Phu Quoc Island

Oh Phu Quoc, how we love thee. Let me count the ways….

First, we love your beautiful blue waters and gently lapping waves swimming with the likes of techno-colored cuttlefish in love.

Second, we love your long sandy beaches - the ones that we can fall out of our beds onto, as well as those that are on the far reaches of the island and provide an escape from everyone and everything.

Third, we love your selection of cheap restaurants serving up delicious fresh seafood, French bread and giant fish bowls of tropical colored elixir.

Fourth, we love your massage ladies, available any time of day to rub out that last molecule of stress or anxiety (or touch up your pedicure) for a mere $4 an hour.

Fifth, we love your winding, potholed roads and the fact that you can rent a motorbike from pretty much any local you can flag down with for a pittance to explore your green mountainous interior, pass by your fragrant peppercorn fields and, of course, to reach your remote, secluded beaches.

Sixth, we love your iced coffees, delicious every time, whether served up by the ramshackle hut on the beach, the local joint furnished with lawn chairs or sitting on the veranda of the one four-star hotel on the island.

Seventh, we love that you have your own special breed of dog that boldly flaunts a mohawk along its spine. (We especially love the puppies that play in the surf!)

Eight, we love your famous fish sauce factory – or at least the fresh and delicious cuisine that you season all over the world.

Ninth, we love your lively market and the fascinating scenes that play out there every day, like the young girl laughing as she learns to end the life of a squirming fish by bashing its head with end of a large cleaver or Sue trying to navigate her motorbikes through the throngs of shoppers without hitting anyone.

Tenth, we love that you entertained us for ten full days – the longest we’ve manage to stay anywhere on this trip yet! What a perfect place to unwind and recuperate.