Phu Quoc Town

Phu Quoc is a really hot place for people who need a relaxing time on a beach which is still wild, quiet and peaceful. Phu Quoc people are generally friendly, sweet and helpful. The small town on the island is very interesting, surrounded by the ocean and people here rely on fishing and tourism for their daily income. Even though they all know that their small beach town is a great destination, everything seems very cheap here compared to other beach cities in Viet Nam which is good.

However, it's hard to get a good room here without making a reservation at least three weeks in advance as I did. I was so lucky to get the only room left on my arrival. You may get a cheap and doggy room for about $12 to $15. In Phu Quoc, a variety of tours also can fill your schedule up: daily boat trip, squid fishing in the evening or visiting the north and south of Phu Quoc in a full day trip. If you don't choose the beaches near your hotel in the town, there are some more remote beaches that are incredibly beautiful. It might be just you alone on the whole beach. Paradise!

Along the main road leading to the south of Phu Quoc, there are many joint-ventures and local companies investing in big and high class resorts, also an international airport. It seems to be one of those situations where development is necessary but I hope it doesn't ruin the simple atmosphere of the island. It's annoying getting covred in dust on the roads here but I suppose you can just dive into the water at the beach to wash it off!

Anyway, Phu Quoc is still a beautiful place and worth staying for a few weeks just to relax. For the next couple of years, even though the development is fast, it will be possible to have a great holiday here.

Frustrations

My friend's sister has just opened a small clothes shop at 49 Hang Bac street called Son Hai Silk in the old quarter. She was really busy yesterday and she asked me to take care of her shop for a few hours in the afternoon. I went there to help her and in the three hours at the shop, I saw so many frustrating things happen.

First of all there was a big fight between two young guys and two old men due to a motorbike accident. These young boys attacked the men who of course fought back causing one of the young boys to run away. The other one shouted at big time but the people around let him go. These boys thought they could knock these men down but they were wrong. Idiots of the day!!

Secondly I saw lots of Vietnamese customers walk in and try clothes and check out the materials and price and comment about my friend's shop. I recognized that they are from other shops around who wanted to come and look at the new shop and of course they didn't buy anything. The third weird thing was a couple near the shop had a fight with each other with all really rude swear words but this is just so common in Hanoi. They are just as famous for swearing as they are for singing a song.

In only three hours I had seen many funny and weird things happen but I couldn't help my friend sell a thing. I will come back another day with a DVD to watch or a book to read. But if I have this kind of entertainment next time, I won't need to!

Services At Perfume Pagoda

For someone like me who doesn't really know anything about pagoda culture, including the services offered, my recent trips have been interesting. All kinds of special services exist, such as money changers, incense sellers and lighters, fake money vendors, florists, wish list writers, relax mattress providers, toilets, hot showers, porters, and so on. I saw so many people exchanging money around the Perfume Pagoda it was like a bank. Everyone going to pagodas needs small money to put on altars and on the food trays, and also to give away to beggars for luck. If you want to change 100,000 dong, it will cost you 10-20,000 dong. That's the rule and everyone observes it.

Lots of other services exist on the way up the hill, including souvenir shops and small restaurants where you can sit down and eat your own picnic food. They charge 10,000 dong for one mattress which can handle five people, and if you want to borrow a knife or glasses, they may charge some more for that. There are many CD shop around and unfortunately, they don't play meditation or religious music. They play horrible crap pop music so loud which is really annoying. Everything you purchase needs to be agreed on in price in advance to avoid getting ripped off when you ask for the bill. Lots of these people assume that everyone who comes from the city is rich! But on the other hand, these people really only have a chance to earn money in the first few lunar months during the pagoda festivals.

Photographers also offer a service and there are heaps of them around. They ask every single person if they want their photo taken as a souvenir except me. They hate people who bring their own cameras! It is usually an express service and the photos can be ready in an hour but they are quite expensive. Many Vietnamese people nowadays have their own digital cameras but some of them still want a professional photographer to take a good one to show their friends. I heard one group of people arguing with one of the photographers about the quality and refusing to pay.

The third service is a vital one during the trip: the toilet part. It really makes me angry that they are really bad, stinky and dirty toilets at some of these pagodas because you have to pay to go. Some places charge 1000 dong and others charge 2000 dong and if you have to do number 2 then you may pay more for paper:). I always save doing number 2 until I get back to Hanoi as toilets here don't have doors and you have to hold your breath. They also sell hot water for showers as well and I'm not sure if it's clean water but I didn't see many people taking showers here. I didn't ask the price for this but I don't think it would be cheap.

The best part of my trip was my conversation with Huyen, a porter who's 32 years old with three kids. She's from My Duc, Ha Tay. She comes here to offer people to carry their stuff up the hill to the cave pagoda. She said that some days she earns about 200,000 dong and some days she earns nothing because there are lots of people around doing the same job and the competition is tough. She's such a nice lady. She also said that she only does this during the festival as her main job is working on the rice farm. This is a good chance to earn some extra money for her kids for schooling and also save a little bit for the family. It was really nice talking to her and I feel bad that we didn't have any way to help her out but I gave her 20,000 dong so she could buy something to drink.

Finally, I think the government should do something about the environment here as I saw people throwing rubbish all around, in the river and on the side of the hill. Visitors are destroying this beautiful place every single day even though there are many signs around but it doesn't seem to mean anything. Please keep the place as clean as it should be as this is such a holy place which attracts so much tourists, and also give hundreds of jobs for the local people.

Boat Trip In Phu Quoc

My friends Anne, Arno and I joined a boat trip visiting 12 islands around Phu Quoc to swim, snorkel and sunbathe. The second stop was the most impressive place during the trip as we stopped at a really beautiful white sand beach, which looked like a private beach, not too big and very clean. There were so many beautiful fish and so much coral around and the water is crystal clear and I felt so fresh. We had lunch on the boat and the food was fine and included deep fried tofu, stir fried mixed vegetables with beef and squid and vegetable broth. They also gave us some fresh fruit such as pineapple and watermelon for dessert.

The last stop of the trip was Sao(star) beach and we travelled there by bus, not by boat and I don't really know why, perhaps to save money. The trip only cost $15 for the whole day. Anyway, this is one of the most popular and best beaches in Phu Quoc but it was also full of tourists.

On the way back to town we were laughing heaps as the driver kept using his horn and tourists in the group keep asking him why this happens in Vietnam and not in their countries. He said he needs to use the horn because there are many cows, chickens and dogs wandering in the middle of the road and of course there are hundreds of people driving the same time as us but by motorbike as well.

We had such a good fun day and thanks to my friends and the tour for such great company.

Food In Nha Trang, Tet 2008 Part I

There is a variety of food in Nha Trang but seafood is most people's first choice as Nha Trang is a coastal city. I was really surprised about how many restaurants have opened in the last 6 months. There must be hundreds of them. Now almost every corner of the city seems to have one small shop or restaurant. Eating freshly cooked seafood on the beach is something special in Nha Trang. There are lots of vendors selling seafood on the beach . They generally buy their fresh seafood in the morning and start their business at 11am the same day. In the afternoon, there are also lots of seafood stalls along the main street, Tran Phu Street. They have lots of fresh lobster, big sea crabs, squid and many other seasnails and clams. I tried the food there once and absolutely fell in love with it. It wasn't expensive at all especially compared to Hanoi or Ha Long Bay.

Besides the seafood, other local specialties are also very famous. Spring rolls, chicken noodles and the most famous noodle soup with fish. I think in Nha Trang, whatever the locals cook that is related to seafood gives the city its reputation. Most Ho Chi Minh City residents who come to Nha Trang visit Nam Beo restaurant. The owner started her business over 10 years ago in a very tiny house but it was really good and the business has grown quickly. Her soup is still very good but don't go there early in the day especially during festivals because you have to wait for such a long time or stand right next to her for your self service. I was there during Tet and I was stuck there for half an hour and I was shouting at them to prepare my noodles. But actually, there were too many people and she only has a few staff to help her. Anyway, I love going back there to get a real fish noodle soup with fish cakes.

Banh Xeo-steamed rice pancakes with seafood is such a delicious dish cooked with prawns, squid and with egg if you like. Everyone knows Banh Xeo Mien Trung in Hong Bang Street as it is the most famous place for this dish in Nha Trang. This shop also has been open over 10 years and still doing really well. The difference between Banh Xeo in Nha Trang and other parts of Viet Nam is the cake is round but small with seafood, beanshoots and quite crispy. The dipping sauce is very simple with some chilli, pineapple, sugar, lemon, fish sauce and some water mixed up. They will serve you the pancakes with a big plate of fresh vegetables including different herbs, salad and some bitter veggies. It's my favourite dish!!!

To be continued

Perfume Pagoda Feb 2008 Part II

Finally, we arrived at Thien Tru Temple( God's Kitchen). The rules of Thien Tru Temple don't allow visitors to put meat on the offerings tray and my friends had to remove the huge chicken and replace it with some more beers, cokes, square cake, flowers, sticky rice, money some fresh fruit and and lighted incense. This is such a busy destination as most people come here before heading to the top of the hill then down to Huong Tich Cave.

Devotees spend billions of dong here at this festival in the form of fake money, and fake holy stuff which is then burnt in giant incinerators after 15 minutes of praying and offering. People satnd in queues just to burn these papers and the ash flys around in the air, into everyone's hair like a volcano has just erupted. This is a tradition that should remain but people shouldn't burn so much in the hope that they will get the same in return. It's all very superstitious. I only spent about 300,000 dong on the whole trip including food, drink and transportation but many people spent millions of dong for the same thing but with the burning of the fake papers.

Khai, my friend, had to bring the tray inside and the rest of us took a rest to take photos around the complex. I tried to get inside to take some photos and give a wish but I couldn't as too many people were praying and reading their wish lists at that time. We left the Kitchen God's temple for Huong Tich Cave which took us about an hour. It was a pleasant climbing trip as we could see the scenery around and also hear the crazy music and look at the souvenir shops along the way. People were selling all kinds of goods, from sugarcane juice to toilet services. The toilet service is popular and you can imagine what the experience was like with all those people on the mountain!!! We decided to stop for lunch on the way up at one of the relaxing areas which had mattresses. We laid out all of the food which had been offered to the gods and tried to finish it all. Some of my friends felt a bit drunk after a few beers. We ate two big chickens, two square cakes, lots of fresh fruit, pork rolls and two plates of sticky rice. I felt sleepy after all but we had to finish our trip up.

Eventually we arrived at Huong Tich Cave and my friends repeated the same procedure with the tray and more food! This time our tray was topped with a special fake money tree. Hoang, one of the boys on the trip took them deep inside the cave which has the main altars of the whole complex. We had to be really aggressive to get close to the alters to pray. This is a huge cave packed with people inside praying at the same time. Most people touched the rock called 'the golden tree' wishing for a lucky year. They also stood around waiting for water drops to drip on their hands in another place called mother's breast for the same reason.

Thanks to Khai and his friends for inviting on this journey and, even though I'm not a very religious person, I really enjoyed the cultural experience and hope that everyone who believes gets what they prayed for!

Perfume Pagoda Feb 2008 Part I

Spring is pagoda season in Vietnam but truly people pay more attention in the north than other parts of Vietnam. Almost every single man knows how to prepare for these special festival occasions and I am really impressed about that. It also means this aspect of our culture will never end. As in the past years, my friend and his colleagues invited me to join their pagoda trip to photograph the day.

We met up in front of the Sofitel Plaza Hotel at 5 am and had some noodles nearby then headed to the Perfume Pagoda in Ha Tay province. The weather was quite bad, damn cold and raining but it improved after 2 hours. The driver was excellent as we didn't have any problems at all. We arrived at the Yen River where we parked the car and picked up the boat. The girls sat in the cafe to fill up the wish lists for everyone then we took a big 35 seat iron boat to the pagoda dock. The boat trip was really pleasant and I love coming back here just to see people doing their own praying, organizing their food on trays and the scenery along the river.

We arrived at Trinh Temple at first for my friends to pray for over half an hour and I took that chance to take photos and look around. It was really crowded even though it was Monday. It was fun to see my friends organizing their food tray, everyone put some money on the tray as well as soft drink, fake money, wish lists, beer, chicken, sticky rice, biscuits, fresh fruit, cigarettes, flowers and incense. It sounds like a lots of things but it looks very nice and very organized. Some other people put even more stuff on their small trays which end up very heavy.

After 30 minutes, we left for Huong Tich Cave which is the most religious place to go. I will tell you more about this in part II. Please take a good look at my flickr website where I saved all of the photos.

Hanoi Winter

Most people imagine Hanoi as a hot climate city, but I'm telling you that recently the weather is really damn cold. 10 degrees in Vietnam sounds like nothing compared to minus 10 or even minus 30 degrees in other countries but it's really different if you ever make it to Hanoi. The humidity makes the colder seem really cold. It gets in your bones.

There have been quite a few old people and livestock who have died in Hanoi. Also lots of people have been sick throughout the north of Vietnam. In Sapa, the weather was minus 5 degrees, freezing and there was snow but people continued to go up to see snow for the first time ever in their lives. I wish I could see snow too as I never ever seen it before. It must be beautiful!

In one magazine, there was a report about one baby who died on the back of a motorbike in Hanoi because his parents forgot to cover his face and they only recognized when they were stopped by the police for not wearing a helmet. I couldn't believe my eyes reading that news. How could they let their children travel on the motorbike in such horrible weather conditions? I wondered. Also, almost ten babies die because of lung disease but the main reason was the cold. Even schools were closed on those days as it was too cold for children. The weather gets warmer but worse in the next two weeks with rain, high humidity and damp.

Now we must wait for the weather to improve and the sun to come out and the time when we can get rid of all the winter clothes. The other day, I had to wear three shirts, three pairs of pants, gloves, a thick jacket, scarf and winter hat but I am sure many people out there were wearing more than me. Another thing I want to mention is all that all of the clothes shops and electrical shops put their prices up unbelievably high at these times. There should be a law against businesses which take advantage of the weather situation.

Pagoda Festivals

Spring in Vietnam, especially in the north, is the time that almost every person visits pagodas wishing for a great lucky year ahead. This is a traditional side of Vietnam's culture.

Most people choose the Perfume Pagoda, Yen Tu Pagoda for destinations outside of Hanoi. Some people choose the most famous pagodas in Hanoi such as the Defence Pagoda, the One Pillar Pagoda and Phu Tay Ho for their city destinations. By going to these places at this time of the year, you can see thousands of people coming to do the same thing - preparing food, incense, drinks and very long wish lists of paper. I joined with my friends the last few years for fun and to take photos even though I don't follow any religion and I'm not a very ceremonial guy. I love to go these pagodas and temple because I like to see people doing their little prayers, talking to them and it's nice to see people maintaining their traditional culture.

I remembered last year seeing my friends spend almost twenty minutes just praying and reading their wish lists. I asked them why they had to spent so much time on these things and God cannot listen to theirs as well as thousands of people's wishes at the same time. They told me that's the way it is and just smiled. Maybe I should do the same thing instead of just lighting a few insence sticks:). It's also not easy to reach the altar as hundreds of people are crowded in with their full trays of fruit, food and a huge cooked chicken on their heads. There is a very special service where people can change big notes to small notes - 500 dong, 1000 dong, 2000 dong and 5000 dong. Most people put the money on their food trays and on the altars or give it to beggars in the hope that some of it comes back during the year.

I will join with my friends again to go to some pagodas on the weekends and hope that I can take some good photos and show you guys some new stories about these pagoda festivals soon.

My good friend's Wedding

Cong, one of my good friends from Hanoi decided to get married 3 weeks ago, just before Tet. My friends and I hired a car and went to his wedding in Thai Binh, a small province near Hanoi. It took us over three hours to get there due to the crazy traffic and the pre spring rain. This weather is pretty good for young married couples - the cold and rain means they will have more time together inside the house :).

Finally, we got to the bride's house in Nam Dinh for the celebration. Everybody was expecting us as my friend had mentioned to them that some of his western friends were coming with me. This maybe was the first time some of these villagers had ever seen westerners before and they were all staring, talking about them and touching my western friend's arms. It was really fun and we didn't expect that many people in the party. They were dancing, drinking tea and eating watermelon seeds. The ceremony included relatives of my friend's wife giving her money, jewellery and making speeches. There were lots of old people in very old traditional dresses who looked really nice and they were very friendly.

We stayed at the bride's house for twenty minutes until the ceremony finished. Then my friend and his family took her to his house in a very nicely decorated car. We all followed that car and headed to Thai Binh for another set of speeches then party time. We lost the group because our driver was driving so slowly and couldn't follow them. We had to make many phone calls and asked people on the street for thirty minutes and eventually Cong had to sent his friend to meet us on the main road. Anyway, we got there and after twenty minutes we started our meal. We were served cat meat, pork, beef, chicken, squid, crab, dear, sticky rice, shrimp and fresh fruit. It was really a treat as all the food was yummy and had been well prepared by his friends and family.

Cong and his wife looked so happy and they smiled the whole time and, especially in their eyes, we could tell it was true love. We all wish them happiness and a great future. Thank you for inviting us to join such a great party. Also thanks to your families and friends who have treated us so sweetly and provided such great food. All the best from Vietnamese God and his friends!!!

Phu Quoc Part V

During my trip to Pho Quoc, I decided to take it easy for one full day just relaxing and walking along the beach. In the evening, I met up with my friends, Anne and Arno, for dinner at the Rainbow Bar which is right on the hotel's beach. We started with some cocktails and beer then we had two bottles of red wine and white wine over the whole evening. We felt a bit drunk afterwards and then we booked a table for Christmas Eve which was the next day. Following the recommendation of the restaurant boss, we pre-ordered 2 big fish (about 2kgs) for grilling which for some reason is much cheaper than ordering on the day. That suited me as I had more money for wine!

We had a great time on that evening and the grilled fish was so good plus in addition to the barbequed crocodile, squid and prawns. I suffered from a really heavy hangover the next morning before having my last look at Phu Quoc before leaving for Saigon at midday. I hired a motorbike to drive to town for a big bowl of noodles for breakfast and to take some final photos plus 2 pills of panadol and a can of red bull. I felt a bit better but I didn't realize that I left my wallet in the taxi to the airport with all my money and my bank cards. Thank god, I called the hotel and Tuan Anh, the receptionist, solved my problem and the driver brought it back to me at the airport.

The last few words I want to say about Phu Quoc are: Peaceful, Beautiful, Sweet people, Great food and Thuan Kieu is such great resort. I want to thank Tuan Anh and Phu Quoc has given me such a memorable trip and I'll be back for more. See you again soon, Phu Quoc!

Nha Trang - Happy New Year 2008!!!

Chinese New Year in Viet Nam is called Tet. All over Vietnam, Tet is the family reunion time where everyone is supposed to return home for a few days. That includes me. I went back home for two weeks to be with my mother and my sisters and brother. Back in Nha Trang for two weeks isn't really enough as I couldn't try as much local food as I would like but at least I had such a great time with family and good friends.

My family and I chose the Sailing Club to welcome the new year. This is a really beautiful bar right on the beach BUT it is a bit of a rip off place as well for beer as it's almost double price compared to other places in town. They have really good music, a great location right on the beach and everyone seemed to come here on New Years Eve for a drink or two and to see the fireworks. They also charged a $4 entrance fee that you can exchange for a small bottle of beer, soft drink or an awful jar of cocktail. Anyway, we had a great new years eve and I was a bit drunk at the end.

My mother was preparing lots of food at home waiting for us to return home. In Vietnam, it's very important that the first person to enter the home after the new year is someone who will bring the family good luck for the coming year. It also depends on that person's year of birth and normally the family choose. With my family, I am usually the first person every year because I always come home earlier than other people but not this year as my brother came home first. I hope we will have the greatest year this year.

Happy New Year everyone and best wishes for the coming year. Welcome to 2008, the year of the Rat!!!

Phu Quoc Part IV

I joined the squid fishing tour for a few hours that evening and this is such a fun thing to do for experience. It cost only $15 including transport. Catching squid is not as easy as I thought and not a single person could catch anything for three and a half hours. There were two young girls working for the tour company who joined the trip with us and they vomited non-stop which made me feel sick as well. Anyway, the tour company prepared some squid porridge and some fresh fruit for everyone and it was really good.

One morning, I hired a motorbike with a driver to discover the north of Phu Quoc, including a fish sauce factory, national park, pepper farm, Nguyen Trung Truc hero temple and the Viet Nam - Cambodia border. Discovering Phu Quoc by motorbike is such a great way as I could stop at any place for photos, coffee or even the toilet. The downside was that my whole body got covered in red mud after travelling over those roads for a few hours.

I was really impressed by the wild beaches along the coastal roads. They all look so clean with white sand and virtually nobody around. I bought quite a few kgs of black and white pepper from the farm for me and my good friends from Hanoi. Phu Quoc's pepper is really famous throughout Viet Nam. The fish sauce factory was interesting as I saw hundreds of huge timber barrells which can hold over 15000 litres each. Fish sauce in Phu Quoc is acclaimed over the world and I eat it almost everyday at home with rice. Some of my friends asked me to bring back some but it's illegal to carry fish sauce on a plane in Vietnam.

To be continued

Phu Quoc Part III

I decided to take it easy, just laying on the hotel beach for the whole day then take a squid fishing trip in the evening for a few hours. The beach is really quiet not because I am the first one on the beach at 8am but that's just the atmostphere on Phu Quoc. There were only a few hotel staff hanging around cleaning and collecting rubbish and organizing chairs for hotel clients.

I saw a few people driving their small fishing boats setting their nets along the beach then they stopped in front of my hotel before starting to pull the net from two different places which were about 2 kms long between each other. They were working so hard but they smiled all the time which is really nice. I saw quite a few kids around both on the boat and on the beach with their families trying to help pick up the fish and put water into the big fishing boxes. I'm sure they should be at school but I suppose their parents need them to help earn the family income.

So, I spent around three hours watching the activity of these people fishing at the beach then I decided to hire a motorbike and drive into town, check out everything and take some photos around the central market. The market was very interesting with a variety of food, mostly seafood with lots of huge fish, prawns and squid. People were posing for me and kept asking me to take more photos of them. They were laughing out loud when I showed them their own faces. This doesn't happen much in Vietnam. Normally people object to me when I want to take their picture.

I also stopped at a fishing village near the market and it reminded me of the fishing villages near Nha Trang but much smaller. The standard of living around these areas seemed not very high as people rely mostly on fishing and working in the market or being a motorbike taxi but they seem very happy with their lives. There are lots of smile in Phu Quoc.

To be continued