Probably one of my best memory of vacations, we decided to go to Phu Quoc a bit by chance actually. We only heard that tourism was developing there, but that it remained confidential at the time. Well, right, we heard about it, so it wasn't THAT confidential, but at least it was in China.
We lived in China at the time, and if you follow Chinese recommendations, guides, websites and such, do you know what happens? So when my wife said she didn't find any trace of Phu Quoc on her websites, I said: "banco! we go there!"
Operation Adventure
We spent the first few days in a local hostel. It was nice, just 5 minutes away from the beach. The clientele was mainly, if not exclusively, Vietnamese families. Very quiet and relaxing.
It was nice, but we were on a mission. A mission to cross the whole island and to find a Legendary beach, supposedly the most beautiful. So no time to lose, let's push the speedometer to its limits!
Yeah... But we were heavy... And the road wasn't good... And it's mph, not km/h, by the way... Oh, come on, give me a break!
We stopped at a pepper farm to have a look. Phu Quoc is famous for its production of black pepper, and I had never seen a pepper tree. So it's a kind of a vine actually, around 2.5 meters high.
Back on the road! Cruising high speed! Nothing can stop me, nothing can even slow me! But, but... What the..?
"Are you crazy? Don't cross the road like that! What? You didn't see me? Oh, right, I was super fast. Ok, have a nice one, Ms Cow"
We stopped at a village, at random, to have lunch. The kind of place where you are sure you can only find real local food. So we got some pho of course! My wife loves them, we almost went to Vietnam just to eat pho.
And my first Vietnamese coffee. That coffee... I fell in love with it. That vanilla/chocolate tone... Unique! Of course I bought the dripping machine, and I don't remember how many kilos of coffee to take back home. I could still get some in China, but it seems impossible in Europe. I need to get a new supply line!
On the road again!
Asphalt is more comfortable on the bottom, but there are other vehicles, let's be cautious, trucks are not cows.
And we made it! The legendary beach of Bãi Sao!
White sand, clear water, almost no one around, yeah, nice place.
But as always, if you want the best spot, you have to go further. Where there is no one (I don't understand why people won't go to the best spot, but well, it's always that).
That's where you can enter the postcard. We have all seen such photos on postcards or walls. I never thought one day I would be in the middle of one.
Time to go unfortunately. There's still much road to do and to find gas also. Because on our way we didn't find any station. Bought some on the side of the road, from an old lady who sold vegetables and gas.
Operation Farniente
My bottom needed rest for too much hours of motorcycle on dirt roads, hopefully it was planned for the last few days of the trip to have rest in a resort, by the beach.
The beach didn't compared to Bãi Sao beach of course, but it was still great. Quite small, but with barely anyone on it.
We didn't do much actually, never left the place. Just beaching basically.
How about breakfast by the beach? Lunch? Drinks? Dinner? Yeah, all that. I'm not a big fan to staying "enclosed" in a resort, but honestly for a few days, it was very enjoyable. Just relaxing and doing nothing.
Who would blame me? Who would go to another place, when you have surroundings like that, and having sunsets served literally at your table!
Only for a few days it's ok. You know it's too much when you get jaded and surprise yourself saying stuff like "oh, today's sunset sucks, yesterday's one was better".
Time to go then! We've been blessed and spoiled enough!
Phu Quoc airport is quite small. Can you guess what was our next step? There's a clue in the airport.
Direction: Ho Chi Minh City!