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“On the Map, but Just Barely” |
February 1, 2006
Travel Day from Cambodia to Vietnam! We departed Phnom Penh by minibus to reach the Mekong river, where we boarded a boat and headed downstream to Chau Doc. We had a tranquil and easy float with beautiful views, interrupted only by a relatively painless border crossing. The latter end of the journey took us through the Mekong Delta , and we got to glimpse more life on the water. Rice mills and fields lined the banks in places, while other stretches were packed full of floating houses. Many of the floating houses doubled as fish farms, with spawning and raising taking place beneath the families' beds.
Chau Doc was not exactly welcoming, though not entirely hostile either. We discovered that there are reasons for this town not being a touted tourist destination, as we battled for accommodations and bus tickets onward to Rach Gia (the port to Phu Quoc). We did meet one very nice old man, who once worked with the US Air Force in some capacity, and he walked us to a small family-run and Vietnamese-patronized restaurant. This hole in the wall served us our first of many delicious spring rolls and hotpot (a soup that cooked at our table on a gas burner) meals for cheap. We later learned that spring rolls were to become some of our best friends in the culinary world here, and are considered a Vietnamese specialty with their seemingly infinite variations.
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February 2, 2006
The bus trip to Rach Gia, the jumping off point to Phu Quoc island, was a bit less relaxing than the boat the day before, but we finally made it in time to find out from all fifteen ticket vendor booths that all the boats that day were sold out. Now, we had checked about this transition from bus to boat a number of times by asking numerous travel agents before leaving Chau Doc. We had been assured there were plenty of boats, and there was no need to reserve ahead. Needless to say, we were resistant to take no for an answer, as we had no intention of staying in the smuggling port of Rach Gia for the night (or two).
We must have appeared quite pitiful as we asked a nice-looking crew member for help as a last resort, because after a moment of glancing about, he ushered us quickly onto the back of the luxury express boat. We were officially stowaways! Boarding did not start for another hour and 45 minutes, so we tried hard not to look too conspicuous as the only non-crew, white, out of uniform, and unoccupied people on the boat. We decided to read our books. Eventually we did receive tickets (invalidated tickets for a different vessel, two days ago, headed in the other direction) from a crew member who informed us that they were "No Good!" No kidding!
About $20 and 4 hours later we somehow made it to the not-so-beautiful southern port city of the exquisitely beautiful island of Phu Quoc. Forty minutes up the pristine coastal dirt road by motorbike, we found the "last room on the island", in some cute, beach-side bungalows. Later, we discovered we had fared relatively well, despite the emotionally challenging (but exciting) journey.
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February 4, 2006
There is not too much to say about our time in Phu Quoc, except that it was blissfully lazy and a much needed time for recuperation. Though our stay was much too short, we both feel privileged to have visited this fairly undeveloped jewel of an island. Delicious meals on the beach while watching spectacular sunsets were a nightly routine, after a day spent strolling along the beach, swimming in the clear water, and lounging in the shade of a coconut palm.
Our few pictures taken in haste at sunset, after realizing we had taken none, do this place absolutely no justice. It truly is an island paradise, with mile after mile of undisturbed beaches and a nationally protected, mountainous jungle interior. There were only a few resorts on the whole island and a handful of thatched roof bungalows, but one can already imagine the not too distant future of overdevelopment. We both would love to be able to return someday (by plane), hopefully before the hotels take over, and it becomes a regular tourist destination.
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