Lunar New Year. It is during this time that most of the world celebrates the coming of spring based on the Lunar calendar. For Vietnam, it is called Tết Nguyên Đán or just Tết for short. Tết is considered one of the most important holidays in Vietnam, so of course, my company gave us almost two full weeks off so we could celebrate!
So because this was going to be the only time I would be getting this much time off until Christmas holiday, and because the day directly after my birthday was the start of our two weeks, I really wanted to do something fun! When I first heard about the holiday I was thinking of just staying in Hai Phong to see how the Vietnamese celebrated, but once I got to training I was told that everything shuts down and people leave the major cities to go to their ancestral hometowns (much like they do in Korea), so there would be nothing open and no point in staying at home. Majority of the teachers were going to be leaving the country, so I had contemplated going to Korea for the holiday since many of the other former Korea teachers were going to be there. But since the Winter Olympics were going on and I did not pack any of my winter clothes (since the coldest it gets here in Vietnam is Korean Fall weather) I quickly thought better of it. It is one thing to freeze in one of your favorite cities because you don't have a heavy enough jacket, but it is a whole nother story to freeze to death in your favorite city when it is overrun with tourists and prices are raised since there is a global event happening just outside the city limits! Plus I felt I would be letting myself down if I did something that I had already done before. So it was back tot he drawing board! Hong Kong was an idea, since the last time I was there I only stayed for 3 days and did not really get to do many touristy things, but after checking in with my friend there and learning of her LNY plans, I thought better of it and did not want to intrude on her already made plans.
I started to ask around with the teachers at my centers and one of the teachers that I have gotten really close to suggested that I go to Phu Quoc Island. She and her Boyfriend were going to be there for a few days and suggested that we should hang out (they ended up not being able to make it last minute, but that is another story), so after googling some pictures of the island, and convincing a friend from training (J) and another co-worker I knew from Korea (E), I made up my mind and bought the tickets and booked the Airbnb!
Day 1
 |
| Map of the Island |
 |
| Phu Quoc Location in Vietnam |
Day 1
I took the bus to Hanoi to meet up with my friend before we both went to the airport to catch our flights down to the island. Not really much to report since all airports are similar and unless there is something really unique about them, I don't really remember them too much. But one thing that I did remember was that as soon as we stepped off the plane, we were hit with a humid heat wave! Up in Northern Vietnam, it was still pretty nippy to the point that we had on long sleeves and jackets, but as soon as we got to Phu Quoc, we quickly learned that that was not going to be the case on the island for the next few days! The weather was so hot and the sun was shining so bright every day that even thinking of my jacket was going to give me heat stroke. But it was the weather you would want to have when you go on a tropical beach vacation!
 |
| Off we go! |
Since it was late at night, we grabbed a cab from the airport and had it take us to the entrance of the small side street our Airbnb was located down. Even though it was hot and pitch black, walking down the little dirt road was fun since all the small cafes and hostels along the road had little market lights and music playing despite the latish hour (around 9 pm). I was texting my friend from Seoul (E) who I had talked into coming to the island for a few days as well. He is working in the same company as I am but is based in Ho Chi Min City, so the quick 30 minutes flight was nothing to him. He had arrived at the island earlier in the day and had spent the day relaxing on the beach with a friend of his (M) from training and another teacher from our company (N). They were all at a restaurant dinking and invited J and me to join in for dinner.
Anyway, J and I dropped off our bags in our room and walked out to the main road to flag a taxi to take us to the hotel bar/restaurant that E, M, and N were at called The Sunset Beach Bar. The food there was actually really good for bar food, like steak and potatoes, luxury burgers, and sushi grade fish good! After dinner, M, N, and I bonded over drinks and got to know each other, while the guys (E and J) ordered balloons and chilled. For those of you who don't know, balloons are a bar staple here in Vietnam. Essentially you can order a huge balloon filled with laughing gas -- yes the same stuff that they use to put you under at the dentist office-- that you can use to inhale in order to give you a "high" for a few seconds. There is a bar at the other end of my street back here in Hai Phong that offers them as well, so they are pretty easily found across the country. (side note, I did try a hit from one of my friend's balloon and also one from E&J, but both time I felt nothing and ended up with a headache later on in the night, so I personally don't do the balloons here).
We ended up staying in our private cabana on the beach for a good long while and made plans for the following day until the bar closed around 1/2 am. E, J, and I shared a cab back to our area of the island since our lodgings were near each other, just on opposite sides of the main road. M and N were staying farther out the night before they were moving to another hotel that was closer to the main city on the island early the next day. But we all promised to meet up at the southernmost port, An Thoi, the next day to charter a boat to take us out to the smaller islands so we could go snorkeling.
 |
| I found it funny that they bar still had its Christmas decorations up |
Day 2
E, J, and I met up for a quick brunch and coffee at a cafe that was along the main road that separated our hotels before hailing a cab to take us down to An Thoi. The drive down was not too bad and was actually pretty cool seeing all the trees and little houses dotted along the highway. The town of An Thoi was small nut bustling. Once there though, I quickly realized that this was the more Vietnamese side of the island and the farther north you go up the island, the more touristy you got. Down here was where the locals lived and you could definitely tell by the lack of flashy signs, lack of English, and just the general vibe of the city (also the fact that most of the roads were a little rough and not paved in some places). When we got to the port, there was a lady that was trying to charge us an entrance fee to just walk through the gate to get to the boats. She was not charging the Vietnamese people who were walking in or driving past the gates on their motorbikes, so we knew she was just trying to get money from the tourists. We expressed as much and politely argued a bit before a boat captain of one of the speedboats came over and told the lady to stop. She did and he brought us into the port while showing us a brochure for his company and telling us what his chartering plan included. It was going to be about 4-5 million VND for a private speedboat for the whole day ( or roughly 40 USD per person), a little expensive normally but the captain and the first mate would take us to any of the islands that we wanted, would take us snorkeling, fishing, swimming, and to a lunch spot and we could decide how long we wanted to stay at each spot and would have until sunset to essentially have free reign of the boat and go where ever we wanted, plus a whole case of ice water was included! Also because it was Tet (Lunar New Year) they were asking a bit more since they were technically working on a holiday and not at home with their families.
Our captain was an older gentleman who did not really speak (I don't think he knew any English), but out first mate was a younger 20 something guy named Kang. Kang was actually pretty good at English, at least he knew enough to have a basic conversation with us. The first thing we did was go snorkeling at one of the farther islands away from all the huge junk boat that other tourists had chartered for the day. One major difference between having a private speedboat verses being on the junk boats was while our boat was more expensive, we could choose when and where we wanted to go, it was only our group on the boat, and we had the who day on the boat, while the Junks were only about a 3 hour experience and you did not have that much choice of where you and the other 100 or so people went.
 |
| Leaving the marina |
 |
| Kang helping us off the boat |
Kang brought us to an empty picnic table and we ordered off the menu that was stapled to one of the roof posts that was nearby. Mostly stir-fried noodles and rice with either just veggies or seafood. There were also local fishermen in the bay who would take you out to their boat to pick out fresh seafood they had just caught. E went out to their boat to see what they had and to pick something out for us if he thought it was going to be a good deal. The boat that they used to take him and Kang (our translator for the day) out to the fishing boat was pretty unique, to say the least. It literally looked like a mattress on top of truck tires and plastic flotations, but it got the job done. E was out there for a good, long time but came back empty-handed, He said that there was a lot of interesting fish on the boat, but the price that the fishermen were asking was way too expensive and they were not willing to negotiate a lower price. So, we ended up ordering off the menu that we had been originally guided to order from. The food took a bit to come out and they got our orders a bit mixed up and I ended up with the seafood rice when I had ordered the veggie rice. Now I am not a huge seafood fan, but let me tell you that that was probably the freshest and best seafood fried rice that I had ever eaten!
While we were having our lunch, all the captains were hanging out nearby and were gambling with all the Tet money that they had earned over the past few days. it was an interesting type of gambling game, called Bau Cua Tom Ca. The game is played with each player placing money on a mat that has a picture of a gourd, a rooster, a crab, a fish, a shrimp, or a deer (each player places money on the pictures that they think will be picked) and a dealer has three dice that have a picture that matches the mat on each face. The dealer places the dice under a bowl and shuffles the dice and then reveals the shuffled dice to the players. The players who bets were placed on pictures that match the dices' faces get all the money that was placed on the mat. Our captain had joined in, but was not very good, while Kang stood off to the side watching while eating a bowl of food that one of the ladies in the kitchen had brought him. The gambling went on for a while (our boat crew mostly just sat around an watched after the first round or so of money exchange) and after we finished digesting we just sat around and took in everything there was to see on the island. Kang noticed us wandering around so suggested that we move onto the next island to relax and swim. It was getting pretty late in the day so we agreed that his idea sounded pretty nice.
The island he had in mind was actually the last one that we ended up going to, but it was really nice since for the whole time we were there we were pretty much the only ones on the whole island. There were a few locals there (two girls and a little boy, but they seemed to be friends with Kang because he ended up talking and playing in the sand with them after a while. E and J did not want to lay out and take pictures like us girls and swam out to a floating bar that was a little bit out from the shore. Getting tired of laying out and slightly afraid that I was going to burn since I have not been to the beach in a few years, I started to explore the immediate area and convinced M to take some artsy Instagram pictures of me with the palm trees and rocks in the background. There was also a pretty cool ruined house (well more like house foundation) that was just past the sand line on the beach that our captain was napping in. Kang also eventually also took a nap, but he had found a tree limb to pass out in. All in all the whole vibe of the island was chilled out relaxation. We stayed there until the sun started setting and then it was time to go.
Thinking back this probably was one of the top highlights from the whole trip and made me remember just how much I love boats and the ocean even though I don't go visit them as much as I would like.
When we got back to the main tourist area near our hotels, we on a whim went to a restaurant called Rory's Beach Bar. Rory's was actually run by an expat couple (I believe) and had one of the best views of the sunset on the island. The food was so good that we ended up eating there about 3 more times during our whole trip since they have something for everyone on their menu (both Western and Asian dishes, plus a plethora of fun drinks).
 |
| sunset at Rory's |
Day 3
This was the actual day of Tet, so everything was closed down and more relaxed. Everyone was actually a little sunburned and tired still from our boating adventure the other day, so we all just agreed to meet up later to get dinner around M and N's new hotel and to see the fireworks that were going to be set off later that night for the holiday.
 |
| walking down our alleyway |
Since there was nothing major planned for most of the day, E, J, and I just hung out at the pool in E's hotel. It was a really nice infinity pool that had stairs on the other side that led down to the beach. We were camped out on the pool deck under the umbrellas for a good part of the day and took full advantage of the bar and restaurant that was right behind us. Toward the later part of the afternoon, we all walked down the beach to see if we could find a place that would do massages. After finding a place, E and I decided to stay and get the after sun wrap that they had since we were the most burned from the boat trip the other day (J decided he just wanted to go back to the pool and relax some more). E wanted to get his message in the cabana that faced the beach, but because we had to be naked for the massage bar sheer, single-use underwear that was provided I opted to have mine done in the closed-off room that was next door. Now when I say naked, I don't mean that you and all your glory is out for display to the world. You are covered with towels after the attendant slathers you up with the aloe-milk-ice-cucumber-honey concoction that comes with the after sun massage, so it is not too bad.
The mixture was actually really cold, but felt wonderful on my sunburn when the lady was putting it on! Once I was slathered and wrapped up though, my body heat was turning the mixture to room temperature and then it no longer felt as nice since it was no longer super cooling against my burn. But the aloe and the aloe and cucumbers really made my skin, not as raw feeling and the pain was pretty nonexistent afterward. My attendant was an angel and gave me a head and gentile shoulder/arm massage while I was basting on the table. I was there for a good long while before they woke me up and had me rinse off in cool water before putting my clothes back on and heading to the lobby of the spa where I was going to be getting a pedicure since I had forgotten to get one done before I had left Hai Phong. The same attendant did my toes and we talk a bit using facial expressions and simple English until she finished and E came back from his message ( he got started later than I did so we finished at different times) and we walked back down the beach to his hotel.
 |
| the infinity pool |
Around the time we had agreed to go meet M and N for dinner near their hotel, E decided that he was going to stay in and relax at the hotel and then maybe join us for the fireworks later since he was pretty zen and not that hungry. When we got to M and N's hotel we walked to a nearby bigger hotel that had a sit-down restaurant we had looked up on Google that got pretty good ratings. But the best thing about the restaurant was that I finally got my coconut! I had been trying to order coconut water since I had arrived as they literally just cut a hole in a green coconut and give it to you like that. And it was so good!
After dinner, N decided to stay in for the night and try to see if she could get a message for her sunburn as well, so M, J, and I got a taxi to the city of Phu Quoc to see the fireworks display at the pier. We climbed up to a small temple that was attached to the lighthouse that was on the pier and then walked around all the street vendors finding a spot to watch the show. We bought beers and bottled drinks off a lady that had a cooler nearby where we were sitting and just sat back and enjoyed the atmosphere. It was really fun seeing everyone celebrate and the kids near where we were sitting yell and laugh as the fireworks were going off; definitely made the holiday more special and relatable for me.
 |
| Fireworks at the Pier |
The only downside of the night was that it was almost impossible for me and J to find a cab that would take us back to our hotel. After about 20 minutes of trying to flag one down, we just said f*ck it and started the 30-minute walk. At this point, I was tired, sunburned, and developing a bit of chub rub on my inner thighs, so I was not in the best of moods. We eventually found a cab that would take us about 15 minutes into our walk, but he refused to turn on the meter and told us to pay him 100K VND for taking us the rest of the way home. So while I knew that he was ripping us off, I did not even argue and got in. But it was worth it since he was blasting the a/c and I did not need to walk anymore!
Day 3
This was probably one of the most fun days that we had on the island. E, J, and I rented bikes and drove up to M and N's hotel to pick them up. We wanted to explore the northern part of the island and drive to the most northern tip since we heard that you can see Cambodia from the shore. N was not up for the trip since she wanted to try to go to the spa again today since they had closed before she could go the other night. But the rest of us started following the roads and heading north. Driving a bike was so exhilarating and fun, but also really nervewracking since road laws are more like suggestions here in Vietnam. Really the only rules of the road are don't hit someone and honk your horn when you are nearing another vehicle so they know you are there. Eventually the map we were following took us off road down some construction paths and into the woods, so eventually, our little road trip turned into an offroading trip. J was the most experienced with motorbikes since he was the only one out of the four of us who actually owns a bike so he was the leader of our little caravan (M was riding on the back of his bike as well). Well, J's back wheel slipped into a small rut that was in the dirt road and M and he fell off the bike and skidded a bit. No one was hurt and J only got scrapped up a bit on the side of his leg, but we decided that it was a good time to find a place to eat and see if we could get J patched up. Navigating back to the main road, we ended up going to a REALLY nice hotel and getting a table at the poolside restaurant there. While J went to the restroom to wash up and get the dirt out of his leg, the rest of us ordered water and since the prices of the food was a bit much, decided to share one of their special brick pizzas. I guess because the island is targeted towards tourists, but everything we ate was freaking amazing! The pizza that we ordered was a curried beef pizza and I could have cried at how good the taste was. After eating and washing up, we switched from Apple maps (what we were following) to Google maps and realized that there was a direct route to the northern point from the main road we were on (aka no more off-roading!) so we decided to head off and continue on our journey. The rest of the trip was pretty cool since we got to drive through some smaller little towns and wind around the coast.
 |
| vroom vroom |
To congratulate us getting to the northern point, we sat down as a small street stand that was set up on top of the beach wall and ordered coconuts for everyone. There were stands set up facing the beach and true enough, past the moored and beached fishing boats, we could see Cambodia rising out of the ocean.
We hung out there a good while and then made our trek back to M and N's hotel. E and I ran out of gas on the trip so had to pull in front of a house and ask if they knew of any place that had gas. Turned out the family had some with them in little coke bottles and we were able to purchase about 1.5 liters of gas each for about 50k VND. It was actually a little funny when they were filling up my bike since none of us could figure out how to access and open the gas tank. It took about 4 of us pressing all the buttons and fiddling with the bike before we figured out that the opening to my gas tank was near the footrest under a small metal plate that we all took for decoration!
We hung out there a good while and then made our trek back to M and N's hotel. E and I ran out of gas on the trip so had to pull in front of a house and ask if they knew of any place that had gas. Turned out the family had some with them in little coke bottles and we were able to purchase about 1.5 liters of gas each for about 50k VND. It was actually a little funny when they were filling up my bike since none of us could figure out how to access and open the gas tank. It took about 4 of us pressing all the buttons and fiddling with the bike before we figured out that the opening to my gas tank was near the footrest under a small metal plate that we all took for decoration!
That night all 4 of us (N joined us once we got back) at the at some restaurant as the one from the night before and just hung out until we decided to part ways around 9 when the restaurant started to close down. E had to leave in the morning, but J and I promised M and N that we would stop by the next day to hang out.
Day 4
This was the lazy girls' day that I so desperately needed! J wanted to go out exploring on his motorbike and see the other side of the island, but the other girls and I just wanted a down day. After J dropped me off at M and N's hotel on his way up the island, us girls just hung out. We walked tot he nearby beach and claimed some beach chairs and tanned for a good while. Eventually, N went out to the spa to get another message while M and I were just lazy beach bums all day. After getting all the sun we wanted/could stand we went back to their hotel and hung out at the pool until N joined us again. When dinner time rolled around we messaged J to meet us at the Night Market for dinner.
The Night Market is just what you would expect: lanterns everywhere and craziness from all the people that were there. It was awesome! We walked around a bit until we were able to find a place to sit down and have dinner. The place we choose was a huge seafood restaurant/ warehouse that was on the main road near the entrance (our first mistake). When we got there it was not too crowded and there were a few other groups of foreigners dotted around the open floor, so we knew that it was at least a little English friendly since none of us speak Vietnamese. The menu there was pretty extensive and it took us a while to decide on what we wanted, but after a bit, everything was ordered and we started chatting and passing time before our food arrived. Well, that turned into a 2-hour wait for everything to come out. Our drinks took about 20 minutes and the rest of our food came out sporadically over the course of the 2 hours despite us flagging down the wait staff and reminding them of our orders. During this time about 3 big groups were also seated and had put in their orders and were being served before us. We tried to keep our cool, but that is a bit hard to do when you are starving and just want to get your order of fried rice and veggie!
After the dinner, we decided to walk around and look at what was being sold. It was fun walking around and just looking (I did get some comfortable gray elephant pants, a few bottles of essential oils, and a statue to add to my travel souvenir collection back home). Plus the rolled ice cream that we got to pick ourselves a la Cold Stone Creamery was really good!
There were so many people wandering around and small little restaurants and bars that dotted the street, the atmosphere really did feel like a festival or party! The only thing that I did not really like was that there was one street performer that was doing an act with a pair of snakes. Now, I do not hate snakes, nor am I terribly afraid of them-- they are just not my favorite animal to be around...something about the fact that they just slither and slink around (which is strange since I am a SlytherHorn for all my HP readers)... anyway, he was having the snakes go through his nose and out his mouth and vice versa. N, M, and J all stopped to watch, so I went on ahead and took pictures and started to look at the little stands that were farther up ahead.
We stayed pretty late at the market until almost all the stands and restaurants were closing down (so around 11ish?) and then decided to head on back to our hotels. I road back with J on the motorbike while M and N got a taxi to take them back to theirs.
Day 5
This was our last full day at on the island and we all decided that we wanted to just relax and go to the most famous beach on the island, Sao beach. J and I jumped into M and C's taxi as they were heading down the main road that passes our house around noon. We really lucked out because the taxi driver offered to come back to pick us up since the entrance to the beach was pretty far away from the main road so it would have been a little difficult for us to get a cab back home. Telling him to pick us up at 4 pm, we headed off to the beach.
Whenever you see pictures of beached in Southeast Asia, you always see these beautiful white sand beaches with turquoise blue waters. I had always thought that that was an exaggeration since I had always gone to the beach in Northern Florida. The sand there is not pearly white and the water is dark blue, sometimes a little brownish gray. So seeing that the white beach and turquoise water combo was actually a real thing was pretty cool. BUT THERE WERE SO MANY PEOPLE!!
Everywhere we looked there were people walking around, playing in the sand, walking around advertising parasailing and boat tours, people walking around trying to sell fresh cut fruit. It was a madhouse right at the entrance of the beach. Luckily for us, the beach is shaped like a huge crescent moon, so we saw that the far sides of the beach were pretty bare of people. We walked towards the left side of the beach and once we got almost to the end of the stretch, we found a pretty secluded area that had beach chairs for rent. At 100k VND (~$5USD) for the whole day, that was not a bad price so we grabbed 4 chairs together and just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. I had picked up some fresh cut mangos and a small platter with other cut up fruits when we were walking through the main drag of the beach, so we got to snack while we were relaxing. After a while, J got antsy and walked off to go exploring and us girls decided to have a photo shoot with the giant swing that was tied up to a palm tree close to our seats.
As we were getting close to the time we needed to meet up with our taxi driver, we started heading back to the main tourist drag. On the way, N got hungry and stopped at a banh mi cart that was parked on the beach. Since she was getting food we all ended up getting sandwiches filled with all the different types of meats n(hot dogs, sausages, meatballs, pulled chicken) that he had available to saute before putting in the toasted bread. I think that was our major mistake out of the whole trip.
When we got back to our side of the island, we had the driver take us back to Roary's for our last dinner. Sometime during the fantastic sunset, J started getting sick and decided to head back to the hotel early to lay down. The girls all stayed pretty late and we all made plans to do stuff in Hanoi once we got back since we were on flights back to Hanoi that was just a few hours apart. I was also invited on a trip to Halong Bay in N's place since she decided to head back home and finish packing since she was going to move back to the UK in a few weeks.
Ater my 15-20 minute walk back to the hotel, I saw that J was still not feeling any better and was still in the restroom. I got ready for bed and went to sleep hoping that he got whatever it was out of his system by tomorrow.
Day 6
Our (J and I) flight was for 9 in the morning, so we had to get up around 6:45 to pack and check out of the hotel and get a cab to the airport. J was feeling a lot better and I was feeling pretty groggy from waking up so early. When we got to the airport, we realized that our flight was pushed back until about 11 and we had not been informed, so we just chilled in the airport lobby until check-in time. When they opened up the gate for ticketing we were surprised to see that we would be on M and N's flight back to Hanoi! So we all checked in and waited together at the gate for our flight. I was not feeling too good, so I grabbed some water and crackers thinking that I was just a bit creepy since I had to wake up earlier than normal (I usually don't wake up until around 10/10:30).
I was still feeling really bad on the plane and at one point felt that I would vomit, but luckily all I ended up doing was sipping my water and then taking a cat nap back to Hanoi.
-Since this is already so long, Halong Bay will be in pt.2-
After the dinner, we decided to walk around and look at what was being sold. It was fun walking around and just looking (I did get some comfortable gray elephant pants, a few bottles of essential oils, and a statue to add to my travel souvenir collection back home). Plus the rolled ice cream that we got to pick ourselves a la Cold Stone Creamery was really good! There were so many people wandering around and small little restaurants and bars that dotted the street, the atmosphere really did feel like a festival or party! The only thing that I did not really like was that there was one street performer that was doing an act with a pair of snakes. Now, I do not hate snakes, nor am I terribly afraid of them-- they are just not my favorite animal to be around...something about the fact that they just slither and slink around (which is strange since I am a SlytherHorn for all my HP readers)... anyway, he was having the snakes go through his nose and out his mouth and vice versa. N, M, and J all stopped to watch, so I went on ahead and took pictures and started to look at the little stands that were farther up ahead.
We stayed pretty late at the market until almost all the stands and restaurants were closing down (so around 11ish?) and then decided to head on back to our hotels. I road back with J on the motorbike while M and N got a taxi to take them back to theirs.
Day 5
This was our last full day at on the island and we all decided that we wanted to just relax and go to the most famous beach on the island, Sao beach. J and I jumped into M and C's taxi as they were heading down the main road that passes our house around noon. We really lucked out because the taxi driver offered to come back to pick us up since the entrance to the beach was pretty far away from the main road so it would have been a little difficult for us to get a cab back home. Telling him to pick us up at 4 pm, we headed off to the beach.
 |
| view from our lounge chairs |
Everywhere we looked there were people walking around, playing in the sand, walking around advertising parasailing and boat tours, people walking around trying to sell fresh cut fruit. It was a madhouse right at the entrance of the beach. Luckily for us, the beach is shaped like a huge crescent moon, so we saw that the far sides of the beach were pretty bare of people. We walked towards the left side of the beach and once we got almost to the end of the stretch, we found a pretty secluded area that had beach chairs for rent. At 100k VND (~$5USD) for the whole day, that was not a bad price so we grabbed 4 chairs together and just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. I had picked up some fresh cut mangos and a small platter with other cut up fruits when we were walking through the main drag of the beach, so we got to snack while we were relaxing. After a while, J got antsy and walked off to go exploring and us girls decided to have a photo shoot with the giant swing that was tied up to a palm tree close to our seats.
As we were getting close to the time we needed to meet up with our taxi driver, we started heading back to the main tourist drag. On the way, N got hungry and stopped at a banh mi cart that was parked on the beach. Since she was getting food we all ended up getting sandwiches filled with all the different types of meats n(hot dogs, sausages, meatballs, pulled chicken) that he had available to saute before putting in the toasted bread. I think that was our major mistake out of the whole trip.
When we got back to our side of the island, we had the driver take us back to Roary's for our last dinner. Sometime during the fantastic sunset, J started getting sick and decided to head back to the hotel early to lay down. The girls all stayed pretty late and we all made plans to do stuff in Hanoi once we got back since we were on flights back to Hanoi that was just a few hours apart. I was also invited on a trip to Halong Bay in N's place since she decided to head back home and finish packing since she was going to move back to the UK in a few weeks.
Ater my 15-20 minute walk back to the hotel, I saw that J was still not feeling any better and was still in the restroom. I got ready for bed and went to sleep hoping that he got whatever it was out of his system by tomorrow.
Day 6
Our (J and I) flight was for 9 in the morning, so we had to get up around 6:45 to pack and check out of the hotel and get a cab to the airport. J was feeling a lot better and I was feeling pretty groggy from waking up so early. When we got to the airport, we realized that our flight was pushed back until about 11 and we had not been informed, so we just chilled in the airport lobby until check-in time. When they opened up the gate for ticketing we were surprised to see that we would be on M and N's flight back to Hanoi! So we all checked in and waited together at the gate for our flight. I was not feeling too good, so I grabbed some water and crackers thinking that I was just a bit creepy since I had to wake up earlier than normal (I usually don't wake up until around 10/10:30).
I was still feeling really bad on the plane and at one point felt that I would vomit, but luckily all I ended up doing was sipping my water and then taking a cat nap back to Hanoi.
-Since this is already so long, Halong Bay will be in pt.2-
No comments:
Post a Comment