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#21 - Phu Quoc - The island part

AHHHHHH......Finally, the beach





This trip has been go, go, go. Even on our leisurely Mekong boat, breakfast at 7:00, excursion at 8:30, out again after lunch for another interesting trip onshore. But finally we land in Phu Quoc, a small island off the southwest coast of Vietnam, only an hour flight from Saigon.  This is Vietnam’s comer, hoping to be an answer to Thailand’s Phuket in another ten years. 



We have finally left behind guides and drivers and have simply a hotel shuttle to a beautiful resort on Long Beach with five star service.
We are welcomed straight into the bar for a passion fruit martini.....none of that cheap champagne or ginger tea ( not that we haven’t enjoyed those also). And we have also finally arrived at our vision of Vietnam’s French Colonial past with green shuttered pale yellow buildings and wicker and palm trees. 




Steve has already asked if we could possibly never leave the resort for our stay but I will give him 24 hours and then probably make him visit the fish sauce factory, maybe the pepper farm and definitely spend one day on another beach. Or so I thought. Turns out I was wrong. We nixed the day trip to another beach, how much better could it be? We tried one night out to dinner and were sorry. We nixed visiting the fish sauce factory and pepper farm as we’ve been buying fish sauce for many years and we had already eaten fresh green pepper right off the tree in Cambodia, which, BTW, is not too spicy and is delicious. We passed on the pearl farm....I have lots of pearls. And we decided to simply be lazy and stupid for a few days. 







We embraced Saigon Red and Saigon Green as our cold beers of choice, along with mango martinis for sundowners. We simply moved from the sumptuous breakfast where I became addicted to fresh, French style crepes with sugar and lime juice, to chaises by the pool,  to lounges on the beach, to swims and happy hours. We spent time guessing beachgoer’s nationalities well before we could hear foreign languages and didn’t get many right. Surprisingly, again, there are no Americans, but there are lots of Germans, Spaniards and Russians, with a healthy sprinkling of Brits as well. 





Our favorite German by far is Till, the food manager. He is as big and bumbling as Lurch from the Adams family, but somehow precise and courtly and endearing. Upon check-in, we were informed that as an extra benefit we would have 10% discount on all food and beverage, 30% off in the spa and a complimentary set menu dinner for two. Last evening the restaurant set menu was an Iron Chef six course Phu Quoc fusion meal. But we have eaten so much that we told Till we would simply share one set menu. I think he was quite upset so instead he kept Steve’s wine glass filled with Riesling and offered us coffees and drinks and dinner again. The staff here all knows your name or room in one day and are unfailingly wonderful. 


Till, the German, towering over Marci


Twice a day, at poolside and beachside, two lovely staff come around in their traditional conical Vietnamese hats toting a large bamboo stick across their shoulders. Hanging from both ends are huge rattan baskets filled with small containers of the sorbet of the day along with cool rolled washcloths for your neck.  Today lemongrass and lime, yesterday mango and tomorrow, well, maybe passion fruit. Every night there are a plate of sweets left by the bed with fresh bottles of water in satin slip covers. And here again, we have the worlds largest bed. It seems in Vietnam a king size bed is actually two DOUBLE beds together. I have no idea where they find sheets to fit! 



Mostly I am glad we got to Phu Quoc when we did. There is much building of new mega resorts, next will be condos and time shares and pretty soon it will rival Phuket. We have heard that this island is basically a government project to bring in money for running the country with little to none of the profits going to these islanders. Well, I guess now we found the Communism in Vietnam.

This is how your laundry is returned at The Veranda





We leave early tomorrow for Hoi An and the last two weeks of our adventure. 


 I ran out of toothpaste and had to buy some in Laos - this is Colgate, made in Thailand - my new favorite flavor - Lemon & Sea Salt!!


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