…I think I’m turning Chi-Ah-nese. I really think so…”Turning Chi-ah-nese I think I’m turning Chi-ah-nese I really think so.” Turning Japanese: The Vapors (1980) Ok, that isn’t meant to be offensive in the least. It came to me at the outdoor X-mas eve buffet dinner at The Shells Resort on Phu Quoc Island where we arrived Monday afternoon. I was taking pictures of anything and everything. Anyone who has spent time in China knows that many people (especially the Millennials), are obsessed with taking pictures. If it’s food, well, look out! The Chinese are the masters of taking food photos. So, that’s exactly what I was doing on Phu Quoc for three days. But as the famous film “documentarian” Marty DiBergi once observed: “…And I got that; I got more… a lot more.”
As I had predicted in my previous posting, there were many, many westerners at our resort. Far more than Asians. Most were from Europe.
As I write this, it’s evening on our last full day here on Phu Quoc island. We came here to do nothing more than laze around the resort, beach and pools and that’s exactly what we’ve accomplished. Well, I did get a sunburn but I half expected that to happen. I am somewhat disappointed to discover that SPF 0 isn’t nearly as effective as I had hoped.
By a complete coincidence, some friends from the bay area were also here at another resort and we spent some time there yesterday at their beach and pool and they joined us at the night market outing on the last night. We all went out to dinner at a restaurant on the water at yet another resort. Today, as you’ll see we went into the big town about 15 minutes from here and had lunch at the Crab House. We met the owner and his sister who, along with their entire family, emigrated to America (Mississippi, of all places!) from this island in 1978. She still lives in America but he returned here to set up a restaurant and offer southern fare to tourists (see the menu below.) It was without doubt the most expensive food we’ve eaten in Vietnam. The prices rival that of an American restaurant but well worth it.
Our last activity on the island was to go into the town to the famous night market. As you can see from the photos, the streets are closed off to cars and filled with tourists, cheek to jowl (well, my jowls, anyway.) Tomorrow we complete the last leg of our vacation with a one hour flight to Saigon for three nights. And, as Marty DiBergi also said: “But hey, enough of my yakkin’; whaddaya say? Let’s boogie!”
Arriving at the airport.
Checking in…X-mas eve, 2018
The wall map in the lobby. The arrow is pointing to where we stayed- The Shells resort.
We arrived before our rooms were ready so we had lunch first.
The resort consists of a main lodging building with standard rooms and throughout the propety there were individual bungalows which we opted to stay in. Here’s mine although I can’t really prove it.
This is the swim-up bar. Alas, I didn’t use it even though I love this genre of bars. So resorty (is that a word?) Also. what follows are various day/night scenes around the resort.
As you can see, it never felt crowded anywhere.
The restaurant where we had breakfast every morning. However, we did not have dinner here.
Appetizers before the X-mas eve dinner.
Tons of desserts but nothing very interesting which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
They did a decent job keeping us entertained with music and performance.
There was even dancing after dinner and yes, I danced! Ply me with enough liquor, wind me up and watch me go!
Random photos of paradise on X-mas day.
Dinner with our friends at another resort restaurant that was also right on the water.
Chicken is my “go-to” food. It’s usually what I make for dinner most nights at home.
At the beach on our last full day. Unfortunately, it remained cloudy all day so I was unable to complete my sunburn from yesterday.
The town we headed into to have lunch. It’s the biggest one on Phu Quoc.
Seafood-city. Shrimp and 3 crabs plus assorted cooked veggies. Including 3 beers, lunch cost $130.00 Yikes!
The aftermath of lunch: it isn’t pretty.
We took about a 15 minute cab ride to the night market.
Interestingly, there were many tourists from Russia here. What’s that about? There were many signs in Cyrillic.
The top tank was filled with snakes.
Next stop: Saigon. By the way, it’s ok to call it that. Apparently, everyone does.