Day 24 - With tactics in place for breakfast at the Veranda we headed down for another monumental feast. We knew we wouldn't have lunch until late so had quite a bit and their pain ou chocolate's are a thing of heaven. Anyway, breakfast done we went to the room and packed ready for our 10:30 minibus to Ha Thien in Vietnam. Going to check out, the bus was already there so we 'tried' to confirm that the $20 each we had paid covered both the van and ferry ticket but the receptionist was less than helpful as her English was so poor. We think she said that you will be given the ferry ticket at the port so we set off hoping this was the case. Stopping to pick up more passengers just down the road, only for another van to pull up behind us and they were taken off of our bus and onto the other one. A couple of Israeli guys emerged from the hotel and jumped in, instantly moving the air flow thingys onto them, considering the air con wasn't working it made the van an absolute oven. Luckily only 4 of us in there so wasn't too bad. We set off for the border at what can only be described as Fernando Alonso pace, not quite as fast as the trip from Stung Treng to Kratie but nearly. Luckily it was only about 15kms so we were there pretty quickly.

Getting off the bus at the border, a guy opened the side door and demanded our passports. Asking why, he couldn't really tell us and demanded again so with no choice we handed them over. He didn't really give any explanation as to what was happening but our bags were unloaded and we were told to walk through no mans land and to the Vietnam side and he (we think) would meet us there. Walking to the other side, he came past us on his moped clutching our passports and pointed us into the visa area. As when we went into Cambodia, there was another one of these health scams. We tried to dodge it but they were insistent and after he'd taken our temperature, we tried to walk away. Unfortunately he shouted at us to pay $1 each which isn't much but the principle is all wrong. Shaking my head and telling him its a disgrace, i pretty much threw the $2 at him, probably not wise at a border crossing but hey ho, its blooming annoying when you know it's a scam. We also thought the other guy that had our passports was trying to scam us so we tried to get our passports back but he was getting angrier and angrier. I asked him why we couldn't just take our passports to the booth to get stamped ourselves but he insisted on doing it. Either way, he certainly wasn't getting any money out of us. Luckily he handed our passports to the guy in the booth and told us to wait there while he goes to get 11 other people at the border. This made us quite uneasy as we didn't know how long they were going to be and we had a ferry to catch. Our passports were handed back over to us and after a bit of pacing up and down in a deserted visa area, the guy turned up again with a bus load of travellers. They still had to all go through the visa process so time was tight. They all seemed to speed through and we jumped on the bus with all of them and their luggage. 15 people, 15 seats plus luggage meant he had to leave the boot of the minivan open and tie the bags behind the back seat.

15 minutes down the road, we were in Ha Tien but at the bus station, not the ferry port. As everyone was getting off, we asked about dropping us at the ferry port which they duly did. Still no ferry tickets but we did stop briefly at the ticket office before driving on. Apparently our tickets were to be delivered to the port in a few minutes. Still a bit nervous until they were in our hands. A young woman pulled up on her moped and gave us our tickets so no scams, no money changing hands, we were early for the ferry, maybe we did him a disservice but is all people wanted was an explanation as to what was happening. No one on the bus seemed to know, when he dropped them at the bus station, he slapped one fella on the arm and said, "don't worry man, you'll be fine". Must have filled him with great confidence considering this guy had just jumped in with us and was supposed to get them all to Ho Chi Minh!

Ferry ticket in hand, we jumped onto thr 'Super Dong' ferry and sat for a while waiting to leave for the 70 minute journey to Phu Quoc. Quite a nice crossing which dragged a little but we eventually arrived on Phu Quoc to be met by a scrum of taxi drivers wanting to take us. Alice was off the boat first and sorted a deal for $2 each for a minivan. 2 other couples and a Canadian on board. Stopped at a horrible looking backpacker place first where the Canadian got off and seems he paid in Vietnam dong but the equivalent of $3. Dropped one couple at the Veranda and the other 2 were with us. Seemed the bus driver had no idea where the Beach Club was though as he had to ask someone, his English was poor to say the least. Seems we had passed it ages ago as we turned around. Jumped out the minivan at the end of the drive and handed the guy $4 to which he took offence to. He kept saying $3 each to which after a small argument and a bit of finger pointing as we'd definitely agreed $2 each (I had heard the agreement at the boat) I reluctantly took back the $4 and handed him a $5 note and walked away. He was still trying to get us to pay extra but we were having none of it and carried on walking. The Beach Club was down a track about 200 metres and right on the white sandy beach. Quite a small resort with 5 or 6 bungalows and a few rooms but all a couple of strides from the beach. Only issue here is that there is no air con and it is baking hot. Checking in, we dropped our bags and decided we'd have a walk up the beach before it got dark. First one way and then the other. We took a head torch just in case we stayed out for dinner as well. Our hotel is some way from the main resort area which is nice in one way but is about 1km to get to some of the restaurants. We strolled up the beach through the surf and settled in a bar/restaurant to watch the sunset with a Saigon beer each. We also decided to have some food here as it was one of the places recommended in the guidebook.

Making our way along the seafront with our head torch, we finally made it to our bungalow, sorted the fan and mosquito net and settled in. Both fell asleep quite quickly but then at about 22:30 we both awoke to the sound of loud music. After about 5 or 10 minutes I was sure it was coming from the restaurant at our hotel but after donning the shorts and going outside, it was actually karaoke coming from quite a way down the beach. Not a lot we could do about it so settled back in. After half and hour or so, it seemed to quieten down and we both fell asleep again. Midnight, and a massive storm with a huge thunder crack right over us! Awake again and listened to the rain for a while before going to sleep again, what next.........