After an amazing first week in Ho Chi Minh City, we decided to take advantage of the weekend to travel and exploring a different part of Vietnam. After a little research and discussion we agreed on Phu Quoc, a Vietnamese island off of the western coasts of Vietnam and Thailand.
We flew from Ho Chi Minh to Phu Quoc on Friday (8/16) evening, accompanied by several other volunteers we had befriended earlier in the week, from places like Italy, France, Morocco and Australia. We found the island to be home to beautiful beaches and amazing views, minus much of the fanfare and overly manicured feel often found in such places.
On Saturday morning we took taxis to the beach where we spent most of the day. We took lots of photos, swam and tanned…although I guess “sunburned” would be a more accurate word. Our resident athletes (Nick and Channing) also went for a long beach run, an excuse to imitate Baywatch, in my opinion :).
Group picture at Sao Beach on Phu Quoc Island.
We played games in the hotel room on Saturday evening, pushing all the hotel room beds together into a megabed to maximize bonding, of course.
On Sunday we got up a little early and took a bus to the Pineapple Island Cable Car, the longest three-cable, sea-crossing, continuous cable car in the world. It takes visitors from the coast of Phu Quoc to Pineapple Island, the site of a beach and some restaurants as well as a resort in progress. The cable car gave us incredible views of Phu Quoc, several small surrounding islands and villages, as well of the ocean.
The incredible view from the cable car.
The view of an island village from the cable car.
We explored Pineapple Island for awhile, using a “shade-finding” method. It was ridiculously hot, not to mention 3/5 of us had gotten pretty toasted the day before at the beach, so our walking patterns were dictated by where the most shade was available. Don’t worry, moms, we still put on sunscreen.
Always representing UofM!
After our walk we filled up at an all you can eat buffet on the island before taking the cable car back to Phu Quoc. We had a few extra hours to spare before we had to get back to the airport, so we camped out at a cafe and channeled any residual homesickness into a few games of euchre.
Phu Quoc was the perfect place to visit during our first weekend. It was relaxing without being boring and allowed us to spend quality time together while also getting to see some really incredible scenery. 10/10 would recommend.
EGL Family Abroad 