Day 28 Phu Quoc Island

After finishing my banana pancake, I thought it might be nice to see what else is on this island besides my beach paradise, so the hotel manager arranged for a moto(scooter) tour around the southern part of the island. Now that I am an experienced passenger on these, that sounded fine. It was a beautiful day as we set off around 9 AM. First stop was the pearl factory. Phu Quoc is well known for its pearls . The factory tour consisted of watching a woman open an oyster shell. Then there was a large showroom of pearl jewelry. Some of the jewelry seemed quite nice. I had previously been advised that if I knew anything about pearls I could do well to stock up here and then resell in the U.S. Well, I really don't know anything about pearls (other than that they do come from oysters and that they come in different colors.) So I bought nothing after looking around. We set off and suddenly the sky was filled with clouds and a light rain. The moto driver (who spoke very little English) stopped in front of the lone café on the road for quite some distance, then turned the moto around 360 degrees and kept going. Just after we passed the café, it started raining very hard. I had no idea why he didn't stop at the café, but he continued on to the next structure that could provide us any shelter, another half mile down the road, which was a broken down house, once probably very nice, but with little roof, no intact walls, and lots of debris lying around. He pulled in to the trees by the road, and we took shelter under the little bit of roof overhanging the front while the rain poured down. I just kept asking why we there and not at the care and finally the driver called my hotel so the manager could translate for me; all in all it seems as if he made a stupid decision. So after 15-20 minutes, the rain lightened and he signaled I should get back on the moto and then we went to the café and I bought us both some coffee (in Vietnamese ca phe). The rain let up, it seemed just as we finished the ca phe, so back on the moto. As it turns out the next stop on the itinerary was some kilometers away and as we continued down the road, the rain again started to increase. He found a shop to stop at for some shelter and while I stood there he left and returned with two of the disposable/one time use rain ponchos for each of use. These are like giant plastic bags with sleeves and a hood, poorly made - sometimes with holes and/or split seams right out of the package, and decorated generally with polka dots in some bright color. We donned our ponchos and continued down the road which was now worse, trying to avoid pot holes filling with water. My poncho came with some large holes and split seams so it was leaking from the start. I was quite wet when we got to the next destination, a beach on the other side of the island with a large tourist stop resort that seemed very overpriced to me. I sat at a table and no one attended to me at all. Finally I got someone's attention who got a waitress who signaled for me to move, apparently because I was at a big table and needed to sit at a small table. I tried to order a salad, but somehow got the message they had no salads, so I just got up and went to the moto driver and indicated I wanted to leave. We continued on and the rain and clouds disappeared. We went to Ham Ninh Village, a fishing village also on the other side of the island and the departure point for the boat to Ha Tien near the Cambodian border. (There were many advertising signs for travel from Phu Quoc to Ha Tien and then bus to Chau Doc (my next destination) which would have been a faster way for me to get there than my plan to fly back to Can Tho and then take the bus, but both the internet and guide books had clearly stated there was no reliable bus from Ha Tien to Chau Doc - I have discovered so much information is out of date and therefore incorrect.) I walked the two blocks of the village, bought the Vietnamese equivalent of "bao" (the steamed cakes) for lunch that a lady was selling on the street and met and spoke briefly with the second group of Californians, a group of about eight who had left Vietnam in the 1970's and now live in Cerritos and Santa Ana and were making their first trip back. We then left and went to a sort of park with a waterfall that, as I discovered, could only be viewed by climbing up on the path with many stairs. It was a nice waterfall with some people swimming in the water below. Then back down the path, onto the moto and on to the pepper farm. This area and the area across the water in Cambodia around Kep and Kampot where I will be going later are known for pepper. There was no tour or anything, just a view of the plants growing, and a place were one could by pepper. Many Vietnamese restaurants serve salt and pepper combined and I saw this pepper farm was one place that sold that in jars with or without garlic. I did not buy anything, so on we went to Duong Dang, the main town of Phu Quoc. By this time, the clouds were gone and the sun was high in the sky and bright. Mr. Moto stopped at the harbor which was quite colorful with attractively painted fishing boats. I took some pictures and then we returned to the hotel, Thanh Kieu resort. I spent the remainder of the afternoon on the beach and then when it was time for dinner walked the mile or so back to Duong Dang to explore the night market which I had heard about. There were two main things at this market: many vendors selling pearls and many outdoor places to eat, set up only for this market. All had menus as well as big tables with fresh seafood and fish on them. One could pick the actual item one wanted (I picked a red snapper) and then it was grilled for me. Prices were reasonable - the whole fish cost about $4.50 cooked. Then back to the hotel for some sleep. The restful day was not quite as restful as I had hoped for (i.e. moto ride) but still this has been a great place to be.

Day 29 Phu Quoc Island

There is not much to write for today and no pictures. I just had a quiet day in and out of my bungalow and the beach. I left late afternoon to walk up to the deli/coffee shop for a nice coffee drink and then in the evening ate at Ti Moon, a restaurant that opened two months ago. The chef is a Thai woman and her husband who is French is in the wine distribution business. Their son serves as host, waiter, and general all purpose person. The owners visited the tables and were quite personable as was there son. The food was really good and I recommend this restaurant. Then back to my bungalow and to sleep.