South-East Asia

As the weather didn't play well with us and there was no wind to start my three-day kite surfing course, we adapted our plans and replaced our intended target Nathrang by the island Phu Quoc in the south, next to the Cambodian border. It turned out to be quite a ride there, as you first have to cross the whole Mekong delta by bus, arriving at the port town of Rach Gia at three a.m. in order to catch a ticket for the hydrofoil. As this is the main way of getting to the island, it is extremely difficult to buy a ticket at the spot, and we were lucky to get one for the second of the two daily boats, which means we had to spend 10 hours in the lovely port.

It's just a short ride from the islands port to Duong Dong, the main town and tourist centre on the island. Solid roads go only to the centre of the town, and from there it is a very bumpy trip even in an off-road vehicle, with knee-deep potholes and fragile bridges, though road construction is in process. As it was not the main season, half of the places to sleep and to eat were closed, so we checked in into some nice resort with a sea view bungalow for some reasonable 12 dollars. The place was four kilometers out of town, so the only way for us to get around was once more the motorcycle.

So we just did our regular, a bit more scary than usual (potholes, sand on the road, Vietnamese drivers around), island tour to the beaches, a small waterfall and one more place which we did not find as we got totally lost somewhere in the middle of some tea plantations.