About 1 month after visiting Nam Du Island I finally went to Phu Quy Island. I went to Nam Du Island because the ferry to Phu Quy Island was fully booked by the time I wanted to go there (It was a Vietnamese holiday). And that was actually how I got to know about the existence of Nam Du Island. I simply checked on the ferry company’s website what other destinations they were sailing to and that’s how I found Nam Du Island.
How to get to Phu Quy Island
To go to Phu Quy Island, first I went from Ho Chi Minh to Phan Thiet and I spent there 1 night because I wanted to hop on the ferry to Phu Quy Island early in the morning. There are 2 major companies selling ferry tickets to Phu Quy Island from Phan Thiet: Superdong and Phu Quoc Ferry if I’m not mistaken. They both have offices next to Phan Thiet Port. I spent the night in Phan Thiet the closest I could to the Port. The ferry to Phu Quy Island departed at 7 am but I needed to be at the port at 6.30 so I’m glad I slept 10 minutes away from the place haha
Phan Thiet
What is there in Phan Thiet? It is a popular beach destination among Vietnamese, but most foreigners go to Mui Ne, a beach destination next door. I have been to Mui Ne before, so this time I decided to stay in Phan Thiet. I wasn’t very lucky with the weather though. I simply walked along the coastline that has wide empty beaches. The beach is very normal. No amazing shades of blue or paradisiac vibes. Phan Thiet is not the place I would visit. Still, it was nice to discover what is there. Curiosity was killed. Not worth your time.
Ferry from Phan Thiet to Phu Quy Island
I saved info about this trip on my stolen phone, so I don’t remember everything precisely. The journey took about 2h30h I guess and cost around 800K dong both ways. It is not the cheapest trip but whatever… What I clearly remember was how this boat was an absolute vomit party. I swear I have never seen so many people vomiting at once OMG. I ended up falling into the spell too! The worst ferry trip ever. But I think this might be very regular because the boat staff was on the aisle all the time with plastic bags and toilet paper in their hands. I assume they knew what was about to happen haha Also, in Phu Quy Island, at the hotel, they had pills for sea sickness that I made sure to buy for the departure trip. Still, it wasn’t enough. I vomited pretty badly. What a terrible ferry ride!!! I assumed this happens regularly by the way they were very prepared for it.
Once docked in Phu Quy Island I thought it would be easy to go to my hotel cause usually in Asia people chase us offering their services. That didn’t happen here. This is not Thai islands haha. No one could care less about my presence. My hotel was too far for a walk from the pier so I needed a means of transport to get there. I walked around the pier waiting for someone to shout “motorbike” as it always happens, but not one single soul cared. I had to ask several people about a moto taxi and several managed to successfully ignore me. Not sure why they weren’t that willing to help me though. I had to ask around and wait several minutes for someone who was finally willing to help. Finally, I paid 50K dong and a man took me to my hotel. It was too early to check in, so I had to wait several hours.
I could only check in at Phuong Quyen Hotel later so during that time I decided to walk to the nearest beach. This beach has no name on the map, but it is next to Cong Vien Bien Ngu Phung. The beach was super windy and empty, of course, lol, but, there were a bunch of seashells and I dedicated my time to finding some pretty ones. The sea had a beautiful blue shade though!
Phu Quy Island has way more things and people than Nam Du Island but still doesn’t have much. There weren’t those many eating options around my hotel until a certain time… This is not like the big cities where at 6 am everybody is already out and a million things are happening. Nothing is going on early here… Just later places start to open. People were surprised to see me here too because this is another place that doesn’t see those many foreign tourists. I explored the island from one tip to the other and I believe I have seen almost all that there is to be seen. This island isn’t as small as Nam Du so at the hotel I rented a motorbike for 2 days. There is no traffic here anyway and the streets are not that bad. The beaches in Phu Quy Island are empty and beautiful. This is another hidden gem!
To go back from the hotel to the pier when it was time to leave, a weird thing happened. First of all, the staff at the hotel spoke no English, so communicating was hard. I couldn’t ask for any advice or tips… But I think I understood the following situation properly. So, when it was time to go to the pier, I asked if one of the hotel staff members could drop me there. I would pay for it. They told me to take my rented motorbike and that I found weird. How can I take their motorbike by myself? Who will bring it back? They told me to leave it there… but, am I supposed to leave the motorbike at the pier with keys on? where do I leave the keys? People will steal the motorbike… I thought but they kept insisting that I should take the motorbike. I was afraid I did not fully understand the deal because I wouldn’t take the motorbike and leave it somewhere with keys on just like that. So I refused the proposal and insisted that someone from the hotel should take me there. It happened as I wished, gladly, cause still nowadays I am not sure how would I just leave the motorbike wherever. So weird!
You can check all about my trip around Phu Quy Island in the next post.
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