Touring Phú Quốc, Vietnam, by motorbike!
Having spent 10 days in Japan, Patton and I left Osaka and embarked on our Vietnam adventure. I last entered the country 10 years ago. I loved my time there and was excited to see more cities there, and to hear my friend Patton speak Vietnamese! Our first stop was in the southern island of Phú Quốc. We spent three nights there.
Patton wanted to go to Vietnam in part to visit friends and former colleagues in several cities. Two of those friends were Ryan and Mario, who run a cute little resort called Bauhinia on Phu Quoc island. We thus arranged to stay there for our three nights in Vietnam while we explored the island. We did some investigating of things to do before going on the trip, but in the end we pretty much took suggestions from folks and did things spontaneously. It was a lot of fun, especially since I got to drive a motorbike again!
Wednesday, July 31
We left Osaka around 09:20 by a VietJet Air flight to Hanoi, where we transferred to a domestic flight to Phu Quoc. That all went pretty smoothly despite my fears about the carry on bags being overweight. Patton and I added a checked bag to each of our tickets since it was pretty cheap and we would probably need it. I paid to increase my carry on from 7kg to 9kg as well. At the ticket counter, they did weigh my carry on, which came out to 8.5kg. She told me it was overweight, and I told her I paid for the increase. She didn’t seem to understand what I said, but then made it seem like she was making an exception and allowing it. Oh well, whatever. I packed some of my clothes into Patton’s extra little IBM duffel he brought for this purpose.
When we landed at Hanoi’s Noi Bai airport, we were in the international terminal and needed to get to the domestic. I assumed we could walk, but it turned out the terminal was something like 1kg away and we needed to take a shuttle. While looking for that, we asked a city bus driver for a pointer. Well, Patton asked, in Vietnamese. I’m not sure exactly what they all said, but the guy ended up telling us to get on. There was no one else on the bus, and he was apparently about to head to the city center. We were not confident he understood where we wanted to go, but I was put at ease when I checked Google Maps on my phone and saw he was making the turn to go down toward the domestic terminal. Phew! We didn’t even pay, which was nice. Thanks driver!
After landing at Hanoi, Vietnam, on VietJet Air flight VJ939 from Osaka, Japan. Flight time 5h00m, 09:20 to 12:20.
After landing at Hanoi, Vietnam, on VietJet Air flight VJ939 from Osaka, Japan. Flight time 5h00m, 09:20 to 12:20.
We took a strange bus after asking the driver for a pointer to the shuttle to the other terminal. I think it was a city bus but he drove us anyway. Very nice.
Then we had a quick lunch at another one of Patton’s lounges, and apparently I had two beers. Then it was off to board via bus transfer to our flight to Phu Quoc.
During that flight I sat in the middle with a Vietnamese lady next to me at the window. It was interesting that she kept making phone calls all through boarding till after we were airborne. I counted at least five separate calls she made, where she kept talking loudly even during the flight attendants’ safety demonstration. The staff were a few feet away and didn’t seem to mind. I also noticed she kept putting her bare feet in my space and on my arm rest and food tray. Heh.
We landed there without issue and went to see if the ride we didn’t get confirmation about materialized. Thankfully we quickly found a nice man holding a sign reading “Mr. Patton”. Patton got a kick out of that, and he asked to take a picture with the sign.
It was about a 15 minute drive to the hotel. We checked in around 17:45 and then unpacked and washed up a bit. We headed out an hour later to find an ATM and explore the nearby commercial street, Đường Trần Hưng Đạo. I decided to bring my Nikon Z7ii camera even though I didn’t have a great way to conceal it. I was a little nervous, still adjusting to a new area.
This is where our hotel's small street meets the larger road, Đường Trần Hưng Đạo, or Tran Hung Dao Street, in Phú Quốc.
Patton was carrying a gift from Japan we were going to give to Mario and Ryan later, but he managed to leave it at the ATM. Thankfully he remembered and fetched it!
We then made our way to the night market, Chợ đêm Phú Quốc. It was pretty crowded but we were able to move around and look at things just fine. Patton spent some time investigating the prices of pearl necklaces so he could help some people in his family buy some.
We were given several competing versions of these spicy nuts at the Phu Quoc night market, Chợ đêm Phú Quốc, in Vietnam.
There are plenty of what seem to be “community dogs” chilling all over the place in Vietnam. Most of them seemed to be eating all right, though I did see evidence of itching fleas on many of them. There was also a chained up monkey, a macaque of some sort I think. Poor guy.
It was funny seeing a takoyaki vendor having just come from Osaka!
And we got some food, some kind of soup.
Then we attempted to take a Grab car ride to Ryan and Mario’s bar called Ocsen Beach Bar & Club. Grab is sort of like Uber or Lyft, but has some cool features those lack. You can book motorbike rides in addition to cars, which is much more convenient and faster if you are just one person. You can also chat with the driver after the ride ends, helpful I imagine if you forgot something in the car. But, actually finding your driver can be a challenge when there are tons of other drivers in the same spot looking for their clients. We spent some time failing to find our driver at the entrance to the night market, and I think we ended up needing to book another one, but can’t quite remember. Anyway, we made it to Ocsen, which was not too far down the main road along the beach.
I didn’t know what to expect walking in, and was a tad nervous to meet Patton’s friends. The environment was really nice though. There weren’t too many people in the main hall area when we got there, but plenty more were down on the beach in bean bags. We started at a table near the bar, and we ordered fancy cocktails. I also learned about “balloons”, apparently a semi legal phenomenon in Vietnam where bars offer laughing gas in a balloon for around the price of an expensive drink.
We eventually migrated to the side of the beach seating area before a fire dancing show started around 22:00. They also conducted a game of limbo where the bar was on fire. This looked pretty crazy, nonetheless Patton and I both participated. I think I was eliminated early on, but several people who “beat” me should have been eliminated. It was basically the honor system, which is fine as it was all for fun anyway.
We didn’t leave till after 4:00, when my phone had died and Patton was ready for sleep. :-) Mario drove us back to the hotel, which was very kind.
Thursday, August 1
We had a nice little breakfast at the hotel and went back upstairs. I worked on transferring photos to my computer, Patton napped, I think, and we went back out at 13:00 to inquired about renting a motorbike. They offered them right at the hotel, at 6 USD per day for two days. We got a Yamaha Nouvo SX 125 cc. It took Patton a bit to figure out how to turn it on — and I was no help of course — but he figured it out, and then we drove around a bit and got coffee and tea at a chain called Highlands.
Then we got bánh mì sandwiches from a place right near our street. Then, we couldn’t start the motorcycle. The fuel level gauge had said there was something like a third of a tank, but now it was flashing empty. We figured we had to get gas, but it maps showed the nearest station was kind of far, further than our hotel. Patton decided we’ll push it back up the street and tell his friend, whom we were planning to meet soon, to bring us some.
On the way back, we asked a bike shop if they had any gas, but they did not. Then when we got back to the hotel, we waited outside, and that man from the shop down the street ended up bringing us a half liter or so of gas in a plastic bottle! When he opened our tank to add it, he saw there did seem to be gas in there. Before adding some, he tried starting it, and it started right up! It turned out that we were trying to start it before with the kickstand down still, but it apparently requires the stand to be up before the engine will turn. How silly of us! We thanked him, and he walked back down to his shop. I still don’t know why the fuel gauge was showing empty, though. It doesn’t seem very reliable.
Our bike broke down, we thought, and we ended up getting gas from two different people. It turned out we weren't starting the bike correctly, but we did need gas soon anyway. Whoops!
Then Patton’s friend Annie’s partner Tyler showed up next. We chatted with him awaiting Annie to get there after getting gas for us. I was envious of Tyler’s story, and it made me think about what I’m doing with my life. He described being a welder in Canada, either Montreal or Vancouver area, I forgot. His work is apparently seasonal on account of the hot summers and frigid winters, so he reduced his belongings and expenses such that he basically owns and owes nothing in Canada, but goes there for a few months twice a year and earns a full salary. He’s then able to spend the rest of his time traveling, so he decided to take up residence in Phu Quoc, Vietnam, for now. He’s renting by the month, so it’s extremely cheap compared to hotels, which are already cheaper than my rent is at home. What am I doing!?
Annie eventually got to us with a gallon water jug of gas. We filled up our tank, and then we got on our way!
Our bike broke down, we thought, and we ended up getting gas from two different people. It turned out we weren't starting the bike correctly, but we did need gas soon anyway. Whoops!
We went up the mountain a bit to a river park area called Khu du lịch sinh thái (Suối Đá Bàn). We paid a small entrance fee at a gate and then parked inside and started walking up the river. I think the trail went a lot further than we went, but it was very nice overall. There were a few spray painted advertisements on the rocks, which was a bit weird. One of them was apparently for a number you could call to rent a Bluetooth speaker for your river party. There were groups of people chilling in the river at various spots up the hillside, and we just walked till we found an area for ourselves. The water was not too cold. At one point it started raining, and then suddenly the water felt warmer. I also got nipped at by small fish.
Then on the way back Patton and I decided to go check out Sunset Town on the southern tip of Phu Quoc. We’d heard from multiple people that we needed to see a “fake Venice” or “fake Europe” town on this island. We weren’t quite sure where that was, but when we found a place called Sunset Town and looked it up, it seemed to be the one as it clearly had European inspired buildings. So we went. I drove the scooter for most of the way. It was a little scary at first, but I got the hang of it. We parked near the Sunset Town sign across the road in some grass near a few other parked bikes. We walked around and took some pictures. The place was kind of weird. There were many apartment blocks of European style buildings in nice pastel or bright colors, but they didn’t seem to actually be populated. There was an area with food vendors and stores, but again, there were not many people, and many of them were closed. It seemed like this whole area was a planned development that never quite took off. It was interesting though. And then it started pouring really hard as we were motorbiking around, so we waited in a nearby Hilton hotel lobby.
We didn't walk over to it, but there was this near elevated walkway over or near the water edge. A gandola system is in the background, though it seemed not to be running at the time. Sunset Town, Phu Quoc, Vietnam.
Off in the distance are a bunch of fishing boats, apparently with different colors depending on the type of catch they are aiming to attract. As seen from Sunset Town, Phu Quoc, Vietnam.
We got caught in heavy rain while exploring Sunset Town, Phu Quoc, Vietnam. We waited in a Hilton hotel for an hour until the rain slowed down and we could keep motorbiking.
We got caught in heavy rain while exploring Sunset Town, Phu Quoc, Vietnam. We waited in a Hilton hotel for an hour until the rain slowed down and we could keep motorbiking.
Once the rain let up enough, we headed back out. I needed to research how to unlock the bike, as I had engaged an ignition lock by pushing a button that concealed the keyway, and I had no idea how to undo that. After researching a bit, I found a part of the key has a triangular shape with a magnet that could fit in the slot and turn. It was a bit strange, but seemed more obvious when it wasn’t raining and in the dark. Anyway, we still got soaking wet, but I managed to drive without sliding or crashing. We had a seafood dinner at a place called Xin Chao near the hotel.
Once the rain slowed down, we kept exploring Sunset Town, Phu Quoc, Vietnam, a bit before heading back to our town to eat.
Once the rain slowed down, we kept exploring Sunset Town, Phu Quoc, Vietnam, a bit before heading back to our town to eat.
Two Japanese scallops grilled with scallion (sò điệp nướng mỡ hành) and fried rice with seafood (cơm chiên hải sản) at Xin Chao in Phu Quoc, Vietnam.
Friday, August 2
We woke around 9:00 and went to breakfast at 9:30. I ate some salad and got ready to run while Patton was going to go to a pearl farm down south.
I needed to get another long-ish training run in, and had made a plan for a roughly 12 to 16 mile loop from the hotel. I wasn’t sure what to expect with the heat or my endurance. Then Patton said he would be willing to run with me instead, at least the first five to seven miles, which was great.
We headed out together and went north. After around 5 miles, he was dying. He was apparently not drinking much water because he thought I had less than I actually had, and we were not coming across any places that sold water for some time. He decided to hold out till we came to the “main road” intersection I was planning to turn on to go up into the hillside. Once we got there, it was in fact a tiny dirt road, and there were no stores. I was feeling pretty tired as well, and was not at all confident I should keep going. We both ended up taking a Grab car back to the hotel. It was a fine decision. We made it a total of 5.6 miles, taking an hour and 3 minutes.
Patton and I went for a 5.6 mile run in Phu Quoc. I was going to keep going till about 12 miles, but I was quite hot and decided to go back by Grab car with Patton.
Patton and I went for a 5.6 mile run in Phu Quoc. I was going to keep going till about 12 miles, but I was quite hot and decided to go back by Grab car with Patton.
Patton and I went for a 5.6 mile run in Phu Quoc. I was going to keep going till about 12 miles, but I was quite hot and decided to go back by Grab car with Patton.
Patton and I went for a 5.6 mile run in Phu Quoc. I was going to keep going till about 12 miles, but I was quite hot and decided to go back by Grab car with Patton.
Patton and I went for a 5.6 mile run in Phu Quoc. I was going to keep going till about 12 miles, but I was quite hot and decided to go back by Grab car with Patton.
We showered and headed out to see another, possibly better fake Europe area, this one called VinWonders. We drove north 25 kilometers, which took around 40 minutes I think. We saw a long, long stretch of “European” buildings lining the main roadway, DT45. None of them seemed occupied, and as we went further north, the buildings became less and less complete. It’s like they stopped building once they realized the already completed units were not being rented? Anyway, we kept going to explore further north before coming back to go into the park.
We happened upon a small but nice beach called Bãi biển Gành Dầu. Most other beach access is private on this island, it seems, but this was apparently public. We also caught a glimpse of Cambodia, off in the distance.
Next we found a war hero temple called Đình Thần Nguyễn Trung Trực. It was similar to one we found while running earlier, fairly nice and reminiscent of Buddhist temples but more Communist feeling with text banners and large printed images of some man.
Then we explored a little village along the water, and a fishing pier called Bến ghe Gành Dầu. It was pretty quiet, but there were people sitting around and some where fishing. Boats were docked there as well, but I didn’t see too much activity.
Exploring the little village near a larger fishing pier in Phu Quoc, Vietnam, called Bến ghe Gành Dầu.
Exploring the little village near a larger fishing pier in Phu Quoc, Vietnam, called Bến ghe Gành Dầu.
Exploring the little village near a larger fishing pier in Phu Quoc, Vietnam, called Bến ghe Gành Dầu.
We walked down a skinny little fishing pier behind a little village near a larger fishing pier in Phu Quoc, Vietnam, called Bến ghe Gành Dầu. These guys out on this boat offered us a ride. I'm not sure what they would have charged or where they would have taken us, as we declined. Maybe we shouldn't have!
We got back down to VinWonders at about 17:40. The sign near the entrance made clear this was more of a theme park than a city, and the admission fee was about $38 per person.
The park would also be closing in an hour and 15 minutes at 19:00. We opted not to go in, but Patton did ask the ticket lady about the “fake Venice”. Then we learned that was actually not in VinWonders park but nearby at somewhere called Grand World! So we went south a bit and quickly found Grand World was the place containing the “fake Venice”, for sure.
It got dark around 18:30 to 19:00, and we walked around for another hour and a half before heading back south to go to the night market again.
We stopped and got a few snacks and beers from K+ Mark Supermarket on Đông Cửa Cạn. Patton stopped at Ocsen to try to say goodbye in person to his friends, but they weren’t around. One more ATM stop and then we were off to bed!
There were cool flower shaped packaged dried mangos at K+ Mark Phu Quoc Supermarket, on street Đông Cửa Cạn.
Back at the night market, Chợ đêm Phú Quốc, Vietnam. Patton video chatted with his family to figure out the final set of pearl necklaces and bracelets he would buy for them.
Saturday, August 3
For the final time on this island, we got up at 9:00 and ate breakfast at 9:30.
We packed our bags and left the hotel at 11:30 or so via Grab car. The airport was not very busy, and we were quickly through check in and security. We ended up getting booked on a 13:00 flight after they moved our flight twice and it went from being 11:40 take off to after 15:00. Although, I neglected to tell the agent I had a battery in my checked bag. I didn’t think it would matter, but they ended up putting luggage through a scanner than showed them the battery. We were already at the gate when the same lady from the check in counter came to find me and ask that I go back and remove the battery. I was very surprised they had the time to come find me, but it was nice of them. It didn’t take long for me to go back out, find my bag in the security room, grab the battery and go back through the security line. Patton spent his time waiting writing a letter to the friends we couldn’t say goodbye to in person. And then we were on our way to Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City!
VietJet Air flight VJ1326 from Phu Quoc, Vietnam, to Ho Chi Minh City, AKA Saigon. It's a 1 hour 5 minute flight, this one departing at around 13:00.
Entries in this series
- Touring Phú Quốc, Vietnam, by motorbike! (July 31-August 3)
- Saigon shopping and nightlife (August 3-4)
- Touring the Mekong Delta, Vĩnh Tràng Temple, Saigon Skydeck (August 5)
- The Củ Chi tunnels and a messy Saigon run (August 6-7)
- My first tattoo, in Saigon, and a gay party (August 8-11)
- Biking, boating in Tam Coc, climbing Mua Cave (August 12)
- My first X-ray, in Hanoi (August 11-13)