Phu Quoc

Phu Quoc is an island off Vietnam’s western coast.

We (the one-side extended family: Gudrun, Wolfgang, Sidsel, Sophia, Philipp and me) took a domestic flight from Tan Son Nhat and landed 1 hour after take-off. Transfer to the resort by bus that unfortunately stank of cigarettes. With regards to cigarettes, Vietnam is a developing country (like all other countries in the world until we finally ban that disgusting poison).

The resort is beautiful, with a little beach (seriously small when the tide comes in, bigger in lower tides), lots of trees and bushes, and wooden cabins. The cabins had outdoor bathrooms – excellent ventilation. We had a little thief living in the bush: a squirrel-like creature came to the cabins at night and ate our soap. No joke! There were tiny bite marks, clearly from a rodent, and I saw it crawling through the bush one night.

At the beach, we could borrow snorkeling equipment, cayaks, stand-up paddle, balls and other toys, which was great. Sophia and I went snorkeling and saw fish and beautiful underwater rocks (no sarcasm).

We spent New Year’s Eve at the resort, with an excellent buffet, Lucky Draw (I won a hat), Live Music (much better than expected, no death metal though) and dancing. The kids had plans to stay up until 3 am. At 10 pm, they wanted to take a short rest in their beds, so they would have more energy for staying up until 3 am, and we didn’t see them afterwards.

We had a tropical storm for a few days (which apparently caused some trouble in neighbouring Thailand), so I couldn’t go scuba diving, and we got some great big waves to play in instead.

The young man turned 6 on Phu Quoc and we celebrated with presents.

On the way home at the airport, we met Mr Ruben Viertel, Sophia’s music teacher, and he agreed to show Wolfgang around the school.