Phu Quoc Island

Been off the grid for four nights on a desert island far, far away. I've gotten a few things right and a couple wrong so far. First, a cost-oriented head's up for tour guide Miguelito. I tried booking flights from HCMC to Phu Quoc on t'internet back in Blighty and then again at a travel agent in Bangkok: both came out at around 120 quid return each. However, when we booked flights in Saigon it was approx 80 quid each. Quids in, then, as they say. But it was with an unknown (to us, at least) internal Vietnemese Airline called Air Mekong, and when I checked later on-line it would appear they've just bought four Bombadier-class aircraft for their fleet. Although this conjures up Indiana Jones-style turboprop travel, the hour long bus ride was quite comfortable. The "resort" we ended up with, however, could be argued wasn't quite worth the money we were charged. As we booked late right on top of the Tet festivities all we were offered was the Thanh Kieu Resort at grossly inflated prices. To be honest, it wasn't that bad: a brick chalet bungalow that could best be described as "slightly delapidated". No a/c but it did have a couple of fans that did the job. No furniture to put clothes but it did have a couple of bamboo chairs. The lights all worked although you couldn't read in bed at night. Even had a fridge. And it was the first time we'd ever slept under mosquito netting, which was fun when you wanted to get up for a pee in the dark in the middle of the night. Oh yes, the room had a safe; it just wasn't the tiny box-in-a-closet you'd get in a normal hotel. This was a cubic metre of Fort Knox monstrosity that dominated the room, complete with steel key and four brass combination dials in invisible-to-read English alphanumerics. Jeez, the house leeches (yes! we had one of them) and millipedes must be a tough bunch of critters in this part of the world. Still, it was good for storing our clothes and doubling up as a bedside table. Because of Tet they charged us $60 a night which was roughly the same as our 4-star Elios hotel back in Saigon.

Except . . . at the Elios you didn't step out into a sun-drenched, white sand beach every morning, or clementine sunset every evening, so maybe I should put these costs in perspective. The island itself is really a gem to find. Its about 50 kilometres tall, only 15 kms from the Cambodian coast (although it technically belongs to Vietnam), and the beach we're on, Long Beach, is around 20 klicks on the western side leading down to the city of An Thoi at the south. Dotted around Thanh Kieu were family run "resorts" that doubled up as beach bars and restaurants. The children served the food so you were never sure what you were going to end up with. Ordering a simple "gintonic" could be met with incomprehension, followed by a blind repeat of "gintonic" in the hope that meaning would arrive, followed by a bottle of wine! Ah well, they're only kids not professional waiters. What's interesting is there is that there is very little in the way of major hotel development, although that must surely come and ruin the simplicity of the place.

Evenings saw us celebrating yet another bloody sunset (in the poetic sense of the word) at the Rainbow Restaurant next door followed by a twilight mooch along the beach to the aforementioned beach restaurants. On one night we had a few beers and "gintonics" and a Vietnemese Hot Pot, essentially a large soup tureen with raw fish, seafood, meat and vegetables that you tipped off a rim at your leisure, lit underneath by flaming sticks of paraffin wax that splashed and burned onto the sand beneath the table (and your feet if you're not careful!). About 10 quid all in for the both of us: great value to offset the cost of accommodation. The (slightly staggered) walk back along the water's edge through pools of darkness between the beach bars revealed not only a brilliant starlit sky but pinpoints of bright green lights in the sand as the wavelets washed up another tiny doomed bio-luminescent sea animal onto the beach.

The last day saw us try and be more adventurous and take a snorkelling trip to the 12 island archepelago south of An Thoi. Not a great idea as I nearly lost Linda trying to embark on the boat. They might be enthusiastic but the locals are no good at tying a boat up. Passengers were forced to be hauled up by the crew onto a worn tyre that was originally designed to be a buffer protecting the boat from the wharf (c'mon guys, would a piece of plank really, really have cost that much? -- the whole harbour was a half finished building site, after all). The boat lurched a few feet and Linda fell off the tyre and had to be hauled in unceremoniously by the crew before being crushed. She recovered quickly with true English dignity and the crew were suitably apologetic. Unfortunately, her luck didn't improve later when she pierced her foot with a sliver of bone walking on the beach. Not one of our best days of the tour, but we did both enjoy the rest of the trip and the lunch provided, even the hors d'oeuvres of freshly caught sea urchins' insides. We have to admit, though, to being glad to be back in an environment of relative comfort in Saigon. Especially in a room with a decent, hot shower!