Following my very enjoyable, but slightly hectic visit to central Vietnam, it was time for some real relaxation and so I spent the next 4 days on Phu Quoc, a tropical island in the Gulf of Thailand, south of Vietnam. It was also a chance to catch some sun as Hanoi entered the cold and wet winter months.Phu Quoc Island is famous for its beaches ofcourse, but also has claims to being the fish sauce capital of the world!
The Island also has a very interesting history. It's actually a lot closer to Cambodia than it is to Vietnam and the island has been a disputed area for much of its history.As usual, I was with plenty of other AYAD's...11 actually! It was great to spend time with all of them away from hectic Hanoi and enjoy a range of activites as a group.
We stayed in the main town, Duong Dong, on the western side of the island. On our first full day, we hired motorbikes and drove north up the coast. We stopped at a secluded beach on the way for a swim and frisbee game and then drove further north. Phu Quoc is famous for its great seafood and we had lunch at a tourist resort at the northern end of the island.We booked a boat tour for the following day to take us to the southern part of the island, which apparently has many beautiful islands to explore. Unfortunately in the morning our guide told us that the boat would now be heading north as the seas were too rough in the south. This was annoying given that we'd headed up exactly that way the day before on the motorbikes.
Still, it was a very enjoyable day and we managed to fit in a bit of sightseeing (the same coastline but viewed from offshore this time!), two snorkelling dives, some fishing (not very successful), another nice seafood lunch and a few warm beers.
That night was New Year's Eve and we celebrated with a BBQ seafood dinner on the beach and then danced the night away. We also watched people releasing traditional lanterns into the night sky to wish for good luck in the new year. We finished up at about 3am with a quick swim in the warm ocean water.
The final day on the island was mainly spent on the beach recovering from the festivities of the night before. Although we did manage a few games of volleyball and another delicious BBQ seafood dinner at the night markets in town. A very relaxing day to finish off a very relaxing holiday!The flight home was not without incident though. It turned out that Vietnam Airlines had left the entire passenger luggage cargo in Phu Quoc due to the plane being overloaded. I ended up getting my luggage delivered to me that night in Hanoi and I hope everyone else did as well.
