A long weekend in Phu Quoc - Day 2, Part 2

As the rain continued, but thankfully at a lighter pace than earlier this morning, we headed south of Duong Dong townn on a bumpy, boggy red-dirt road to a remote stretch of Long Beach that hosts a number of pearl farms.

Around 8kms from Duong Dong, the first major pearl farm you'll come across is Phu Quoc Pearls, an Australian-owned pearl farm. We were keen to visit this one as the guide book said it had a cafe serving New Zealand Ice-cream. Just our luck, it was closed!

Not to worry, the helpful Mr Van Khoa told us there were a few more farms down the road. Another 10 minutes drive and we were at a Japanese-owned pearl farm.
  

The Japanese-owned pearl farm and shop on Long Beach

Out the front we were approached by one of the staff who demonstrated how pearls are farmed. Watching her get the pearl out of the oyster was fascinating. She did two oysters and gave the girls a pearl each.

Here's what we learned...for pearl farming a farmer needs oysters that are old enough and large enough to be "nucleated" to grow a pearl. Some farmers collect them from the sea, others grow their own (takes 1-2 years).

The next part of the process is for the farmer to nucleate the oyster with a "foreign" object. In the case of saltwater oysters on Phu Quoc that foreign object is a piece of thin plastic-like tissue prepared from a mother of pearl shell.

Once the oyster has the implant it is given a few weeks to recover from the surgery before being transferred back to the oyster bed in a cage where the farmers tend them for 2 to 3 years until the pearl develops.

Most pearl snobs would argue that natural pearls are better, but for a novice like me who couldn't tell the difference it doesn't really matter! I'm not a fan of pearls, I find them old fashioned, but the girls were fascintaed with the jewellery inside the store so we bought them a bracelet each for $150,000 VND (under $10!).

Heading back towards the resort the rain finally eased off so we decided to have a late lunch at one the restaurants just outside La Veranda's gates. The resort is on Tran Hung Dao Street, a paved side street that runs off the main road (also, confusingly, Tran Hung Dao). The side street houses a few of the cheaper, but popular hotels, such as Mai's Place and the Charm Hotel, as well as some rustic-looking restaurants serving up fresh Phu Quoc seafood.

We chose The Palm Tree. Set up in 2004, this is a family-run establishment that is at the owner's house (as so many of Vietnam's restaurants probably are!). Dining is in an outdoor covered pavilion. There are plenty of seafood dishes to choose from, as well as pork, beef and chicken. The most you'll pay for a dish is 80,000 VND (around US$4.20!) unless you choose the Hot Pot which is just under US$10.

While the setting is basic, and as long as you're not perturbed by the owner's mangy looking dog that comes close to your table begging for scraps, this is a great introdution to Phu Quoc's seafood for very little money. The best dish we ordered was a mackerel fish done in a tamarind sauce. Delicious!

Long weekend in Phu Quoc Day 2 - Part 1

La Veranda Resort

I knew when I booked our long weekend on Phu Quoc that it was the wet season. That's why we got such a good deal at La Veranda resort (stay for 3 nights and pay for 2).

But, after yesterday's perfect weather (with only a short burst of rain around lunch time) I'd kidded myself into thinking we'd have little rain on our trip. Wrong! As always, Team Somerville attracts the rain wherever we go! Not to worry as, at least this time, we were prepared with rain jackets.

This morning we woke to grey skies which turned to heavy rain before we even had the chance to leave our villa. Over breakfast we decided to abandon our plan to visit Sao Beach on the south-east coast (apparently the nicest beach on the island) and instead take in a couple of Phu Quoc's famous sights - the Cau Castle and a local pearl farm. Our new tour buddies David, Alex and Hugo decided to stay put at the resort and wait out the rain.

Our first stop this morning was Dinh Cau (also known as Cau Castle). The Castle is a temple and a lighthouse, built in 1937 in honour of the goddess Thien Hau, protector of fishermen and sailors. A visit to the castle gives a good view of the entrance to the harbour and the Duong Dong fishing port.

Travel tip: the wet season on Phu Quoc Island lasts from May to October, which can mean moderate to heavy rain throughout. Generally, the rainy season will mean only a few hours of rain each day, rather than an all day drizzle, but our experience today was on again, off again medium to heavy rain. In summary, the weather during the wet season is hard to predict! The wet season means many of the top end hotels will offer up cheap deals to lure the tourists but, be warned, some restaurants and shops shut down at this time.

A long weekend in Phu Quoc - Day 1, Part 2

Georgia and Mackenzie were exhausted from the early start but we decided to keep them up until lunch time. What could be more refreshing than a stroll along the beach, collecting seashells and building sand castles?

Well, the girls didn't want anything to do with the sand or the stroll! The intention had been to walk the 3 kms along Long Beach to Duong Dong town, but they decided it wasn't safe to walk on the sand because they'd get hit by the waves!

Admittedly the water was a little rough (the red flags were up which meant proceed with caution!) but the water was nowhere near us. That didn't stop them from screaming as we tried to unsuccessfully coax them along the beach. After a painful 10 minutes we gave up and went back to the resort! Grrrr!

So while Rob took the girls for a swim in the pool, I headed back onto the beach to explore. I turned left out of the resort towards a few shack-style bars and restaurants to see if there was somewhere we could take the girls for lunch.

There were a few options fronting some rustic looking hotels (i.e. backpacker style!) with a couple serving up cheap Vietnamese food and offering beachside massages and tour services. Unfortunately as the tide was on its way in, I knew there was no way I'd get the girls to sit and eat lunch on the beach so I went back to the pool.

Bungalow dining on Long Beach

As an aside, the state of the beach in some spots on my walk was disgusting with lots of litter washed up onto the sand and floating in the water. It's disheartening to realise that the more upmarket resorts, such as La Veranda, clearly take the time to sweep the area of beach fronting their own hotel but don't bother to take care of the sand only a few metres away.

Back at La Veranda we met another expat couple, currently living in Hong Kong, travelling with their 17-month-old son. We made plans to meet up again after lunch and nap time.

This afternoon we took a taxi with fellow travellers David, Alex and son Hugo to visit some of Phu Quoc's tourist sights. First stop was Nuoc Mam Hung Thinh (near Duong Dong town markets), Phu Quoc's largest fish sauce factory. Ok, not exactly a likely place for sightseeing but given the sauce is touted as Vietnam's best (and we eat it almost every day) I was keen to see how it was made.

Unfortunately unless you take a guide along with you, or speak Vietnamese, there isn't anyone to give you an explanation of how the sauce is produced. But spend a few minutes in the shed with the giant wooden vats holding the festering nuoc mam and there's a good chance that you won't want to stay long anyway!

Fish sauce vats

The shop at the factory sells a range of the fish sauce, as well as other dried fish goodies. You can buy a 600ml bottle for only 40,000 VND but, beware, this is a trap for tourists. Your fish sauce will be confiscated at the domestic terminal by Vietnam Airlines because of its "smelly" and "corrosive" ingredients! Even if you do manage to sneak it through, if you're heading overseas it's unlikely that any airline will let you carry it. In short, don't bother!

Our next stop was a pepper farm. Yes that's right - from fish sauce to pepper - we were on a culinary tour of Phu Quoc! Vietnamese will tell you that Phu Quoc black pepper is among the world's best and a visit to one of the island's many pepper farms will give you a chance to see how it is grown as well as an opportunity to buy the product (most working farms have a stall at the front).  

Again, it would have been great to have a guide to explain how the pepper was grown, but our friendly taxi driver cum tour guide Mr Van Khoa did his best with his limited English!

Exploring the pepper garden

The three toddlers seemed to be coping with the confines of the taxi so Mr Van Khoa convinced us to continue further south to the Ham Ninh traditional fishing village.

For those of us living in Vietnam it was a bit of "same, same" in the bustling village, but the kids loved watching the vendors handling and selling the live seafood. Georgia and Mackenzie were particularly taken with the tanks of tiny seahorses.

The highlight of Ham Ninh is a walk along the pier at the end of the village market. Take the perfect tourist photo of the Phu Quoc fishing boats floating in the waters off the village; see starfish swimming in the crystal clear waters the island has become famous for; watch local fisherman load their catch onto the pier and enjoy the spectacle of the local kids playing soccer on a sand bar. 

As the sun was setting we headed back to La Veranda for dinner at the hotel and an early night, ready for another day of exploring tomorrow.

Travel tip: as the tourism industry grows on Phu Quoc there are more options for tours of the island. Most of the hotels offer their own tours, and there are a selection of smaller tour agencies around town. Another option is to grab a map of the island, book a taxi and do a tour on your own. This is a good idea if you have young children as it allows you to build your own itinerary and gives you the option of heading back to your hotel if the kids become cranky! Today we used local taxi company "Sasco". Two of the main taxi companies on the island, Sasco and Mai Linh, will offer you a set price for a trip (generally 550,000VND for 4 hours and 50,000VND per hour thereafter) or you can just pay by the meter.

A long weekend in Phu Quoc - Day 1, Part 1

An early start for Team Somerville today. We left the house at 6am for the 7:20am flight to Phu Quoc - a mountainous and densley forested island off the south-west coast of Vietnam.

Phu Quoc's in the Gulf of Thailand, 45 km west of Vietnam’s mainland and 15 km south of Cambodia, and a short 50 minutes flight from Saigon.

After a breakfast of mooncakes (disgusting!) and sweet bread at the domestic terminal, we boarded a bus to the plane. As we travelled along the tarmac and saw the size of the plane we'd be flying on the girls got very excited! The flight to Phu Quoc is on a tiny 34-seater, propeller plane that takes off fast and flies low enough for a great view on the way to the island.

Less than an hour later we were on descent to Phu Quoc. Despite a small amount of development (this is Phuket, Thailand 20 years ago), about 70% of the island is covered in forest which is thankfully protected since becoming a national park in 2001.

Phu Quoc Island from the air

We're staying 3 nights at the La Veranda Resort on Long Beach, about a 25 minute drive from the airport. La Veranda is a sprawling french colonial style resort with hotel room and bungalow accomodation.

We booked a deluxe bungalow that has a pool and ocean view. Absolutely gorgeous with a private verandah at the front overlooking the pool and a huge king size, four-poster bed with a mosquito net canopy. My only complaint is that the second bed we paid for is a small one which means one toddler is in the big bed with us! Oh well, the joys of travelling as a family of four!