Wayne Kerr’s Phu Quoc Expeditions - Vietnam
Phu Quoc Island in southern Vietnam is my favourite island getaway. Two hours flying time from Bangkok, luxury resorts for about US$30 a night, perfect beaches, some of the best diving in the world, cheap seafood and grog, and the friendliest locals you’ll find in southeast Asia.
The travel route from Bangkok is first to Saigon then a domestic flight to Phu Quoc. Tickets for Bangkok-Saigon return are usually about 10,000 baht, then Saigon-Phu Quoc return is about $30. In terms of “bang for your buck” Phu Quoc must be one of the best holiday destinations in Asia, but this time it was mostly business for old Wayne Kerr.
I had a little bit of fun along the way and I’ll slowly get my pics in here over the next few weeks to help ease the tensions of being back at work in Bangkok – hope you enjoy :) .
Phu Quoc Island
For those of you wondering where the feck Phu Quoc is, it is just near the border of Vietnam and Cambodia. I knocked the maps below off from Google Earth. The flight from Saigon to Phu Quoc stops off at Rach Gia district airport in Kien Giang Province, so my plan was to stop off on the way and check out Rach Gia and Ha Tien districts before heading onto Phu Quoc. The island is about the same size of Singapore and for you Google Earth junkies just go to 10 degrees north and 104 degrees east and follow your nose.
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^ Location of Phu Quoc Island in relation to Saigon and Cambodia
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^ This time I stopped off at Rach Gia airport to check out the Rach Gia (pronounced Rex Zar) and Ha Tien districts. This area is quite close to Kampot in Cambodia and many people can speak Khmer.
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...Quoc-map-3.jpg
^ I had some business to do in the island group to the south of the island so this was where I was headed – if you are a diver you can find some of the best coral reefs in the world here.
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Overnight in Saigon – Dog eat Dog
Overnight in Saigon – Dog eat Dog
My first stop was Saigon to catch up with old friends. They are dog meat aficionados and quickly rushed me off to their favourite dog meat restaurant upon my arrival. Dog meat is well liked by most Vietnamese and even young teenage girls are known to get into it these days.
Dog meat restaurants are everywhere in Saigon and dishes typically set you back about US$1-1.50. The taste is pretty bloody strong and I was hoping they’d order 1 or 2 non dog dishes to go with it, but no it was all dog meet and Vodka Hanoi.
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^ This was the first dish served – sliced dog leg :)
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^ Then the dog meat sausage came :o
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^ This was some sort of minced dog meat with all sorts of special herbs and spices – KFC Saigon style :D
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^ Then the dog meat soup came – this was mostly dog tail and brains :D
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^ The was some “Kanom Gin” (don’t know what it is called in English) to eat with the soup :)
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^ Fortunately we had some Vodka Hanoi to wash it down – this vodka seems to have become quite popular over the past year and is a little more expensive than my favourite “Nep Moi” the whole dinner set us back 170,000 Vietnamese Dong with a whole bottle of grog (say $US11) :D.
Showed Wayne Jnr the pics this morning and he was worried that the local soi dogs would smell their friend in my stomach and start following me around - I wish I still had an imagination like that.
Tan Son Nhat Hotel - Saigon
I ended up staying at the Tan Son Nhat Hotel. It used to be the office of the President of the pre 1975 government and I learned that most Vietnamese government guys stay there as they can get good rates through their communist party connections. Anyway it has great ADSL connection, lovely grounds, and only say 5 minutes from the airport for about US$21 a night (tansonnhathotel@hcm.vnn.vn).
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^ Tan Son Nhat Hotel - Saigon
I had to fly out of Saigon at about 6.00am so it was an early night. Had a bit of an interesting encounter at the airport with some unruly Vietnamese passengers not so happy about a gate change for the Phu Quoc flight. They were pushing the police around and I only got a minute or so of footage before I got a tap on the shoulder by a big Vietnamese bloke in a dark suit telling me to put the camera away. It turned into more of an all in scuffle after this with the police whacking a few of the guys that where really out of control. I think they’d been drinking all night and traveling back to start preparing for the lunar new year celebrations.