Our school inexplicably takes a week off in October. We've known about it for a while. Over the summer we had high hopes of using the time to wander off the beaten path, exploring parts of Vietnam we ordinarily wouldn't see. Of course, by the time October actually rolled around, we realized we had about a week before break started and we weren't going to plan a thing. That is how we found ourselves on a beach in Phu Quoc (basically the closest possible island) at the first resort that popped up on a search of hotels in the area.
The flight to Phu Quoc is short, just forty minutes. Yet in that tiny amount of time, I learned about my new least favorite thing -in the stewardess's words - "a take-off landing". As the name would suggest, it is what happens when the pilot decides to abort the landing by gunning the engines and essentially taking off from a few hundred feet off the ground. Obviously, this is done without informing the passengers, leaving some of them to search frantically for a stewardess so they can assess a.) what in god's name is going on and b.) the stewardess's facial features, to suggest how close they are to death.
Our second attempt at landing successful, we were welcomed to our island vacation by pouring rain because it is the rainy season. Hooray.
From there, our trip had no where to go but up and (despite what you'll read later) it did. The resort/Eco-lodge was gorgeous.
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| Our "Plantation" Villa. Oh, Colonialism... |
The breakfasts were out of this world
And, as an bonus, we got to share our space with geckos/dinosaurs that were forearmed size.
Feeling adventurous on our second day, day we rented a motor bike, explored the northern section of the island and quickly blended into the local community:
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| Case in point... |
The parts of the island we drove through were marked (and marred) by construction project after construction project. It was a disheartening reminder of why resorts exist in the first place and why, once there, people rarely choose to leave them. We had heard the Northern section of the island was mostly a national park, but as it was controlled by the military we didn't actually get to explore much.
We did find one trail that turned out to be a kilometer long out and back cut into the jungle. Excited, we set off down the path eager for a bit of quiet. However, literally a minute after we set off (and what truly must have been twenty seconds after we remarked on how peaceful the forest was) a driver in a parked car began blasting techno music. It was tragic, infuriating, predictable, and hilarious. We realized there was no way we were going to out walk his "music" so we headed back out to our bike just in time for the afternoon rain storm. Hooray again.
All in all not best morning but we did see this sweet tree:
Aside from the motorbike misadventure we had a beautiful stay. We spent our days beach combing, swimming, and pondering how early is too early to order beers.
The real highlight came on our last night on the island. After two evenings of rain, the skies cleared and we were treated to an incredible hour and a half long sunset while we ate dinner. It started off great and only got better.
A perfect way to end our vacation.
Except, of course, it didn't end there...our return flight time changed three different times over the course of a single day and involved turbulence so bad the flight attendants who were serving water literally sat down in the aisle and took cover.
The take aways: beach vacations are great, but we will be taking a boat (or train) on all future travel endeavors.
