Phú Quốc I

For the past few days we have been staying on the island of Phú Quốc which is directly south of Cambodia, in the Gulf of Thailand.  Phú Quốc is one of those places that you know will never look the same again.  Right now it is sleepy and quiet with very few tourists.  However, there is massive construction going on everywhere throughout the island, an international airport is being built, as well as paved roads which circumvent the island.  I suspect that in the next 5-10 years Phú Quốc will look much like Hawaii or some of the more developed islands in Thailand.

Our first day involved wandering around the city of Dương Đông which has a pretty large local market, and many shops and restaurants.  Dương Đông is located on the west side of the island next to a long stretch of beach lined with hotels and resorts.  The high season doesn't start until November, so most places are fairly empty at the moment.  It's actually a nice change from the very busy streets of Ho Chi Minh City.

Our hotel is called Thanh Kieu (pronounced Thank you) and is on a lovely strip of beach about 2 km south of town.  Our room has a view of the ocean, and the sound of waves crashing puts us to sleep at night.  They serve us breakfast every morning which includes egg-dishes (from the chickens that wander about the property) and banana pancakes.

 Beach near our Hotel

 Our room

View from our room

One of the hardest things about traveling is being away from Toni and Cleo.  It sounds cheesy, but it's true.  Those two little guys give me so much joy, and it is sad not having them wake me up in the morning or trampling my head at night.  Luckily Vietnam is ripe with various animals wandering around.  Every restaurant and hotel seems to have it's resident strays who are always there looking hungrily up at you.  It's sad, but has also been helping me get my animal fix.  This little guy came up and sat on my lap the first night at dinner.  I almost took him home with me.

Our second day on Phú Quốc involved a lot of lazing around our hotel and reading.  I've been attempting to read books that I should have read in high school, but didn't (because I basically hated reading in high school).  Right now I am reading 1984, which is kind of strange considering I am visiting a "socialist" country, with huge amounts of poverty and disparity, and the whole book is about socialism gone wrong.  We both got massages on the beach, and I got my legs threaded.  Threading is sort of like waxing, but basically removes hair using a twisting of threads along your skin.  I tried to get the ladies to teach me how to do it, and this resulted in a lot of laughing at my failed attempts to "thread myself."

 Beach Walking

 Beach Massages

Chilling

There was a request for a picture of Adam in his new hat (that he bought at the Cholon Markets), so here it is.  I also convinced him to buy some aviators which he insist he couldn't wear at home, but I think they look awesome.