Phu Quoc 2.0

Back on Phu Quoc, we now stayed in the western part of the island. This part seemed to be even more dominated by Russian tourists than the south, which immediately became obvious by the Russian menus in restaurants or even entirely Russian restaurants. We booked the first four out of nine nights in the Phuc Thang Hotel, which we liked a lot because it was nice and quiet. During our second stay on Phu Quoc we went to the beach to cool off during the extremely hot days, jogged along the main road in the evening, and went to a restaurant or beach club for dinner and drinks. We even did two beach days in the south of the island because we liked the Khem Beach there a bit better than the ones in the west.

After the fourth night, we switched hotels to one that was not very far in the same village. When we arrived they said that our room was not available because the hotel was overbooked. They then offered us a different room which was not ready yet so we just went to do our laundry and work on our computers for a while. Once we went back to the hotel we could go to our room, which did not look like the photos that made us book this hotel and was full of mosquitos. Also, in our opinion, the bathroom was not clean, which is why we reported this to the reception. The guy at the reception then came to our room and said that to him the bathroom looked clean. Since we did not agree, he got rather angry but agreed, with a shake of the head, to clean it again. Once we returned after dinner, there was now a Russian guy at the reception explaining to us that our reservation was cancelled by the booking platform but we could still stay in this room that was even cheaper than what we booked. We decided not to take that offer and instead went back to the Phuc Thang Hotel, which, after one poor night under our mosquito nets, luckily still had a room available. All’s well that ends well!

Speaking of ending well, it was now December 31 and time to say goodbye to the year that brought so many changes to our lives. Our New Year’s Eve night started with a great dinner and ended in a ridiculous story. Here is that story:

After consuming a delicious red snapper, we headed to a club where Marina previously got us a reservation. This reservation was valid if we arrived between 23:00 and 23:30, which we did. Once we arrived there, the old security guard who did not speak a single word of English just crossed his arms indicating that the club was full. After a while of trying to change his mind with the help of the reservation confirmation and Google Translate, he started to understand that we had a reservation and welcomed us in.
We were then shown to a booth and given a single page menu which was for wines and liquors only. Not feeling like wine or liquor, we asked if they had a different menu, e.g. for cocktails. They did and after some time we did get a page from the menu with cocktails. Again after some time we managed to ask if they also had some non-alcoholic options, after which we were given yet another page of the drinks menu. Now that we somehow had a reasonably complete menu and selected our drinks, nobody showed up at our booth to take an order. It was now 23:50 and we wanted to get a drink to toast with before midnight so Marina went to the bar, where our waiter now was, to place an order. However, the waiter replied that they cannot serve drinks because the fireworks were about to start and that we could order later. So we just waited for the fireworks to happen. At midnight, the DJ was still playing music and only stopped about one minute later to ask the crowd if they were ready. Well, did he really think none of us had accurate clocks on our phones and hadn’t already been waiting for this? He then started to count down to light the fireworks, which consisted of a handful of Roman candles. Clearly, this must have occupied the entire staff, so they could not serve drinks during the 15 minutes leading up to midnight.
Once the show and commotion was over, it was about 00:15 by then, Matthias went back to the bar to ask if we could order a drink. In hard-to-understand English, the bartender replied that they cannot serve drinks now. So Matthias asked when he could order drinks again only to get the answer “tomorrow”. Matthias then tried to confirm when the club would close and the bartender replied “maybe in 10 minutes”.
At around 00:30 we started our last attempt at getting a drink at the outside bar. The bartender there told us that “the last round had passed”. Matthias then explained to him that we had been at the club for an hour and did not manage to get a single drink to which he replied “yeah sorry, we are closed now!”. What a joke!

So imagine this: there is this club that organized a New Year’s Eve party but stopped serving drinks before midnight, without calling last round, and the whole club shut down shortly after midnight. This must have been the only time in Vietnam where we went somewhere and nobody even wanted to take our money. Regardless, we still managed to have a good start to the new year by lying on the beach in the sun during the next few days.

On one of these days we went to the Starfish Beach in the very north of the island. To get there, we first took a Grab taxi which brought us to the beach and then we had to take a boat to get to the part of the beach with starfishes. Taking a boat is necessary since they blocked the walking paths to get to the other part of the beach, likely just so that they can make some money with the boat rides. But the beach is worth the trip as it features clear blue water and white sand. We spent a lot of time there in the water before having lunch on a raft to which we had to swim while transporting our belongings on a surf board. We could even spend some extra time at the beach on our way back since our taxi driver blew a tire and therefore took a long time to pick us up.

Our second stay on Phu Quoc also marked the end of our time in Vietnam. We took a plane that brought us via Hanoi to our next destination and our next country on the list.

Cafés, restaurants and bars we can recommend:
- O Bon Pain - French Bakery (Freshly made bread stuff - Heavenly!)
- Nora’s Cafe - Restaurant (They serve yummy breakfast. Their bowls and egg options are pretty good.)
- Rome Cafe or La Place Coffee Eatery (Breakfast spot)
AM PM - Specialty Coffee and Wine bar (Amazing breakfast, but be there early because sometimes they run out of some breakfast plates.)
- Pizzamo (We went here twice because everything is so delicious.)
- Pizza Camia (Great pizzas!)
- The Tipsy Taco (Best chorizo taco ever!)
- Maharaja Lounge (Authentic indian food)
- Ocsen Beach Bar & Club (Cool location to watch the sunset and get some drinks and food.)
- Z Coffee Family Restaurant (Delicious food! Try a red snapper or a curry!)Read more