The Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc is valued among lovers of a relaxed holiday. There is no crazy influx of tourists, but virgin nature is more than enough!
At the Night Market in Duong Dong, you choose any life (!) marine reptile – it is cooked in front of you. Duong Dong is the capital of the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc. And its Night Market completely replaces the usual nightly entertainment. As for marine fish in aquariums, they were all caught by local fishermen. And after a careful selection, we ordered those fish for ourselves, sat down at a table, and after 20 minutes ate a freshly prepared seafood dish with appetite.
The most popular beach is located on the west coast and is called Long Beach, that is, Long. It fully justifies its name, as it stretches for as much as 20 km.
Minus the casino
Hotels of various categories lined up along the yellow sandy line, separated from the sea by a picturesque palm strip. You can come here all year round to splash with pleasure as a couple or with the whole family. The sea is always warm, the entrance to it is gentle, the tides are almost invisible, and most importantly, cleanliness reigns everywhere. Long Beach is the most civilized place on the island. True, the service here is very provincial. There are still no full-fledged nightclubs, casinos, or golf courses here. However, the Vietnamese authorities intend to introduce all this without fail.
Facing West
So far, every evening you can sit on the beach and, to the sound of the surf, watch how the sun “sinks” in the sea horizon.
It was for such lyrical evenings that Phu Quoc was nicknamed the Island of Sunsets. By the way, this is no accident. Basically, the beaches of Vietnam are deployed to the east, but in Phu Quoc, most of them “look” to the west. This is a rarity not only for the country but for the whole of Indochina in principle! Truly, lovers of untouched nature will be touched to the core.
Untraveled paths
If you decide to drive away from Duong Dong somewhere to the east, then the normal road will soon end, but completely wild beaches, forests with rare villages, mountain rivers, rapidly running in crevices of rocks among the jungle and breaking down from the mountains with fantastic waterfalls, will begin.
Our guide took us to the backwaters of the Sioyidaban River (translated as “River of Stone Tables”), where it is deep enough to swim. However, some water is brrr, although in the heat it is very useful.
But the hike through the reserve, in the north of the island, had to be postponed until later. It is necessary to carefully prepare for it, since there are no hiking trails in this jungle, and you are really left alone with wildlife.
Why a pearl?
But without fail, tourists visit pepper plantations and pearl farms. At the plantation, we saw what a fragrant condiment is made from – from the red berries of a pepper liana! This creeping plant climbs up almost three meters! And the pearl farm struck me with its size: its water area is already 4 square kilometers! Working mollusks, in the “mouth” of which pieces of shells are planted, work for years to grow absolutely regular pearls in their wombs. Before our eyes, they opened several of these shells and pulled out mollusks with shiny round bodies on their bodies.
On a note
You can get to Phu Quoc without a visa if you are going there for no more than 30 days. June to November is the wet season on the island. Especially heavy rains usually pour in September-October. But the prices in hotels are half lower. And from December to May the sun shines and the sea is calm. April and May are the hottest months. Protective cream is a must!
To travel around the island, rent a scooter – otherwise, you are unlikely to get anywhere. And be sure to take water and food with you: it is almost impossible to buy all this food along the road outside the tourist areas.
