Phu Quoc

The island of Phu Quoc is a close escape to paradise from the city of Saigon. It has been on of my favourite trips yet!

Wide, open roads with next to no traffic, fresh air, palm trees and clear blue water. I didn’t believe that we were still in Vietnam.

We had booked our flights a few months in advanced which worked out at around £60 each. However, there is the possibility of taking a night bus and then a ferry over to the island in the morning for a much lower price but a far longer journey.

I went with my boyfriend, Iacopo who was over visiting me in Ho Chi Minh City, but we wanted a weekend away to enjoy the sun, sea and sand. The friends that I have made in Saigon came the same weekend but in the end we never saw much of each other.

Iacopo and I decided to stay at an extremely reasonably priced beach hotel, and I am so glad we did. The hotel was built of bungalow houses or cheaper rooms sat right on the white sand beach. It offered free breakfast on the beach which consisted of fresh made omelets, rice, noodles, fruit and pancakes and of course Vietnamese coffee. Our neighbor was the famous Rory’s Bar, an Aussie owned bar selling western food and cocktails and a great place to meet other travelers. The hotel also offered various day trips, bike hire and a bbq on the beach. It was amazing, and I would highly recommend staying here if you are not fussed about staying in fancy, glamorous hotels. Our friends stayed at the Mushroom Hostel which was recommended to us. If you’d rather stay in a dorm in order to meet new people, Mushroom Hostel is a good shout.

Our flight was at 5:40 am so we arrived just after 7. As soon as we dropped off our bags, we set off to get information about trips. We were only on the island for 3 days so we had to be careful with our time. There was a boat trip leaving at 9 which took us to a Pearl Factory, two snorkel destinations, gave us lunch and the famous Sau Beach. The trip cost about a tenner each. We wanted to go with my other friends but they opted for a later trip after being fed. The trip was great! We got to experience how pearls were harvested. There was also a shop where you could buy cheap pearl jewelry.

The snorkeling was fantastic. The water was so clear and calm! I saw multicolored fish and coral reefs; it was so beautiful! We stayed in the bay and had lunch cooked for us by the boat staff. We had various things to choose from such as soup, chicken, pork, rice and veg. After lunch, we drove to a different bay for some more snorkeling. It was also a good opportunity to lay on the deck and sunbath for a while. Once the boat trip was over, we were driven by bus to Starfish Bay, or Sau Beach – a beautiful king, white-sand beach. Iacopo and I purchased a couple of coconuts to drink as we walked along the beach. By this point, it was a nice cool temperature. We also ate some fresh mango and got the venders to cut open our coconuts so that we could eat the filling. We found a swing along the beach where you can take candid photos with a palm tree or ocean backdrop.

We got the bus back and freshened up before meeting our friends at Rory’s Bar. The bar is really cool with a great selection of cocktails and seat outside on the sand. It was a great evening with high hopes of going out dancing but then the rain hit, and it was coming down hard. In Saigon, the shower normally lasts under and hour, but in Phu Quoc it didn’t look like it was going to stop. Iacopo and I ran back to our room to get money when the rain started to stop, but as soon as we were ready to leave it started pouring again. We ended up staying in, which suited as we were both exhausted from the flight and our day out at sea.

On Sunday, we decided to hire a bike from the hotel. We got Nuovo, same as my bike back in Saigon. We had plans to drive to a waterfall in the National Park but the rain from the night before had turned the road into a thick dirt path which was impossible for us to get through on the bike. So we decided to drive to the north of the island, through the National Park. It was a long drive but it was so nice! The roads were empty which made such a change from HCMC. And it was lined with forests of trees, making the air fresh and clean! We found a small little beach at the very north of the island were we could see the outline of Cambodia. We sat on deck chairs drinking coffees and from coconuts. We then set off for a beach on the North West of the Island, on a resort that had kayaks. We wanted to have a go but we were told that the sea was too strong. So we thought we’d stay at the beach and enjoy the sea and sun.

After a long drive home, staff at our hotel recommended a romantic skybar to watch the sunset. It was difficult to find, up a dirt track hill, but it was a perfect spot. We ordered a couple of cocktails and a plate of fish and chips to share while we watched the sun go down. It was gorgeous!

Once it got dark, we headed down to the main road towards the famous night market. The pedestrianized street was lined with lanterns and stalls of fresh fish, jewelry, souvenirs and boutiques. We must have walked round it three times! We settled in a small restaurant, full of Vietnamese customers. Our haggling skills aren’t the best but we ended up with a plate of squid to share. It might have been better to get a plate of mixed seafood but I think Iacopo was a little too caught up with his haggling tactics. But the squid was delicious and so fresh. We checked our list of food to try in Vietnam and fried banana was yet to be ticked off. So we then went on a mission to find it. We couldn’t see it anywhere! Fried fish, fried rice, fried spring rolls, even fried ice cream but no banana. By chance, we decided to walk down a dark street just off the market to retrieve our bike, and what did we find? A stall selling deep fried banana! It was meant to be!

We drove back home and left the bike at the hotel so that we could discover some of the other local bars around the area. As we were walking along our street, I saw a sign that said Happy Hour, Half price cocktails, 6-9. I aksed Iacopo for the time; it was 8:50. “fancy a cocktail?” We were invited into the bar and decided to order two cocktails each in the 10 minutes that we had before the Happy Hour finished. It was hilarious, the cocktails were delicious but so strong! It didn’t take long before we were both tipsy and of course I knocked over and broke a glass… time to go back home! The bar was so great and we went back the following night for another round. I wish we had known about it the night before when our friends were there as it would have been a great way to predrink before the night out.

On our last day, we decided to hire the bike again as our flight wasn’t until 9 pm. We drove down to the south of the island on a great open highway to the POW camp. It was pretty disturbing to see how the prisoners were treated especially when they were kept in metal containers in such a heat. It obviously wasn’t a pleasant trip but was worth the visit if you are keen to know about the history of the Vietnam-American war.

After we drove up to a bar that was recommended in guide books – The Golden Sand Bar. It was so cool! It had swings at the bar, an old beach buggy on the beach, various tire swings and beach huts. It was beautiful and so hipster at the same time. We sat for a couple of drinks and spring rolls and watched various guests come in and out simply to take candid pictures with all the props on the beach.

There were also construction worked pilling in wheelbarrows of white sand to cover up the gold sand; a little bit damaging to the Bar’s name but I guess it’s all about aesthetics. Having driven around on the bike all day, we soon discover that we were both pretty burnt, so we decided to stay under a canopy and what the sunset in the shade. It was beautiful and the sky was so clear, up until the last 15 minutes before the sun falls behind the sea. We never got to witness this as the clouds deiced to get in the way. Nevertheless, it was an afternoon well spent before out flight back to Saigon.

Phu Quoc isn’t called the Paradise Island for nothing. It at that stage of development where it’s not completely uninhabited yet not too popular that it’s full of foreigners. It was the perfect time to go, and would happily go back in a heartbeat.

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