Born to be Wild

Get your motor running and such. Greg and I were bikers for the day. After catching sunrise on the eastern part of the island, we spent the rest of the morning lounging around under a thatched umbrella with the obligatory Saigon beer. Biking is surprisingly hard work.



If you just watched the above video, you will be glad to know that I am fine and completely uninjured. If your name is Brigette, you will be disappointed that you can not say, "I told you so." I didn't end up in a terrible motorbike spill as would appear by the video. In fact, I was just experimenting with a mount for my GoPro camera - which fell off the bike shortly after I started it up, but I thought it was a pretty neat video all the same. You will be glad to know that the camera is in stable condition and responds to simple commands.

Anyway, I had a bit of insomnia last night so I was thinking a lot about the pedigree of this island as a tourist destination. Sitting on near-empty beaches with a cold drink and watching clear blue water roll in makes it seem idyllic. Early on, I thought to myself, this is a place I would like to bring the lovely Nicole. (No offense to my alabaster-skinned comrade) But gazing up at the mesh mosquito netting over my head, I began to think differently.

You see, despite the few hotels that line the road for about a mile, this is still a very undeveloped place. If you want warm water, it's best to shower in the afternoon, when the water in the pipes has had a chance to warm up from the sun. After that, it will be quite cold, as Greg discovered this evening and then muttered something about looking forward to showering in Saigon. There are bugs everywhere. My right eye hurts from impacting the big ones at 80kmh (they always aimed for my right eye for some inexplicable reason) - all while choking on dust kicked up by a bus. Greg and I have seen a lot of couples here, but it must take a certain kind of couple to wake up under a mosquito net. Then again, these are mostly Germans. They know nothing about love.

I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining. In fact it's those undeveloped aspects that give Phu Quoc its charm. Any other place would put a barrier offshore to prevent the jellyfish from inundating the beaches. But seeing them was interesting to us. They only interrupted our game of coconut ball about 5 times.

In case you are wondering, coconut ball is where you find an old coconut lying on the beach and toss it back-and-forth like a football as illustrated by the "great white hope" above.

Alas, our time on this island draws to a close. Phu Quoc: an island we knew so little about, but which possibly became the highlight of our trip. Tomorrow morning, we may get massages on the beach. I believe it was 60,000 dong for an hour (less than $3). Maybe I'll do 30 mins for $1.50. Tomorrow we go back to Saigon so Greg can take his warm shower. There's a lot to do in Saigon, but it may be difficult after our time on Phu Quoc.

For more inspiring photos, and less rambling, see Greg's blog.