Almost perfect

Sunday, July 3, 2011

8:44 PM (Vietnam Time)

On Friday night, Scott and I decide to take a spontaneous vacation to Phu Quoc Island, a 2 and a half hour boat ride from Rach Gia. The hotel manager from Hoa Bien Hotel pulls through for us as always and by 6:30 am on Saturday morning, we have our roundtrip tickets in hand. Biggest tropical storm I have seen hits Rach Gia just as we leave the guesthouse and get into the taxi. The streets are flooded within seconds. We are splashing motorbikes and pedestrians as we drive by. Within the 3 seconds from running from the cab to boarding the boat, Superdong, we are absolutely soaked. We are really hoping that the weather in Phu Quoc won’t be like this. It seems like the worst day to leave for the island.

Being Superdong rookies, we sit in the wrong seats, not realizing that seating is assigned. We get moved to row 1, right in front of the speakers. The boat departs at 8 am on the dot, and they start playing a Vietnamese comedy show. The jokes are blasting into our eardrums, the boat is rocking, and there is no window next to our seats. I am thinking to myself, “I can’t do this for 2 and a half hours.” I look at Scott, and he is fast asleep. For the first hour, I watch the show, and periodically peer out the window of the row behind me. When Scott wakes up, we venture out of our cabin area and find out that there is outdoor seating upstairs. Hallelujah! The trip becomes so much more enjoyable, as Scott and I marvel at the blue ocean and fish that jump out of the water and skim across it in the air on their tails. Try to picture that!

It was a little windy

We arrive in Phu Quoc and the dock, which is more like a bridge, is bustling with passengers as they get off the boat. Scott and I are bombarded by men who are trying to offer rides on their motorbikes (Xe Honda). We’ve been through this before, so we handle it by just ignoring them. We look for the trusted Mailinh Taxi and get on the road, except the road isn’t a road—it’s a dirt path with a ton of potholes. Cars and buses are swerving left and right to avoid the ditches, and I feel like I am on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. This lasts for about half and hour, and we turn right onto and even sketchier and bumpier rode and, suddenly, arrive in paradise.

Fishing boats near Phu Quoc

Phu Quoc!

Blue skies welcome us to the island

Scott is quite the sight for Vietnamese tourists

Scott found a wonderful place for us to stay, called Mai House, the night before, and we had booked the room at 6:30 am earlier that morning. We arrive on site and there is a stone pathway leading towards the beach and surrounded by perfectly kept tropical gardens. Private bungalows surround us on all sides. We check in, and the staff are so friendly. They show us to our beautiful room, which has a real princess bed. It’s four-posted, and the whole thing is covered by a mosquito net. A dream. After settling, we head back down to the outdoor restaurant for lunch. The waiter is shy with us at first and doesn’t seem to understand my Vietnamese very well. We order spring rolls, seafood fried rice, and shrimp cooked in tamarind sauce for lunch, topped with freshly squeezed orange juice. We watch the hotel dogs play with each other in the sand. These are some of the most beautiful dogs I have seen. I have no idea what breed they are, since I have never seen them before, but their heads are shaped like the Egyptian god, Anubis. I am bubbling over with happiness. We are facing the ocean. The sky is blue. The weather is perfect. The beach is quiet. Things couldn’t be better.

Beach time

Relaxed

Even the dogs in Phu Quoc are relaxed

Happy

After lunch, Scott and I jump into the ocean. It’s warm and refreshing. The afternoon is spent relaxing and lounging. We nap, tan, and appreciate the paradise we are in. What’s more, it’s only $45/night. I can’t believe what we are getting for the price. Scott and I walk along the coast and check out all the other hotels and bungalows, while periodically jumping into the water if we get overheated. Nothing looks nearly as amazing as Mai House. We stop for a mango smoothie. The smoothie culture in Vietnam is incredible. Everyday, Scott and I have one of many freshly made tropical smoothies. We can’t go a day without drinking one.

Fresh tropical fruit delivery

The lovely Mai House

Private beach

Audrey cools off

Mai House garden

Our bungalow!

We leave for dinner after looking up a restaurant called, Ocean Bar and Grill. It’s supposed to have fresh seafood and a good wine list. We are feeling fancy. The taxi driver has no idea what restaurant we are talking about, and we ask him to drop us off on the main street of the Night Market. We stop at a random hotel and ask the lady at the desk about the restaurant. She hasn’t heard of it either. Not a good sign. She allows us to use her computer, and we get the address. She says it’s just down the street. We end up walking over 20 minutes in the dark and cannot find the darn restaurant. People keep telling us that the address is just a block away. A block away my butt. Hungry and frustrated we talk to the security guards of a random resort, and they have never heard of it either. We call the restaurant, and the lady says it’s closed or something. I can barely understand her. They call a cab for us, and we head back to a fancy-looking restaurant we passed earlier. It turns out they only serve European style dishes, and the place is empty. Who wants to eat European-style food in Vietnam? Europeans do, since they were the only guests at the restaurant. I ask the waitress where we can get Vietnamese seafood, and she recommends a restaurant, so we hop on our 3^rd taxi of the night. Dinner is a disaster. We start out with some fried whole squid, which is actually pretty tasty, but our waitress just doesn’t know what is going on. She mixes up our orders and forgets to bring them out. After over 30 minutes of our waiting, she realizes that she hasn’t brought out our food, and she brings it out cold. We eat cold, chew scallops, and continue to wait for our fish. She also brings out 2 dishes we did not even order. Scott notices that the food has been sitting out the whole time we were waiting. She finally get the fish, and it is also cold after I ask her to order us a new one. We return the dish, get the bill, and head back to our beloved Mai House.

Beautiful skies

Sunset at Mai House

Dinner is still being served, so we head to the restaurant where people are romantically dining next to lit up palm trees and the sound of the waves. We order 1 carafe of white wine, stir fried noodles, and two banana crepes. By this time, Scott and I have ordered from the restaurant so many times that the waiters have finally warmed up. I feel special being able to speak Vietnamese, since all the other guests are European or American. The night is completely made up for us, and we forget about the dinner fiasco. We enjoy dinner and head back to the hotel to find a new guest…the BIGGEST cockroach I have ever seen in my life. Scott, the big man on campus, smashes it with his shoe while I scream in terror. We find 2 more within 10 minutes. Scott goes on a killing spree. As gross that it all may seem, it doesn’t ruin the experience for me, especially since Scott and I are cracking up about it. I still love our bungalow and this place, and if you saw Mai House, you would see why. It’s almost perfect.

Picture perfect

The next morning, we rise early to catch breakfast and make the most of our stay before we have to leave at 11:30 am. Breakfast is fresh tropical fruits, freshly squeezed juices, and french baguettes—a breakfast of champions. Scott and I swim and soak up the sun. The weather is even better than the day before. We sadly check out, but promise to come back soon. Scott and I spend the boat ride back sitting outside, and we marvel at all the beautiful islands we pass by. Back in Rach Gia, Scott and I rent a motorbike for the evening and ride around town grabbing dinner, eating dessert, and doing a little shopping. Scott gets excited every he gets to practice riding a manual motorcycle ever since he learned earlier this week. What a weekend.

-Audrey

Surrounded by a fishing culture

Delicious spring rolls

Playful Phu Quoc dogs

What a breakfast

Day 2 of relaxation