Phu Quoc - Mallorca of the Russians

After a six-hour train ride, we arrive in Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam, at 4 o'clock in the morning. Unfortunately, I haven't closed my eyes. We take a taxi directly to the airport because we will fly to Phu Quoc in a few hours, a large island that is closer to Cambodia than to Vietnam. But since our flight is not until five hours later, we still have plenty of time. I'm dead tired, but there are no benches in the airport building. So I lie down on a sidewalk bench like the last Asian and can even sleep a little. Max takes on the role of the hero and looks after me and our luggage. Of course, the flight is also delayed by an hour, but we are already in standby mode anyway.

At noon, we arrive on the island and check into our beautiful wooden barrel that we rented for the first two nights. The facility is really cute with a pool in the middle and cozy wooden barrels all around.

As you can imagine, not much happens today. We relax and wait for the evening to come so that we can sleep. For dinner, we ride our bikes to the village and at 7 o'clock we are in bed and asleep. FINALLY.

The next day, luckily, we have a little more energy and are motivated to explore the surroundings. So we jump on the motorbike and head to the northwest of the island. We visit several beaches in the hope of finding a quiet beach without resorts, which is not so easy on this island. It seems to be Vietnam's big tourism project. Hotel castles and bungalow complexes are shooting up everywhere and many new buildings are currently being constructed. Beach number 2, which is praised as the most beautiful and loneliest beach on the island in a travel blog, shocks us the most. The beach is actually completely washed away and where there is still sand, it is privately owned. Hotels have enclosed their beach section and entry is prohibited for non-hotel guests. So taking a walk on the beach is not possible. With beach number 3, we finally find a spot where we want to spend the rest of the day. It can only be reached by driving a few kilometers on red sandy paths and the beach is actually not developed. It is clean, there are a few shady spots, and we find a nice spot where we can stay until sunset. I finally manage to finish reading my book. At dusk, we head back to our barrel. At the supermarket, we buy some cold drinks with which we can toast in our little barrel. That's why we prefer to ride our bicycles to the restaurant later.

The third day on the island is moving day. In our first accommodation, breakfast was not included and that is after all the most important meal of the day! So we choose our new accommodation based on how well the breakfast was rated. Is that weird? Whatever :D So off we go in a taxi to the Hill Top Resort. After checking in, we make our way to Long Beach. This is the beach of the town, so to speak, and in the past few days we have not had the motivation to visit it. And our suspicions are confirmed. Beach bars, overweight, sunburned tourists in too little clothing lying on their loungers and towels like stranded whales or starfish, pushy masseuses who want to drag you to their loungers, drunk groups of men, and families who have brought half a toy store. It somehow feels like Mallorca. With one difference. The main target group of the island is Russians. Russian is the dominant language. Everyone who is not Asian speaks Russian. Russian menus, Russian dishes, Russian restaurants. And the Russian bathers often fulfill all stereotypes. Broadly built man with rough facial features, round, red belly, hairy chest adorned with a not very subtle gold chain, tight swimsuit, and sunglasses on the back of the neck. He is holding a blonde lady in a tiger-striped tankini by the hand, who has put on her most striking party makeup. Too bad you can't wear high heels in the sand. We encounter this stereotype with slight variations over and over again.

Later at the pool, we actually meet a German couple who have been on the island for a few days longer and have made the same observations. They can also tell us that there is a direct flight from Russia to Phu Quoc. That, and the friendship between Russia and Vietnam, probably explains the phenomenon. We spend the rest of the day at the pool, chatting with the other guests, and in the evening we go out with Nele and Tim. First, we eat and have Gin and Tonic for dessert. Since we are white, we are always addressed in Russian. When we say that we speak German, we are looked at apologetically and told that the languages sound totally similar.

By the way, the breakfast at the accommodation is really a dream :) They have self-made DARK bread, fruit, muesli with yogurt, hot dishes... We eat so much that we don't need anything else until the evening. But since we only guarded the pool loungers all day, we probably don't have a particularly high calorie requirement.
After a few days, we realize that we also have to leave the island at some point and haven't booked our return flight yet. So we quickly take care of that. We stay a total of six nights before heading back to Ho Chi Minh City.

On our penultimate day, together with a Lithuanian couple, we charter a speedboat and explore the small islands in the south of Phu Quoc. We also met them at the accommodation and after breakfast, we ride our scooters to the harbor 20 kilometers away in the south. We are on the go until shortly before sunset and visit various islands and stop at several points where we can go snorkeling. And it's really good here! The water is calm and there is a lot to discover underwater :) Unfortunately, the islands are already developed. Nobody lives there, but loads of tourists are brought there. We are really glad that we didn't book a normal tour with 40 people per boat. This way, we are much more flexible and have some hours alone on a beach where we can eat, swim, and read in peace.

Nevertheless, it's somehow sad to see how much the tourism here has been exaggerated and how quickly the island has changed. A Dutch couple was already on the island three years ago. Back then, there was nothing going on and they found it almost too boring. Now, three years later, they hardly recognize the island and don't want to come back again.

Laura and Bartosh told us about a seafood restaurant that is not designed for tourists and therefore has fair prices. After the tour, we want to stock up there, drive to the beach, and have dinner at sunset. Said and done. Max and I stand in front of all the crawling and wriggling creatures with big eyes. Laura chooses the seafood and shortly afterwards, mussels, crabs, shrimps, oysters, lobsters, etc. end up in boiling water, in the wok, or on the grill. It already turns my stomach. On the other hand, I'm glad that someone is holding my hand and introducing me to the world of seafood. So far, I have only dared to eat shrimp because I don't know how to eat the rest. But tonight, I'm brave! With our gigantic bags on the scooter and a few cans of beer including ice in our luggage, we drive to the beach. There, we spread out our picnic towels and try everything. And I'm really proud of myself that I try everything! Grilled oysters (I'm a fan), various mussels, shrimp, crab arms and legs, other stuff that I don't know. Most of it really tastes delicious. We save the crabs for later because we don't have any tongs. Besides, it's already pitch dark and we pack our things and drive back to the accommodation. There, armed with a nutcracker, we tackle the crabs' shells. I can't bring myself to do it, but when Max feeds me the meat, it tastes damn good. That was really an experience.

On our last day, we ride the scooter towards the north again. We haven't explored the northeast yet. And from there, we can wave to Cambodia :) The beach we head to could be really beautiful if it weren't so incredibly polluted. There are no hotels there, only fishermen, and they don't care about the trash. Shoes, styrofoam, bottles, bags...

You can reach a small wooded island via a monkey bridge. Unfortunately, it is just as polluted, but we spend some time on a few rocks on the shore and look across the sea to Cambodia.

We ride around the island a little more and in the afternoon, we are back at the accommodation. There, we spend the last hours of the day at the pool. In the evening, on the recommendation of our new acquaintances, we have sushi for dinner. It's actually surprisingly good and cheap and they serve beer brewed on the island. :)

On our last morning, we really enjoy the good breakfast and then drive to the airport. It's time to go back to Ho Chi Minh City.