We left our hotel at 7am for the 8am ferry and arrived in Hat Tien at about 10.30am. It was then a very long and confusing trip to Can Tho. Even though other people on the ferry said they were going to the same place we all ended up on different buses. We ended up on the local bus, this was actually quite good fun, it was half empty and we must have stopped at every market on the way to Can Tho. Finally just as I was talking to my dear sister on the phone, wishing her a Happy Birthday they told us to get off. This was definitely not Can Tho, it was a very dusty road with a couple of drink stalls and not a lot else. After about twenty minutes of wondering what was going on a minibus pulled up and a man shouted Can Tho at us, so we were on our way again. The journey although a little hairy and much longer than it was supposed to be was nice, because it took us through the middle of the Mekong Delta.
Eventually we were told to get off again in a residential street and told that yes this was Can Tho, when we asked them where in Can Tho we were, suddenly no-one spoke English.
Anyway on the bus we got talking to a German guy called Sebastian, so the three of us stood on the street for about 20 minutes trying to figure out where we were. After Saigon I was so determined not to get ripped off again, we wanted to try and walk to the hostel. I had already booked somewhere to stay, and i believed that i knew where it was so myself, Craig and Sebastian started walking in the direction of the Riverside which we managed to establish from a man who had recovered his ability to speak English once he realised we were not getting on a bike or in a taxi. After about 5 minutes i started to have doubts and stopped a motorbike taxi, just to find out if we were going in the right direction for our hotel. It turns out that no we weren't and in fact our hotel was 4km in the opposite direction, and he could both of us on two separate bikes for 60,000 Dong (£2). Result, so we piled on the bikes with all our luggage, which to be honest is quite precarious, and ten minutes later we were at our hotel.
The hotel was nice and the staff were very helpful, after dumping stuff and showering we set off a little dazed and confused (you will start to see a pattern here, always dazed and confused after bus journeys, strange but they seem to have that effect) to find something to eat. That was not as simple as it may sound as in fact we were not in the tourist area of Can Tho. Sometimes this is a good thing but when you cannot find a menu in English in about 10 different restaurants this is not such a good thing. There was not a motorbike taxi in sight so somehow we managed to walk the 4km to the Riverside, where we ended up having Italian - Random.
The following morning we had booked a trip to see the floating markets. As the market starts at 6am you have to be picked up from your hotel at 5.30am. After all the lovely, if a little changeable, weather we have been having when we woke in the morning it was absolutely belting it down. There was thunder and lightening, the whole lot, and I am not ashamed to say that my enthusiasm for this trip was seriously waning. But Craig bucked me up and off we went to meet out boat lady at the ferry dock.
The market is about an hour away by boat, by the time we got there it was starting to get light but still raining. The market was quite incredible there were boats of all shapes and sizes selling all sorts of stuff. Most of the boats have tall sticks protruding from the front with whatever they are selling hanging off, so that you can see them from a distance. There were lots of vegetable and fruit, as well as ladies on tiny boats cooking up noodle soup amongst other things.
Here is a little video montage of the market. When we got to about halfway through the market the camera decided to stop working. So I didn't actually take any photos.
It was really nice to see the market and all the houses that line the river, its a crazy place to live. I am sure to live there when the sun is shining is lovely, but in the rain all the people standing in their pyjamas in their doorways looking out did not look happy bunnies.
We finally made it back to dry land at about 9.30am and had some breakfast, then the 4km walk back to our hotel. In the Lonely Planet it said that there is a waterpark at Can Tho, which we thought would be a nice way to spend an afternoon. As it turned out after asking at the hotel, it closed a few years ago, so we had booked tickets back to Saigon for 12noon that day.
By that point Craig had gotten a migraine, so i sent him to the hotel room for a nap, and set off in search of snacks for the bus. Now, ever since we have arrived in SE Asia we seem to get a lot of attention. When i have asked some people, mainly Cambodians they have said that "You are a white person, but you don't look like a white person". They seem very confused how I can be darker than them, but still be white. Anyway when walking to the bakery in Can Tho, i must have had 25-30 people say hello to me and an uncountable number just staring, it was really quite bizarre, its a bit like i imagine being a celebrity would be like. Weirdly tough although this is probably the 3rd or 4th time this had happened, usually when i go out on my own, its not in the slightest intimidating. Everyone is smiley and happy and just very curious, its pretty funny, the children and the old people's facial expressions especially can be really priceless.
So the gauntlet run, it was back to the hotel to wake up Craig and off to the bus. There was just time to have a quick look at the roof garden, and i had not realised what a big city Can Tho was.
We were only going to Saigon as you have to go there to get the bus to the next destination, Mui Ne. We got on the bus at 12noon, and arrived in the outskirts of Saigon at about 3.30pm. We has been told that after the main bus there would be another bus to transfer us closer to the centre of the city (but still not near where we needed to be). As we pulled into the bus station I spotted a local bus going to Ban Tranh station, which was about a 2km walk from our hotel, we had done this walk 3 or 4 times last time we were in Saigon, so i thought it'll be a doddle. So on the local bus we hopped, and about 40 minutes and some very crazy driving later, and having just got on the phone to mum (my timing is inpeccable!), we were dropped at Ban Tranh station. Now 2km is not far to walk, even with handbag or one rucksack, but no Craig has the massive bag and the wet bag. I have the red rucksack (which gets heavier by the day), the handbag and the food bag, believe me 2km felt like 20. We finally arrived at out hotel a wet, dripping mess. Thank god for the air-con!!! About an hour was then spent trying to find our what was wrong with the camera, after discovering that it was a sensor and more expensive to fix than buy a new camera, off we went.
We had seen a massive electronics shop on our walks before so we set off for that. We thought it was going to be like a discount place as they had so many special offer posters outside, but no as it turns out it only stocks the brand new models of everything. Despite our reservations when we realised this we managed to buy a new model Sony Cyber-Shot for about £65. Task completed we wandered back to the hotel only stopping to buy a Kilo of roasted pork . There are food stands all over the place, but the ones that really look the best have big slabs of roasted pork which they slice up and put into baguettes. The lady seemed very amused that we did not want a baguette but just a kilo of pork, but let me tell you it was awesome and the crackling was amazing!
Then we crashed so that we were ready to be up bright and early for our 8am bus to Mui Ne in the morning, so until then.................
(By this point the camera was obviously on its last legs!)
We got picked up from our hotel in Saigon by a lady with a bike helmet in her hand, and all the way through the walk through the alleyway Craig was convinced that she was going to try and get both of us with all 4 bags onto a motorbike. Luckily no, i don't know why she was holding a helmet but we got into a lovely airconditioned taxi. This dropped us at the main office of the bus company, we then had to change tickets and then hopped on another transfer bus to the main bus station. The main bus station was amazing, there were hundreds of buses but it was so well organised and not even in a chaotic way, all was calm. So you wait either outside or in the massive waiting room and all the buses pull up to the front door one by one with a guy announcing which bus it is. It was great, we hopped on on time at 9pm and had lovely single sleeper beds. I popped a valium and I was asleep by about 9.30pm, I woke up once when we stopped for a break and for some reason they put the bus through a massive bus wash, which was really noisy and quite a scary thing to wake up to, to be honest! The next time I woke up we were being told we had arrived in Rach Gia and all off, so quite groggily and slowly we got off. When we looked at the time is was 2.30am, there had been some minibus type things waiting but they had all gone by the time we got fully conscious. So we traipsed to the office and after much confusion managed to get across that we should have a transfer to the ferry. A minibus appeared and off we went. Now the ferry did not leave until 8am and i had not realised that we would get there quite so early, but i did think that that the ferry place would have somewhere we could wait...........
Yep awesome, so we sat there for 5 hours, fun times. Eventually at about 7am the office opened and i went to change tickets again, only to be told by an old grumpy man that i was in the wrong place and told me that i should be at an address that had been written on the back of my receipt. It was clear that either he did not want to know or was just and arse because that address was the address for the office in Saigon, and that was quite clear. Anyway i then found another man who changed our tickets for us and showed us where to board. It was quite a nice boat a Superdong, anyway we left on time at 8am and by 10.30am we were pulling up to the island.
First a few words on Phu Quoc. Phu Quoc is a beautiful tropical island that the French handed to Vietnam when they were splitting their colony, French Indo-China and specifically the Mekong Delta between Vietnam and Cambodia. Phu Quoc is one of the largest islands in Vietnam and most of the accommodation is on the west side, on Long Beach. So we picked up a shared minivan and surprisingly the driver knew of some very cheap accommodation right on the beach, so off we went. It would seem that on Phu Quoc cheap is $15 a night, but surprise surprise they did not have that option, but they did have a $25 room. The lady promised me that if we took the $25 room that night there would be a $15 room available the following day. So because we are really lazy and i was bordering on zombified we took the room. Not before I am ashamed to say that I did raise my voice at the minibus driver, he had said 16,000 Dong each at the pier for the transfer and when we arrived at the guesthouse he asked for 60,000 Dong. I am well aware that they do this, thats why i asked him about 7 times at the pier "16 not 60", anyway I was very tired and suffice to say it was not one of my finer moments, its just so aggravating. The guesthouse is lovely, it does go right down to the beach and they have their own restaurant. The first picture is the $25 dollar room and then the i forgot to take a picture of the $15 but it was lovely, little brick building with bathroom, fridge, balcony, two hammocks and a view of the sea. I am finding there is not much more in life you need really.
Our first afternoon here we wandered a little dazed and tired along the beach. A few people had said that the island was beautiful but over developed and especially at Long Beach as that is where the "cheap" accommodation is. But actually it was not bad, all the development is off the beach and there are only one or two big hotels closer to town, all the other structures are little bungalows. Some look very luxurious and the place next door to us was asking $258 for a basic bungalow no air conditioning. But the overall look of the beach is nice, a lot of the buildings you cant see and those that you can have been designed really well.
The following day we decided to take a walk into town to see the market. It was really hot and very busy. The river runs through the middle of town and fishing is major business. Phu Quoc fish sauce is a specific variety of fish sauce produced on Phu Quoc island. The waters around Phu Quoc island are rich in seaweed and plankton which provide food for the anchovy population. This resource has been used in the production of Phu Quoc fish sauce for over 200 years. Phu Quoc sauce is made exclusively from anchovies harvested from waters surrounding the island. During the fishing season (which extends from July to December), fishermen harvest anchovies by net, removing the anchovies from among other fish and items in the nets, and immediately combining them with salt at a 3:1 ratio in water tanks. These are some we saw drying by the road, and some pictures of the harbour.
On the other side of the river was the market, some markets you go to you know that in some way they are geared at tourists, this one definitely not so much. It was really smelly, hot, busy with people and bikes, noisy and there was no tourist tat.
After the market we hired a couple of motorbike guys to take us home and asked them about taking us to Sao Beach in the south of the island. It was about £12 for both us and it was about 30km, they would wait for us and then bring us back, there is also an old prison there that we wanted to see. So we asked them to come back the next day. The next day, you have never seen weather like it, the storm started at about 3am and rumbled on most of the day, that turned into a balcony day. The following day was lovely and at 10am our motorbike guys turned up to pick us up.
Here is some photo and video highlights of that and the following day that Craig & I hired a bike (don't panic, all was fine!) to go to the North of the island.
As you can see from the video Sao beach is stunning, the sand is perfectly white and so fine. The water is really clear, it really is picture perfect. BTW I am sorry, I am not trying to make people jealous but I do love these pictures, so there are a few!
The following day as I said Craig & I hired a bike and set off to the North of the island, whilst we heading through the National Park, we saw monkeys, butterflies, lots of lizards and so many types of bird. The problem is that when you are driving along a dirt rd at even 15km/h stopping is not instant and by the time i have hopped off and turned on the camera what ever it is, is gone. However there was one bird in particular that was so spectacular that I can't not show you a picture, its an Oriental Pied Hornbill. So yes this picture is from Google, but i saw this bird, a couple of times just flying about the jungle, how amazing is that?
Some of the Northern beaches were quite pretty but they just did not compare to Sao Beach and there was a lot of rubbish on them.
We saw this on the way home, I can think of worse spots for a final resting place.
We had by this point decided to stay another couple of days to do some snorkeling, and because we were enjoying all of the nature right on our balcony. There were lizards everywhere, we saw Flying dragons, Asian grass lizards, and Oriental garden lizards (they were the ones we could identify!)
The most impressive lizard of all however is living in our roof, he comes out every night and he is the size of a small crocodile. I was a little wary of him to start with now, but now we are all good, and its like having a pet, he comes out of an evening and sits on the wall, whilst we sit on the balcony. He is a Tokay Gecko and is a nocturnal arboreal gecko and he is the second largest Gecko species, getting to lengths of about 28–51 cm for males, and 18–48 cm for females, with weights of only 150–400 grams. I think he is pretty awesome! (Sorry about the quality of the pictures but he was a little camera shy, and my nighttime pictures without a tripod are usually pretty shocking!) - Update 10/05/13 pictures updated courtesy of my friend Oyla with a much better camera.
So on the second to last day we took the bike out again to Sao beach, this time with snorkels. The visibility was not amazing because the sky was quite hazy, but the variety of fish and coral was amazing. especially the coral, there were so many different types. I really love snorkeling but in a way it is a little scary here as there are things swimming around and attached to rocks that I cannot identify, and they might sting/ bite etc. My general rule of thumb is to just not touch anything, but sometimes things touch you, thats the bit i really don't like.
Here is just some random cute animals I couldn't help but have a cuddle with.
And a couple we met from London here on holiday.
We loved Phu Quoc Island, it had lovely beaches, lots of nature and it was very easy to get around with quiet roads. It is not too developed yet, but there is a lot of building of resorts and new roads going on, so it wont be long. I am glad that we saw the island the way that it is, as i don't think it will stay like this for long, they say that it has aspirations to be the new Phuket. That really is a crying shame, what a waste!
Next stop for us is a town called Can Tho to see some floating markets in the Mekong Delta. We leave tomorrow, so until then...................
