There’s an abundance of accommodation in Phu Quoc and lots of resorts have halved their rates. For our last 4 days, we treat ourselves to Anja resort right on the beach with the most delicious breakfast included. Our spacious room, colonial style, is splendid and the bed the most comfortable ever. Irish with her fetish for white, silky cotton sheets dreams of looting the hotel’s laundry and take some of the precious bedding back in our backpacks.
And we get sunsets! On the first two evenings the sunset unfolds in two stages. First, the sun disappears in the hazy sky before reaching the horizon. And we think, OK, that’s it, not bad. But then, half an hour later, everything is bathed in vivid, almost unreal orange and purple.
The first two days are spent lounging around under the coconut trees. The sea is almost too warm to swim in, a little bit murky. Centipede-like slugs frequent the beach every morning. But the resort next door has a great swimming pool with lanes, good for some more serious swimming.
One of the island’s most famous attractions is an incredible cable car ride over 3 islands to Sunworld resort water park. The longest cable car in the world, 8 kms in length, 30min ride.. amazing views.
Phu Quoc is also the place to go if you enjoy seafood and the night market is full of it, all alive.
Then two days before departure disaster struck. In Irishe’s words:
That beautiful sunset was just before disaster struck and Frenchie fell
down a hole in the decking next to the swimming pool (hotels Fault) causing a HUGE open Gash on her arm .. ( nearly passed out myself several times as squeamish) They took us to hospital where she was taken straight into a theatre place and they set about their job .. when they opened the bandage we put on the surgeon gasped at the wide open wound. They did a fantastic job tbh and were rapid at getting frenchie anesthetic. Home on Wednesday and no doubt have to have many stitches out on our return., what a shock!!!!
Despite having the 3 layers of my skin torn off, the wound is healing very nicely. Right now I’m sitting in a Beijing dormitory type hotel writing the last lines of this blog. We are having an epic trip back home. The first leg of our journey Ho Chi Minh to Beijing was delayed 10 hours so Air china had to put us twice into hotels. One more 11 hour flight and we should be back home in our lovely little house in Brighton by 9 pm this evening. So home on Thursday instead of Wednesday.
And to finish off , a poem in honour of Irish, the adventures we lived through, the many laughs, and all the beautifully exotic landscapes we witnessed.
Exotic Parfume
When, eyes dosed, on a pleasant autumn night,
I breathe the warm scent of your breast, I see
Inviting shorelines spreading out for me
Where steady sunlight dazzles in my sight.
An idle isle, where friendly nature brings
Singular trees, fruit that is savoury,
Men who are lean and vigorous and free,
Women whose frank eyes are astonishing.
Led by your fragrance to these charming shores
I see a bay of sails and masts and oars,
Still wearied from the onslaught of the waves –
While verdant tamarind’s enchanting scent,
Filling my nostrils, swirling to the brain,
Blends in my spirit with the boatmen’s chant.
Charles Baudelaire, translated by James McGowan