views of the blue sky, green hills and the cerulean waters of the ocean, but you do have to climb some stairs….
Finally, the day’s main attraction, we arrive at a faux Italian village and the Colosseum ruins which serve as the gateway to a cable car linking Phu Quoc with Hon Thom (Pineapple Island)…
….. the cable cars pass over two other islands overlooking some fishing villages and pearl farms, in their 20 minute voyage. This certainly fits the, “build it and they will come axiom”. The ambition of the Sun Group (whose founders are 4 Ukrainian Vietnamese ???) is boundless and their resources seem limitless (tried to Google financing sources, but found nothing) which begs some questions. Nevertheless, taking this project at face value (and the Mt Fanispan development in Sapa, which we saw) and others we have not seen, it is pretty amazing especially as the end product is still several years in the future….anyways I digress….and I will let the pics tell the story :
All in all a very nice and interesting, but a longish day..
Time passes quickly and we soon find ourselves at the end of our stay on Phu Quoc Island and a very pleasant one indeed….a courtesy massage for us both and a final meal at the Mango Bay Resort next door…dinner by the sea with a chilled bottle of modest Chardonnay, watching fishers bringing in their catch while the sun slowly set ……what more can you ask for ????
..and then it is time to head back to the hotel and Saigon tomorrow.
Very nice
Thanks it was pleasant there…