Just west of the market, the town’s central square lights up like a wonderland at night, with hanging Christmas lights on the trees and faux electric fireworks atop poles around a central temple area and a lit-up Buddha of Compassion. The square is a good place to strike up a friendly conversation with locals. Grab a lawn chair at one of the many coffee bars serving the sweet local gelatin called che, and say “Chao chi/em/anh” to the person sitting nearest you (see chapter 16 to find out which is best for whom).
5 P H U Q U O C I S L A N D
120km (75 miles) W (over sea) from Rach Gia (Rach Gia is 250km/155 miles S of Saigon by road)
The same size as Singapore, the island of Phu Quoc lies off the west coast of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. At times claimed by Cambodia and Thailand, the island is now like an armed fortress of the Vietnamese navy, and 80% of the island is protected as the Phu Quoc National Forest. Exploring the dirt-track byways of the forested isle, among pic- turesque pepper plantations and long stretches of deserted beach, is a hoot. A visit to Phu Quoc is a good, affordable opportunity to relax, spend time on the beach, and snorkel or scuba-dive. Get there soon and someday you’ll be able to say, “I went there before it was touristy.”
The pepper industry on Phu Quoc has just gotten back up to speed after a long gap since the days when every French table had a shaker of Phu Quoc’s finest. Phu Quoc is most famous for production of nuoc mam, the noxious fish sauce that is part of any meal in Vietnam. U.S. pilots flying over the island during the Vietnam War joked that the fumes from nuoc mam factories of Phu Quoc were enough to blow out the torch on a jet engine. Find a guide on the island, and you’ll be able to get up-close and personal with the aromatic production of Vietnam’s most versatile condiment.
Phu Quoc was for many years an off-the-map tourist destination, but the developers, led by Saigontourist’s large Saigon Phu Quoc Resort, are coming in droves. Still, services remain limited, and dining is more or less available only at small seaside resorts on Long
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Beach. The quiet, undeveloped quality of this beach escape—just a short, easy hop from Saigon—is the real attraction.
The Six Senses group, popular developers of Evason Ana Mandara Resort and Evason Hideaway Ana Mandara in Nha Trang (see chapter 11), plans on having a large resort here in the near future, and developers are lined up, wringing their hands and ready to build. Thanks to red tape, this quiet island is still a dirt-track backwater, with bungalows and little in the way of infrastructure. But plans are underway for expanding the airport and including international flights.
Weather on the island, thanks to cool ocean breezes, is always temperate and thus a great escape from sultry Saigon. The coolest time to go to Phu Quoc is from December to February. Note: The island is quite rainy and exposed to monsoon storms, from May to November.
GETTING THERE
Vietnam Airlines offers daily flights from both Ho Chi Minh City and Rach Gia, a small coastal town adjacent to Phu Quoc on the Mekong Delta mainland. Some flights actually hop from Ho Chi Minh to Rach Gia and then on to Phu Quoc. From Ho Chi Minh, the flight is about 45 minutes on a midsize turboprop plane. The cost is 830,000 VND for the one-way trip. Flights leave Saigon’s Tan Son Nhat domestic terminal daily at 9, 10:20, and 11:50am, and 12:45pm. Return flights from Phu Quoc Airport to Saigon leave daily at 8:35, 10:50, and 11:55am, and 1:25 and 2:20pm. Contact Vietnam Air- lines in Ho Chi Minh directly at their office at 116 Nguyen Hue, District 1 (&08/
3824-4482), across from the Rex Hotel, or call their reservations office at & 08/3832- 0320. Note: Try to book at least a week in advance; residents of Phu Quoc often travel to Ho Chi Minh City for daily shopping trips and errands, so these flights fill up fast.
A Unique Breed: The Phu Quoc Ridgeback
Found only on the island of Phu Quoc, the medium-size Phu Quoc Ridgeback is a bit taller and sturdier than the average curly-tailed street mutts you find elsewhere in Vietnam. Tenacious hunters, intelligent, and loyal, Ridgebacks are credited with nearly completely ridding the island of all things that crawl, walk, or creep. Locals still employ the dogs to hunt small game. Usually black, and with a slightly blunted pointy nose and perky ears, Ridgebacks are not under any specific control or pedigree breeding, so they come in all shapes and sizes.
As elsewhere in Vietnam, dogs roam free and travel in packs, which means you should be mindful if out on the beach or rural roads late at night. I saw one of the worst dogfights I’ve ever seen in my life on this island. If leaving by boat or visiting the pier area in far southern An Thoi town, keep an eye out for the small kennels where local entrepreneurs sell Ridgebacks. I got one guy down to about $30, and a strong, healthy pup goes for a whopping $100 in Saigon—
a fortune in a country where dogs are more or less meat on feet. The dogs are said to breed only on the island, and controlled breeding on the mainland has been unsuccessful.
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Any travel agent can make arrangements for a small fee. A motorbike taxi from the air- port to Long Beach is just 10,000 VND, but drivers eager to adopt you and be your guide for your time on the island means that these guys will make the trip for 5,000 VND, or even free, if you promise to rent their bike from them (a popular way to explore the island). An international airport is in the works, but for now there’s nothing more than blueprints and a model. It is expected to be up and operational by 2012.
There are regular high-speed ferryboats that connect Phu Quoc with Rach Gia on the mainland. The 3-hour, 140km (87-mile) trip is relatively smooth (in the low season) and costs just 240,000 VND. Boats connect with the island by the far southern port town of An Thoi; it’s a 30,000 VND motorbike taxi or 12,000 VND bus ride between An Thoi and the Long Beach area; expect to pay 180,000 VND for a taxi between An Thoi and Duong Dong Beach. Tramaco Boat Tours (12 Tu Do St., &077/387-8655 in Rach Gia; Khu Pho 1, Duong Dong, &077/398-0666 on Phu Quoc) and Duong Dong Express (18 Nguyen Cong Tru, & 077/387-9765 in Rach Gia; 4 Tran Hung Dao, Duong Dong, & 077/398-1648 on Phu Quoc) are the two main companies; both have early morning departures. Be sure to buy boat tickets at least 1 day in advance.
Be warned that the boat can get overcrowded and may have the unfortunate lingering odor of previous passengers’ weak stomachs. The journey is pleasant and smooth during the low season but is often beset by jarring waves during the high season; hotel staff can advise you of ocean conditions. Taxis and motorbikes congregate outside the ferry port and can shuttle you to the bus terminal (some 6km/33⁄4 miles out of town). From there, public buses can take you onward to Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho, or Chau Doc. Kien- Giang Tourist (36 Pham Hong Thai; & 077/386-2081), a small tour operator in Rach Gia, can help arrange onward travel, but you may end up spending a night in the busy port town. I recommend flying directly from Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc, but another good option is a multiday trip on the Mekong Delta ending in Chau Doc; from there, arrange with your tour operator for passage to oceanside Rach Gia and hop one of the short flights or (gulp) the crowded hydrofoil on to Phu Quoc before returning by flight to Ho Chi Minh.
There’s also the “Super Dong,” which connects between Phu Quoc’s southern An Thoi Port and Rach Gia. The Dong departs in the afternoon and, unless you arrange your own transport from the pier at Rach Gia, that means an overnight there. Buy tickets on the Dong for 240,000 VND or 220,000 VND (8am and 1pm departure, respectively) at their offices on Phu Quoc (34 Tran Hung Dao; &077/398-0111) or in Rach Gia (14 Tu Do; & 077/387-7742). The local bus station in Rach Gia is at 260A Nguyen Binh Khiem St. Buses connect regularly with Chau Doc, Can Tho, and on to Ho Chi Minh’s Mien Tay Bus Station. Head to Mai Linh Express (&077/382-9292) for comfortable shuttle buses to Ho Chi Minh City (105,000 VND) or Can Tho (55,000 VND). There’s also a minibus stand—with cozier, air-conditioned vans that have assigned seats—on Tran Quoc Toan Street. For all ground transport, you can also contact the office of help- ful KienGiang Tourist (36 Pham Hong Thai; &077/386-2081).
Boats also run from Phu Quoc’s eastern port of Ham Ninh to Ha Tien, a small town just adjacent to the Cambodia border, but departures are irregular and, especially in dry season because of low river water, they require a small boat to take you from the ferry to a point some distance from the Ha Tien area. Stick to the boats between An Thoi and Rach Gia, or fly.
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Phu Quoc
Bank & Currency Exchange The Vietcombank branch on 20 Duong 30/4 Street
(& 077/398-1036; Mon–Sat 7–11am and 1–4pm; www.vietcombank.com.vn) has
comprehensive services, including traveler’s check cashing, currency exchange, and now an ATM compatible with most international cards (MAC, Cirrus, and so on). Just across the street from Vietcombank is a branch of Western Union
(& 077/384-8621), where you can make that important SOS call back home for
a few bucks.
Internet There’s decent Internet service next to the post office.
Post Office The post office is in the town center, just down the Duong 30/4 from the Vietcombank (& 077/384-6177). It’s open from 6:30am to 9pm (closed Sun).