Phu Quoc is a tropical island off the west coast of Vietnam and just south of Cambodia. It is in the Gulf of Thailand, part of the South China Sea at the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The Gulf is known for its relatively shallow waters and is a haven for fishing and tourists. The water temp is consistently in the 80s so it feels like a giant warm bathtub year-round.
We stayed three nights at a resort called Green Bay on the northwest corner of the island. Surprisingly we found nothing to be similar to the Wisconsin city of the same name! We had a nice villa with a private pool overlooking the sea. It was a great place for some rest and relaxation, at a perfect time in our trip since we had both recently caught a mild cold. We spent most of our time lounging in our villa, just leaving it to go eat or visit the beach. The weather was hot and steamy, so it was nice to dip in the pool multiple times a day to cool off. The resort grounds were quite large with villas scattered throughout the trees. The main restaurant overlooked a big pool and there was a small beach down below.
Each morning we had a big buffet breakfast in a palapa-type open-air restaurant. This would tide us over to afternoon tea, which was also included in our stay, and could be delivered to the villa. It was enough food for us for the day, but we did try one of the resort’s restaurants the night before we were scheduled to leave.
I usually book most of my hotels through Expedia, which gives me VIP status. Because of this, we sometimes get extra perks. At this resort, we got complimentary massages which was a nice treat, along with some healing drinks including the famous blue butterfly pea tea. We also got free laundry each day, so we were able to catch up on getting our clothes washed as well.
After staying three nights, we were scheduled to fly to Can Tho, which is in the Mekong Delta south of Saigon. Unfortunately the morning of, the airline canceled our flight and rescheduled us on a later flight to Saigon instead. This threw a monkey wrench into our plans and after reviewing all our options, we decided to skip the Mekong Delta. It would have been too much hassle to try to get there by car after flying into Saigon. So we opted to stay in Phu Quoc 2 more nights instead, and we moved to a less expensive resort in Duong Dong Town.
This turned out really well for us as the beachfront boutique resort we chose was located on gorgeous Ba Keo Beach. It was also a more lively area with restaurants, bars and shops all nearby. Our resort was called Cassia Cottages Resort. It was originally the home of a spice trader, who turned it into a resort. It got its name from the spice cassia, a type of cinnamon grown in northern Vietnam.
The resort grounds were lush and beautiful, with flowering trees, shrubs and plants everywhere – Sophie was in heaven! We had a garden view room with a neat outdoor shower. It wasn’t a large resort, but everything was really cute and all the employees were super friendly. The hotel restaurant served great food and we had our breakfasts there each day. The beach was narrow but quite long, with nice golden sand. We enjoyed sitting in shaded loungers really close to the water and swimming in the sea which seemed calmer than in our previous location. It was a very relaxing place, and the beach wasn’t busy at all. We had an awesome time there – and even got over our colds!
At night, we walked just a couple minutes down the little alley behind the resort to a family-run seafood restaurant. Like in Thailand, they had whatever fresh local fish caught that day on ice in the front, and you just pointed to what you wanted and they grilled it for you. It was ready in minutes! Add a couple beers, vegetables, rice and fresh mango for dessert, and we were in heaven! We came back the next night for round two.
Since we were more in town now, I decided to get a haircut. I found a barber a short walk away from our hotel. His salon was about the size of a queen-size bed, with just one chair behind a row of motorcycles he was renting. He gave me quite the shave! Much shorter on my neck and sides than I have ever had, but I have to say I really like it – especially in this heat. Sophie also said it makes me look younger. 😉 The barber didn’t speak very good English. I asked him to trim the long hairs on my eyebrows, and he quickly trimmed all my eyebrow hairs way back. For a while I was wondering if I’d even have any eyebrows left – ha!
On our way back from the barber, we noticed a busy store called King Kong. We decided to check it out and discovered a large warehouse-type store that sold everything from clothes to hats to groceries and fruit. They also had a ton of souvenirs. We had fun exploring the store and bought some of the popular items like mango chewy candy, coconut cookies, Phu Quoc peppercorns and Vietnamese chocolate.
Cacao trees were introduced to Vietnam by French colonists in the late 19th century, with cocoa farming gaining traction primarily in the southern region in the 1990s. Today, Vietnam is a leading cocoa producer in Asia, known for its distinctive beans and commitment to sustainable agriculture. We tried several chocolate brands while in Vietnam including Marou, Alluvia and Mr. Viet, all pretty good but still not at the level of European chocolate. We also discovered that Vietnam is the largest producer and exporter of black peppercorns, with Phu Quoc Island being particularly famous for its high-quality pepper, known for its heat, pungency, and strong aroma.
Our two extra days went by too quickly, and we agreed we would happily come back here again if we find ourselves in the area. Plus, there are a lot of other things to see on the island that we didn’t make time for. We would have liked to visit a pepper plantation and the fish sauce factory in town, go watch the fishing boats come back to shore, go snorkeling and explore some of the natural areas – 70% of the island is forest and mountains and a UNESCO biosphere. But after one last swim, time has come to leave for our next destination, friendly Cambodia 🇰ðŸ‡!
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