Scott Fletcher Travels

Well I didn’t have the best nights sleep AGAIN there were bugs all over the place AGAIN, and when you pay an extra 10,000 for air cond make sure it works. Seeing as the ferry did not leave until 1pm I just lay in bed and was finishing my book, it was a good read and a good ending. Then time to get onto the ferry I went to get some breaky around the corner then jumped on board. The Ride was really smooth, and fast we went a long way (62 miles) and it was around 2:30mins so the boat was flying. I went on the Bien Xanh express ferry and it was 180,000 or $13AUD, so I thought that was good value compared to the Jetcat in Sydney.

When I landed there were about 13 billion people asking me to stay in their hotel, I also had no map, no idea where the hotel I wanted to stay in was and also how bloody big the island actually was. I was used to people saying things are very far so it will cost a lot, so I told them the most I will pay to the hotel is 10,000 as I knew he was getting a cut anyway. It turned out that it was 32km most of it on dirt road to get there which was a long way! I was a little edgy at first on the bike going round the corners fast on dirt, but you get used to it. When we rocked up I was a little put off we went down this dirt track about 500m and I was thinking what the… when I got to my room I realised it was 30m from the water with a hammock and the beach was amazing. I had my own bungalow which was sweet!

The island was much more remote than I thought and relatively untouched, 90% of it is protected forest, however the beaches are amazing the one we rode past on the way would have been 12km easily or perfect beach and perfect water. in 10 years this will be Phuket for sure. I hired a bike for that arvo and the next day for 80000 which was pretty cheap, and I knew I would get some good value. When I was going on the bike to head into town I bumped into a Swedish girl Frida and met another guy Eddie. We had dinner together and then went for some drinks. The one thing lacking is a night life it is very peaceful, but not a lot to do at night. We went back to our hotel and swam until about 2am on the beach, there was this great luminos plankton in the water it looked amazing. The next day Eddie and I organised to go riding around the island as Frida was leaving.

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Tags>> Beach Phu Quoc Island Vietnam

Well I didn’t have the best nights sleep, there were bugs all over the place, but thems the blows. I got up had a shower and went back to my favorite noodle place for breakfast which was great. The lady/mother was telling me her daughter was 18, it happens a lot over here. They seem really forward in setting up their daughters. After breaky I was getting a bus to Cantho, so I jumped on a bike and this guy took me to the side of the road where a bus was coming. No one speaks any English and you never really know what is going on.

After being offered a ticket for 100,000 Dong on the side of the road and turning it down the bus finally came. There was a little misunderstanding about the price but we eventually sorted it out. I am of the opinion now (four days later) that if you want a normal trustworthy price make sure they go to the bus station instead of the side of the road. The ticket people just yell things out that change if you argue where as locals get one price. The bus was hot and long, when I finally got to Cantho I got on another bus to head to Rach Gia where I could get on a ferry to Phu Quoc island. The second bus trip was particularly punishing because the driver would not get off the horn the whole trip.

When I landed in Rach Gia I found a hotel right near the ferry and had a lie down, I was on busses for about 6-7 hours. The ferry left the next day at 1pm so I could have a sleep in. Then I kept reading and almost finished but there was about 100 pages to go the next day!

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Tags>> Phu Quoc Island Rach Gia Vietnam