An early start from the luxury(?) of Rach Gia to go out to the airport. It’s amazing how cities change from the afternoon to dawn the next day. As we drove out there where loads of older people doing their exercises whilst waving colourful red fans, lots of scooters laden with all sorts of things – a memorable one was the couple, he riding, she on the back. In her left hand she was carrying a huge assortment of carrier bags full of food, and in her right, a bucket of hot coals, whose flames made it look a bit like a jet engine as they whizzed along! And it seemed the whole of the population were sitting hunched on those tiny kid’s red plastic stools eating their breakfast in the open.
The airport at Rach Gia is small as you would expect. The plane, a rusty looking twin prop that looked like it could be left over from the “American” War landed noisily, ready to turn round to fly back to Phu Quoc – a 25 minute flight. It had to be mine – there were no other planes in sight….. We all pile on, and Vietnam Airlines obviously like an on time take off – people were still milling about, trying to get their bags into the tiny overhead compartments as we were taxiing rather quickly out to the runway. They were still trying to find their seats as the safety demonstration took place. They all only just made it into a seat before the engines revved to a high scream and we were off. The airport at Phu Quoc is even smaller than Rach Gia – but it only handles short internal flights from Rach Gia and HCMC – the longest flight to here is 40 minutes from HCMC. There is a new international airport planned which will have a runway capable of taking bigger jets rather than the small props it can take now. Apparently by 2010 it will be capable of taking 2.5 million passengers a year in larger aircraft on scheduled and charter flights, compared to the 248,000 now. Not sure I’m convinced of that timescale, I couldn’t see any construction work. But when it does happen, the island will change a lot so if you want to see it at its peaceful best, I would make plans now. Given my difficulty in finding a room over the last couple of days, they will need to do a huge amount of building to cope with the demand. Expect to see it in the Airtours brochure soon…..
The original hotel booked here (who cocked up my booking) had offered to pick me up at the airport; they said I could go there and leave my bags whilst I sorted somewhere to stay. But it wasn’t needed – the hotel that I thought I had booked online (and obviously I had) last night were also there with Vietnamese efficiency. I am sitting here in the little restaurant at the Seastar having had a coffee waiting for my room. This hotel so far (I’ve not seen the room yet….) looks lovely. There are bungalows right on the beach (all sadly booked up), the only room available for me is a garden room, but it’s still close to the beach, which is private and very quiet. It's on Long Beach which, true to its name, is a very long stretch of white sand and calm blue sea, lined with swaying coconut palms. It’s also a bit of a bargain – the other hotel would have been 70 Euros (No 1 on Tripadvisor), this one is $30US (No 4 on Tripadvisor). I guess it's supply and demad, but accommodation here is a lot more expensive than most other places in Vietnam
I’m trying to work out who stays here, and the library of left books is always a good place to find out. I have just taken a look – out of a huge selection I have found three English language ones so far – the rest are German and Russian. Thank goodness for my little Sony eReader. There are also quite a few US accents around – I have noticed that everywhere – every accent and language under the sun, but no Brits…….
The airport at Rach Gia is small as you would expect. The plane, a rusty looking twin prop that looked like it could be left over from the “American” War landed noisily, ready to turn round to fly back to Phu Quoc – a 25 minute flight. It had to be mine – there were no other planes in sight….. We all pile on, and Vietnam Airlines obviously like an on time take off – people were still milling about, trying to get their bags into the tiny overhead compartments as we were taxiing rather quickly out to the runway. They were still trying to find their seats as the safety demonstration took place. They all only just made it into a seat before the engines revved to a high scream and we were off. The airport at Phu Quoc is even smaller than Rach Gia – but it only handles short internal flights from Rach Gia and HCMC – the longest flight to here is 40 minutes from HCMC. There is a new international airport planned which will have a runway capable of taking bigger jets rather than the small props it can take now. Apparently by 2010 it will be capable of taking 2.5 million passengers a year in larger aircraft on scheduled and charter flights, compared to the 248,000 now. Not sure I’m convinced of that timescale, I couldn’t see any construction work. But when it does happen, the island will change a lot so if you want to see it at its peaceful best, I would make plans now. Given my difficulty in finding a room over the last couple of days, they will need to do a huge amount of building to cope with the demand. Expect to see it in the Airtours brochure soon…..
The original hotel booked here (who cocked up my booking) had offered to pick me up at the airport; they said I could go there and leave my bags whilst I sorted somewhere to stay. But it wasn’t needed – the hotel that I thought I had booked online (and obviously I had) last night were also there with Vietnamese efficiency. I am sitting here in the little restaurant at the Seastar having had a coffee waiting for my room. This hotel so far (I’ve not seen the room yet….) looks lovely. There are bungalows right on the beach (all sadly booked up), the only room available for me is a garden room, but it’s still close to the beach, which is private and very quiet. It's on Long Beach which, true to its name, is a very long stretch of white sand and calm blue sea, lined with swaying coconut palms. It’s also a bit of a bargain – the other hotel would have been 70 Euros (No 1 on Tripadvisor), this one is $30US (No 4 on Tripadvisor). I guess it's supply and demad, but accommodation here is a lot more expensive than most other places in Vietnam
I’m trying to work out who stays here, and the library of left books is always a good place to find out. I have just taken a look – out of a huge selection I have found three English language ones so far – the rest are German and Russian. Thank goodness for my little Sony eReader. There are also quite a few US accents around – I have noticed that everywhere – every accent and language under the sun, but no Brits…….
