Friday November 10th
Time to fly out to Phu Quoc Island so once again fortified by the breakfast (if anything the dumplings were better) Tim went off to a cheaper hotel ($20 for a very nice, recently renovated big room) recommended to us by fellow travelers to leave most of our baggage.
Then we went off to find the airport bus on the next street but some confusion was evident as to whether it picked people up en route so we flagged a taxi (costing $3.50 as opposed to 25c for both of us on the bus). Phu Quoc is a short flight over the Mekong delta and flying at 10,000 ft (3000m) we had a fine view of a mass of flooded paddy fields intersected by many roads. This area is the "rice basket of the nation" and bore a striking resemblance at this time of year to our views of Cambodia.
Phu Quoc is a forested island, maybe 15 miles (25km) long and quite narrow. Much of the west coast is one long beach (called with great thought "Long Beach") with a town in the center (Duong Dong), site of the airport. Most of the resorts are south of the biggest (Saigon - Phu Quoc, on map). We stayed at a more secluded place near Ong Lang beach, this place is nearly deserted as there are only 3 resorts up this way and all are small. Not that Long Beach is exactly crowded.
The Mango Bay resort where we based ourselves prides itself on eco-friendliness and low impact tourism, but also manages to have fine food and a beautiful bar. The room was a little on the basic side (cold and cold running water, needed a coat of paint) but large and with a beautiful big porch for watching the sunsets. The rooms and bungalows are spread out among trees and though all are close to the beach you never felt it was anything but very low density.
The coast here is a mix of beautiful yellow sand beaches and black volcanic rock making a nice contrast. We were relatively close to the fishing fleet based north of Duong Dong and always saw the brightly painted boats out. At night the horizon was filled with bright lights as the fishermen attracted squid.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing, enjoying the sunset and trying some of the restaurant's good food. Plus drinking the bottle of "Superior" local Dalat wine ($3.50) procured in HCM airport. And it was better than the original stuff we'd sampled before.
Then we went off to find the airport bus on the next street but some confusion was evident as to whether it picked people up en route so we flagged a taxi (costing $3.50 as opposed to 25c for both of us on the bus). Phu Quoc is a short flight over the Mekong delta and flying at 10,000 ft (3000m) we had a fine view of a mass of flooded paddy fields intersected by many roads. This area is the "rice basket of the nation" and bore a striking resemblance at this time of year to our views of Cambodia.
Phu Quoc is a forested island, maybe 15 miles (25km) long and quite narrow. Much of the west coast is one long beach (called with great thought "Long Beach") with a town in the center (Duong Dong), site of the airport. Most of the resorts are south of the biggest (Saigon - Phu Quoc, on map). We stayed at a more secluded place near Ong Lang beach, this place is nearly deserted as there are only 3 resorts up this way and all are small. Not that Long Beach is exactly crowded.
The Mango Bay resort where we based ourselves prides itself on eco-friendliness and low impact tourism, but also manages to have fine food and a beautiful bar. The room was a little on the basic side (cold and cold running water, needed a coat of paint) but large and with a beautiful big porch for watching the sunsets. The rooms and bungalows are spread out among trees and though all are close to the beach you never felt it was anything but very low density.
The coast here is a mix of beautiful yellow sand beaches and black volcanic rock making a nice contrast. We were relatively close to the fishing fleet based north of Duong Dong and always saw the brightly painted boats out. At night the horizon was filled with bright lights as the fishermen attracted squid.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing, enjoying the sunset and trying some of the restaurant's good food. Plus drinking the bottle of "Superior" local Dalat wine ($3.50) procured in HCM airport. And it was better than the original stuff we'd sampled before.
posted by Tim | 2:22 AM
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