Vignettes of the World
I had a fabulous first trip to the Philippines. In fact, the experience was in the ranks of being miraculous, even as measured against my years of experience as a travel writer. “Hey, do you want to join me in Manila?” My friend was attending …
At the Skyline Hotel, there are a few staff that take turns doing different shifts in the day. The ladies bring their child with them to work sometimes. And I try to talk to the children, in whatever simple Vietnamese that I am able to …
Phu Quoc is a beautiful island with countless beaches. Its tourism revolves around the beach towns that it builds to attract foreign tourists. Of course, for the sake of a holiday I could just stay in the “nice” parts of Phu Quoc and be wilfully ignorant about the true conditions of the island. But I always appreciate the opportunity to see “what’s real.” In order to do that, however, I did have to make some effort.
When I went on the island-hopping tour, the coach took us to the pier at An Thoi and on our way I saw a vibrant scene of local street markets, where a lot of people went by their daily lives. I decided that I would visit that part of An Thoi when I had the opportunity.
It was certainly a decision that tested my resolve, but I insisted on walking from Stella’s for 20 minutes to get to the part of local An Thoi before one reaches the pier. In the early afternoon the temperature was climbing to its peak for the day. On my way, I walked on a major motorway, where there was no proper pavement. The whole 20-minute walk did not come with shades from trees or structures. But I did see some interesting venues, such as live poultry butchers, schools, goldsmith and such.
I was a little surprised when I arrived at the part of An Thoi that intrigued me. People appeared to be going by their usual business, but not in any sense bustling, unlike the scene I saw previously. It felt a little stagnated when I strolled on the main street. I was hoping for good street food, but the vendors were barely beginning to set up their stands for the day.
I sweated through the rising stillness of the heat. The main thoroughfare felt quite a bit more sluggish than I had hoped, perhaps because it was simply so hot.
Needless to say, that the vibes of the Khem Beach Resort Town and the local sections of An Thoi were a difference between heaven and earth. I packed some fruits and the lady smiled ear to ear at me.
Make no mistake, I am no Vietnamese and my presence there was awkward. People were not accustomed to seeing a non-Vietnamese in that area. They likely did not understand what about that market was interesting to a tourist.
I went into a grocer and saw a whole shelf packed with an innumerable variety of Vietnamese ground coffee. The two shopkeepers appeared to have made a decision to ignore me. They could be thinking that the foreigner should have no business there. They could also be thinking that serving me would take too much work for what it was worth, because there would not be an effective way to communicate with me. I sensed the cold shoulder there, but Vietnamese coffee was the only other thing that I wanted to bring home besides the Phu Quoc red pepper.
I took a bag of ground coffee, then I said, “how much” in Vietnamese, at the same time showing my phone to the lady in the calculator mode. At that point, I seemed to sense a disinct moment of icebreaking. The lady pulled a smile. She entered the price, I paid in exact change, transaction done within a minute and she did not have to struggle to say anything to me. But before I left, I uttered “thank you” in Vietnamese and the lady returned with a genuine, broad smile.
In a previous entry I talked about the really bad banh mi that I got from Grab takeout. It was the only terrible food I had in all of my visits in Vietnam. The banh mi is my soft spot in Vietnamese food. That was part of the reason why I wanted to visit a very local community — the best banh mi are the ones in the food stands.
There was just one vendor at work when I toured the local community of An Thoi. He was grilling leaf-wrapped sausages on charcoal fire. His banh mi was simple: he placed those leaf-wrapped sausages in a Vietnamese baguette roll with some pickled vegetables. That‘s it and it was heavenly!
In Vietnam, so much of the local communities is about food. In local street markets there are endless vendors selling all kinds of food. Where the vendor is not selling food, then it has to be some kind of household and daily goods. I felt with my own senses the kind of local action that took place outside the luxurious bubbles of resort towns. Not too bad really, the local Phu Quoc at An Thoi is the Vietnam that I so fondly remember.
I said goodbye to An Thoi and decided to visit a very cute coffee shop in Sunset Town. Sunset Town is the place to be for tourists looking for luxuries and gimmicky instagrammable photos. As its name suggests, it is also a popular location for viewing sunset.
The Juliet earns good reviews on Google Review. I thought I should have a nice time too, so I went to this coffee shop, which features a sweet and cosy teddy bear theme. The wooden décor exhibits a classy atmosphere as well.
Surely, I ordered my usual coffee of choice here, Vietnamese iced coffee with milk, for a much higher price than any local coffee stand or cafes, but you pay more for the sake of experience. There were a couple non Asian looking souls there. I took out my New Yorker and read maybe half a page. I did not plan on viewing sunset there at the shore. It was time to head back to the Khem Beach Resort for an early evening dip at the beach.
From the pizza lunch at Stella’s, to the visit at local An Thoi, then back in the luxurious Sunset Town, I spent the day shuttling between the dichotomies of intentional touristy setups and the genuine expressions of local life. There were takeaways in both. They certainly looked and felt worlds apart, but there were no antagonism, contradictions or rivalries between these two narratives of Phu Quoc. Both were equally authentic, even in the touristy resorts, as I could observe.
One reason why I love traveling to Vietnam is that I love Vietnamese food. Every region of Vietnam has its own uniqueness being part of the full repertoire of Vietnamese delicacy. In Phu Quoc, seafood is the star of the show and I had one …
I was waiting for the driver to pick me up at the Dinh Cau Temple. In the open area outside the Dinh Cau Temple, I saw some snack vendors and I was curious. Besides that they were apparently sweet snacks, I had no idea what …
It is no surprise that the Goddess of the Sea is the long-revered deity for the people of Phu Quoc. That is certainly the commonest worship in the coastal regions of southern China as well. I wanted to visit heritage and religious sites in the island, and decided that I would rather see the Dinh Cau Temple than the Ho Quoc Pagoda.
And there is a reason for that. The Dinh Cau Temple dates back to the 17th century. Properly considered, it is a historical site of religion. The small temple stands upon a natural rock crop by the Duong Dong River, facing the waves that have rushed back and forth on its foundation endlessly for hundreds of years.
At the mouth of the Duong Dong River, the Dinh Cau Temple features a shrine and a lighthouse. It has witnessed countless fishermen coming and going at sea, perhaps for as long as Phu Quoc remembers its history.
In the shrine, the resident deity, Thien Hau (the Goddess of the Sea), sits at the main altar. The top beam displays the wording, “rock hill temple” in Chinese. A couplet adorns the sides with auspicious wordings wishing for wellness, safety and success at sea. It is a small sanctuary of worship but well kept. The profusion of fragrance from incense burning suggests that this temple has many followers.
Indeed, the Dinh Cau Temple remains a frequented venue of spirituality for the locals. While I saw a number of tourists there, there were also the faithful worshippers that brought incense and tributes for the Goddess.
The lighthouse is well-maintained at the Dinh Cau Temple. Painted in broad stripes of white and blue, it is still a working lighthouse now. This cheerful color of the lighthouse presents a distinct contrast to the temple, which features a bright red roof with golden flying eaves with wood-sculpted dragons.
Together, the two structures are the light for both spiritual and practical purposes. The Duong Dong commune, right by the Duong Dong River, has long been a fishermen’s community.
At this area of Phu Quoc, one can see a wide-open view of the coastline, especially from the higher vantage point of the Dinh Cau Temple — and that entails climbing 29 stone steps up to the temple. It feels urban and developed at this area of Phu Quoc, remarkably different from the untouched environ of the Starfish Beach.
From the elevated point of the Dinh Cau Temple, I observed a face of Phu Quoc that was hitherto unimaginable because I nested myself in all the touristy, natural spots of the island. This part of Phu Quoc was (and still is) the economic lifeline for the island. Long before the rise of modern transportation, the riverway and ocean were the only means of transporting goods to the mainland of Vietnam from Phu Quoc. The Duong Dong River, which flows 15 km from the Ham Ninh massif in the east, is the largest river of Phu Quoc and the key river esturary in the island’s western coast.
Afar on the north lies the modern infrastructure of the Duong Dong Port. Looking south, the Phu Quoc Beach features a row of beachfront property. I felt a welcoming breeze there and then. The waves of the sea brushed against the urban landscape with a lively touch of movement, looping the motions of nature that evince a sense of perennial hope. In the early mornings, the fishermen still gather in the Duong Dong Seafood Market to sell the catch of the day. The bustles of the trade begin at the riverbank here.
The Cho Dem Phu Quoc Market is just a stone’s throw away from the Dinh Cau Temple. Surely, the famous seafood served at the night market is the fruit of the labor of the Duong Dong fishermen.
Roughly meaning, “the Sacred Mother of the Water Dragon,” this temple stands close by and it clearly is also a revered deity for the fishermen. This temple is much larger, well-decorated and kept. But it pales in comparison to the Dinh Cau Temple in its character. There were a number of worshippers there in the afternoon, and I came away having the feeling that the people of Phu Quoc hold on to their traditional faiths strongly.
Localvietnam.com, Dinh Cau Temple & Lighthouse: Complete Visitor Guide.
www.vietnam.vn, Morning in the Fishing Village in the Center of Phu Quoc.
Travel in Vietnam, Duong Dong River, the Largest River in Phu Quoc Island.
There is never enough ocean time for me and I was very excited about the visit at the Starfish Beach. I was done at the Pepper Farm and Rach Vem was next. At around noon hour, my driver took me to the Rach Vem Fishing …
Being an island, Phu Quoc’s economy was heavily dependent on fishing before the people realized that the pristine waters by the creamy beaches bore enormous potential for tourism. Besides fishing, Phu Quoc was known for agriculture and pearl culture as well. I managed to visit …
One of the most looked-forward to tour in this trip was Island Hopping in the southern waters of Phu Quoc. From the scenery to the activities to the food, this one-day shuttling between the open sea and beautiful islets served every purpose for which I made the trip to Phu Quoc.
I think I visited three islands on this trip. I only remember that one of them is called Fingernail Island (Hon Mong Tay). The highlights of the tour were the Sea Walk, lunch at another island, then Fingernail Island (free time to explore the rocky beach), snorkeling off of the Fingernail Island, then back to An Thoi pier.
The tour sends the coach over to your hotel and drops you off at the pier in An Thoi. All the boat rides amongst the islands are covered on the tour.
When the driver was more than an hour late in picking me up at the Khem Beach Resort, I did wonder if I would manage to enjoy all the activities the tour advertised. It promised a sea walk tour (out of pocket), swimming, snorkelling and a lunch in between. But at the end of the tour I was fully satisfied that all of the promised activities were done and the tour topped up with some surprising perks too (drone video- and picture-taking).
All in all, I say it exceeded expectations — especially considering the fact that the tour began in utter chaos and I was seriously worried at first.
I got off the coach at the An Thoi Pier and saw throngs of people, of the full color spectrum, that mostly didn’t speak Vietnamese. They were gathering at the pier. I was amazed, “you mean there are THAT many tourists in Phu Quoc in one time?” It was certainly chaotic. I lost sight of the group of people that were on the same coach as me. I spoke no Vietnamese, and nobody could tell me what to do next. I approached a guide that was seemingly taking roll call, “I am from the Skyline Hotel, one person today,” and of course he didn’t have my name on his ledger. I was very worried — I arranged the tour through the hotel and didn’t know which tour operator I joined. There were quite a number of guides there taking roll call. Some people already started leaving in boats.
When the guide indicated to me that he was writing down my name and taking my money, that was when I was assured that I would be on this tour. It turned out that only one operator was taking all of the tourists on the island-hopping tour. Therefore, they would make sure that all the people gathering at the pier were taken care of.
From my observation of how this tour was run, I figured that there is this thing called “Vietnamese efficiency.” Vietnam, which is a populous country, has a certain way of dealing with throngs of people. Vietnamese efficiency is that somehow, someone will have the brains to work through a big mess that involves impatient souls such as the Indians and the white people (OK, the Chinese people are pretty bad too, but they tend not to speak enough English to raise it with the operator).
In the midst of chaos there would be a lot of shouting in Vietnamese, loud mutterings in good and bad English, and everything in between. Perhaps in the spirit of modern-day pragmatic communism (business is business, and the Vietnamese fully understand that), everybody would be taken care of in the end.
I made it to a speedboat and it roared away over the somewhat-stained waters at the pier. The ride was very exciting. The boat knocked off some super rocky waters out there. My mind opened up when the emerald waters of the Thailand Gulf came into sight. From afar we sped by the famous Sunset Town. I had no plan to visit (but in the end I did sit at a café there for an afternoon), because it’s so manmade, but it is indeed full of (manmade) character and very photogenic.
The first stop was Sea Walk and it is an out-of-pocket item. For seeing small fish and no photos, the vendor asks for 1,250,000₫. For photos with small fish, 1,550,000₫. For big fish, 1,995,000. The Vietnamese are good businessmen, and they offered the most expensive option for 1,550,000₫. I didn’t think it was a deal, but I did really want to see manta rays in closeup. I also thought that this would be the closest to “diving” that I would ever do in life. So, I paid heaps for that.
The Sea Walk took up just a very small area that they marked up, sort of like a walk-in fish tank in the sea. There were indeed quite a few large mantra rays, and that was amazing. The walk was just about 10, 15 minutes, but I was in the midst of all these fish (some are edible, as in, the kind that I would steam at home, but maybe three times larger as an ocean variety). I had a guide with me the whole time. A few minutes were spent at the photo taking spot (with decorative, but real, hard coral) and they made both underwater photos and videos for you. The breathing is done inside an oxygen-dispensing air helmet, so there was no need for anyone to have diving experience. In fact, even if you can’t swim, you can do this sea walk.
The few minutes before I ascended, the diver gave me a bottle of fish feed. As I squeezed the food, all these fish, large and small, came around me. And it was so amazing, as in, “am I in wonderland?” They hovered over me in circles, fighting over the food. I have never been in such a close encounter with fish, or any animals, for that matter.
The striped fish above is a distinctively tropical fish that I would see plenty again when I went snorkeling out in the islands.
It was quite a long wait at sea walk, and I started worrying again about the day’s activity. Would I miss some adventure because I was waiting so long to do this sea walk? When I was done, a tour guide approached me and took me to the next spot, which was lunch at an island. That was when we took some drone videos and photos.
Everybody lined up to take the drone photos and videos. And I commend the tour operator for this top-up feature, because the pictures and the drone video turn out very well.
For some time I sat alone in the beach chairs, just wondering about lunch. I was the only solo party in the whole tour, and everybody seemed to have been seated at the table already. Maybe I even expected to be left behind, but some food was a good idea at that point of the day.
Somehow, when everybody was gone, someone came around to call my name. They didn’t forget me. By then, I was convinced that there was a way that Vietnam gets things done, to the satisfaction of every breed of tourist on earth, and indeed no one would be left behind.
After lunch, we came to the very last part of the tour, which was a visit at the Fingernail Island for snorkeling. The beach was very small at the island, but there was a cute area with elevated rock crop for instagrammable photos. I spent some time there taking pictures.
When I looked into the ocean there, I finally understood what people meant when they say “emerald water.” The water was so clear, and under the generous sunlight it scintillated a multifaceted iridescence like gems do. I don’t know what gave it the emerald color, but it was a shade between deep green and deep blue, a color that I love. The sand was so soft.
When I went snorkeling, I saw schools of fishies, but really only of two kinds. The striped Dori was a usual suspect in these waters. Then there is another kind of common-looking dark, smaller and longer fish. They are less distinctive as individuals, but when a whole school of them moved in the same direction, you would think it was a swamp of bees in the ocean. My heart leaped in joy when the whole school of fish moved in the same direction in unison, without any clear indication of leadership by any one member of the fishies.
Before I took the last speedboat ride back to the An Thoi Pier, I took a quick dip in Hon Mong Tay. Not to underestimate the sand, even though it is very soft — I no longer needed a pedicure (though I had planned on that) after walking just a few minutes at the beach.
My dinner that evening was the single most anticlimactic event of the day. I wanted to try GRAB takeout, but the food that arrived was the worst Vietnamese food I have ever had in my whole life (anywhere in the world). The only good thing of the meal was the mango drink. What a plunder. But I had in my mind the beautiful ocean that I experienced that day and I went to bed dreaming about my next beach escape.
That would be the Starfish Beach.
One cannot understand the human face of the Outback without a fair appreciation of the state of affairs concerning the aborigines in Australia. In this last entry on the Outback, I attempt to provide a brief overview of the historical issues that have direct bearings …