Impressions from Phu Quoc island

[vinapu]

at tail end of my recent trip to Thailand I went to Phu Quoc Island . 

Whole trip is reported there :

https://www.gayguides.com/topic/74703-exercises-in-celibacy-trip-to-thailand-and-vietnam-in-jan-2025/

but those looking for Vietnam information may never look for it in Thailand section so I decided to copy applicable pieces of report here . You still may visit originating thread for the pictures as I won't be posting them again here saving server capacity

Day 18

 After entertaining myself for few days in Pattaya and Bangkok time to  chance scenery and country and after packing up what I need I went to Foodland for breakfast and straight from there  to Don Muang for my 12.30 flight to Phu Quoc, Vietnamese island closer to Cambodia then motherland.  My first time there although not first in Vietnam.

At 2 pm we landed  , my hotel was in the center and I was so anxious to start new adventure that I made two mistakes  while still in the airport.

 First I did not change money assuming it will be easy in the city. It turned out not so easy at the first look and it took me a while to  find place. Of course after I found it , all of the sudden I saw plenty  of options. Certainly  there are many exchange facilities  along the road leading from airport to the city as this is where most hotels are and she runs parallel to properly named Long Beach. So my advice would be to exchange  some money in the airport to start loaded although rates are bit better in the city and along the strip.

 Second mistake actually cost me money as I did not do homework about distance from airport to the city and possible cost . I knew about free bus but as I said I was anxious. I was approached by guy who quoted 30 $ to which I said no very firmly but he still outsmarted me by asking  how much you give me and I idiotically offered 20. Later I learned that even 10 would be generous as  price should be around 175000 dong = 7 USD.

One of biggest attractions of island for tourists are few lines of free green colored  electric busses. Stops are clearly posted and main interest is fairly frequent bus # 17 running between airport and northern tip of island with replica of Venice- watch this space tomorrow.

How to get the free bus from the airport ? When you get out from terminal look diagonally right across the parking in front . You should see the bus waiting, if not it should come soon , as I said it’s every 20 minutes . It runs along the beach then meanders through the city  and again along the beaches up north so chances are your hotel is walking distance from the bus. Certainly both of n mine were, very short distance.

 Overpaid taxi delivered me to my hotel and once I got to my room I was quite impressed what 35$ buys you there in terms of accommodation. Not to mention breakfast   on top floor included.

 I set off to see the city , since I couldn’t see place to change money I went to bank which turned to be good idea as rate was the best 25040 for 1$ and they made me millionaire in a blink.

 40$= 1 000 000 dong. Thoughtfully payout was in 100 000 ‘s as guy there said ‘ to make your life easier”  . Of course right after that I saw several places to exchange but I was good for now.

 They have very picturesque temple by the sea , it’s where town and tourists congregates to watch the sunset.  For 250 000 one can take sunset cruise with added  attraction of fishing for sea food and having it cooked right there.

 At night of course Night Market, main attraction for me was ice cream made on the spot. They call it Thai ice cream but I never saw this in Thailand. In middle of market is mixed massage place and I spotted very attractive guy offering massage but that being my first night there I decided to leave it for tomorrow. And tomorrow of course he was busy when I passed. As they say’ luck smiles at you only once”.

 

  

[vinapu]

Day 19

 

After breakfast trip to Venice and by free public bus #17 at that. At northern tip of island they built replica of Venice , complete with gondoliers and Ponte Rialto. I quite liked it  , did not take gondola trip because I didn’t do it in Venice proper either. What surprised me is how uncrowded  place was. There were tourists , Vietnamese  and foreign here and there but definitely no more than 1-2 percent of hordes invading Venice day after day.

 

There is cultural center where in the afternoon and evening are performances so I guess  during day people are soaking in the sea . But beach was not crowded either so I decided to crowd it for a while.

 

What impressed me the most was bamboo structure , no idea about her function but intricate construction is a treat.

 

Early afternoon  I jumped into free bus and went to point in south where road to airport turns inland. From there I did lazy walk along  main road all the way to the city stopping here and there to check tours offers, eat something and see what souvenirs they have on offer.

 

It was dark when I finally arrived to my sizable room spending whole day outside.  Then I went for my ice cram to night market, noticed that massage boy I spotted another day is busy, exchanged some money but rate there is 1000 dong  lower than in bank, not big financial hit though.

 

What need to be said and I should do it earlier is that visiting Phu Qouc does not require visa even for those who need visa to Vietnam  but there’s one condition – one must arrive  by plane from abroad and  leave the same way. If you want to go to mainland , make sure you obtain visa beforehand.

[tm_nyc]

My pre-Covid memory of the Phu Quoc Night Market was that they had open-air fish restaurants with spectacular displays of fresh fish & customers could choose what they wished to eat.  I don't recall the Thai ice cream.  What with the buses & the replica Venice & the like, it sounds like there are a lot of development & changes taking place on Phu Quoc.  Thanks for the update!

[vinapu]

Day 20

 In some sense unremarkable day but at made it fun at my friend expense. More about that in a second.

After breakfast  I wandered through he streets and back alleys part of city on other side of river bisecting it, spying on normal, local  life. I found big statue of Ho Chi Minh and former airstrip , not just a very wide road. And surveyed very colorful as well as smelly  sea food market returning to hotel around 11 am to pack up and go to new hotel , this time in a beach area close to the airport.

 Reason for the move was to shock my friend who is coming today and has no idea I’m in Vietnam , even less in Phu Quoc. Skillfully I obtained information about his time of arrival and hotel he will be staying and booked the same. Luckily I got the room facing entry and soon I saw him coming from the bus, opened window and screamed “ what the fuck you are doing here ?” . He being short sighted couldn’t see me initially but recognized voice and screamed back’ where you are and what the fuck YOU are doing here”.

When I waved towel from the window finally he spotted me. Imagine going from,  say Montevideo   

to Novosibirsk  only to hear and see your friend is already there. Judging by his reaction he was very happy.

Rest of day we spent walking to the city and back , checking sights and stores and before retiring to hotel we had super tasty Vietnamese sandwiches in otherwise unremarkable  restaurant across the road.

Since tomorrow is my last full day here and his first , we resolved to celebrate joyful reunion and even more joyful fact that we are here together only one day and  spend it in style by taking world’s longest cable car over sea.

[vinapu]

Day 21

 So finally taste of Phu Quoc biggest , most famous and costly attraction – longest cable car over sea.

 Round trip costs 700 000 dong ( 1 dong = 25000USD ), if you opt for buffet lunch it is even

1 000 000 ( one million = 25 USD) Even if numbers are making impression it is very good value for the money as ticket included free admission to amusement / water park  at other terminal.

 While getting to northern tip of island with  fake Venice is easy thanks to the free bus, there’s no such service to the southern tip where cable car starts, There’s infrequent bus # 19 but it terminates at different southern location we were told.  

 Some hotels are offering free shuttle to those who bought ticket or tour through their desks but we decided  not to bother looking for those and after breakfast walked to main road and it did not take long before guy asked us where we are going and miraculously it happened he has a car and can take us there for 250 000 = 10 USD.

  Soon we were on the way. He advised us to buy ticket with lunch  and we stopped in some shop on the road to buy that as he claimed we can avoid lining up at station.

 There was  no line up but price was the same so no harm done. Island stion looks like Roman ruin  in middle of skillfully recreated Italian city. I must say it’s quite well done indeed.

Whole exited we boarded car for 18 minutes trip over the sea.

 Views were spectacular although my friend , as is his habit almost immediately created international scandal telling group of Orientals ‘ you  must be from China “. They were Korean and judging by their facial expression if that was done  on firm land my friend would be beaten to the pulp, to my applause I haste to say.

 We arrived an set to have waterpark fun with me from time to time telling mu friend that I saw that Korean sharpening knife on the stone around the corner.

 They have one of longest wooden rollercoasters in the world   so we took a ride and repeated it  after lunch ( just me  that one as it was too much for my friend), soaked in multiple  tube rides and slides and generally liked every minute of it.

 Lunch part was less exiting as it was in enormous and crowded hall with long line ups and food was so, so , at least whet we sampled. Contrary to what we were told  there were other eating options so next time surely I will skip that part as elbowing for table space is less entertaining than listening to the sound of that sharpened knife and other attractions.

 After better part of day spent there we went back the same way and returned to main island  to walk that piece of Italy in Asia. Again it was quite empty, many buildings are visibly unoccupied but that’s not my problem. I liked what I saw to a great degree.  

Going back it took us a while to find car or rather again car found us as guy seeing two seniors , one smart and other stupid,  figured out that they may need a ride and offered that option.

In short very nicely spent day and recommended to everybody. Just don’t tell Koreans they look Chinese, neither ask Israelis if they are from Kairo or Doha.

That's it for Phu Quoc this trip , tomorrow I'm going back to Bangkok so trip report continues  in main thread.

[macaroni21]

1 hour ago, vinapu said:

While getting to northern tip of island with  fake Venice is easy thanks to the free bus, there’s no such service to the southern tip where cable car starts

But later on, you said you returned "the same way" which I read as by cable car. Which should have brought you back to the southern end of the island. However,  you said you ended up at the replica Venice.... Did I miss something?

[vinapu]

7 hours ago, macaroni21 said:

But later on, you said you returned "the same way" which I read as by cable car. Which should have brought you back to the southern end of the island. However,  you said you ended up at the replica Venice.... Did I miss something?

yes

8 hours ago, vinapu said:

 

 After better part of day spent there we went back the same way and returned to main island  to walk that piece of Italy in Asia.

thing at northern tip is fake Venice, at southern tip you have something different but still italianate - see pics if main thread if you wish

[macaroni21]

Ah, so there is a distinction between fake Venice and fake Italy. My bad, and rather embarrassing too, since I claim to be such a connoiseur of fake (fake love).

[bkkmfj2648]

wow @vinapu, I was also so confused.

I inserted the below map to help explain my confusion.

When I was in Phu Quoc back in December 2019 the fake Venice (VinWonders Phu Quoc) was not yet opened - as I believe that it opened in mid 2020.  I did not even know that it existed and was under construction.

https://vinwonders.com/en/vinwonders-phu-quoc/

So, the ONLY fake Italian place that I saw was the one in the southern part of the island with the name of:  Sunset Town - which was still under construction. It was the fake Italian town at the base of the overhead cable car.   https://sunset-town.com/en/

So, when you were discussing the "fake Venice" - I just assumed that it was an addition to the already existing Sunset Town - which was already a fake Italian seaside village. 

I just could not imagine that they would build 2 distinct fake Italian replicas on 1 small Vietnamese island - as this is after all Vietnam.....Go figure....

What is the obsession with Italy in Vietnam ?

 

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

wow @vinapu, I was also so confused.

I inserted the below map to help explain my confusion.

 

 

ow with that  map of yours all confusion is cleared I hope, very thank you !

[10tazione]

19 hours ago, vinapu said:

ow with that  map of yours all confusion is cleared I hope, very thank you !

There is still space for 3 more such villages ... or have they constructed the leaning tower of Pisa yet?

[vinapu]

10 hours ago, 10tazione said:

There is still space for 3 more such villages ... or have they constructed the leaning tower of Pisa yet?

I'd appreciate that as I never been to Pisa so gladly see one in Phu Quoc , no doubt even taller and more tilted than original