I woke up around 5am (Thursday October 26, 2023) even though I made sure to shut the blinds and door to keep the early sunrise light out. I tried to go back to sleep, but my brain said nope. That's okay, sunrise is so beautiful here.
Sunrise
Dreamy
We got around and headed to breakfast at 7am. We tried to be slow and take out time, but we eat very very quickly! We did make it to 7:45 however.
Strange bean pods
The watermelon here is to die for!
After breakfast, we made sure to walk past the pool to grab towels for our activities today, then headed back to our room to get ready for our 9am pickup. We heard cannon-like sounds and thought it must be some military exercises? No one was concerned, so we just carried on. Hunter pointed out that there is a large naval base on the south end of the island not too far from us, so it was probably them. Phu Quoc is actually militarily very important to Vietnam, as it is much closer to Cambodia than it is to Vietnam. Cambodia thinks Phu Quoc should belong to them although most of the locals seem to feel themselves to be Vietnamese.
We got picked up at 9am and headed to a cafe to pick up our guide Tommie and his brothers/friends. We fit 6 people into the Fortuner and it was packed! We headed about 35 minutes north of the hotel to Suoi Tranh Waterfall. We first walked through their little eco park, and then started the trek to the waterfall. It took about 25 minutes to get up there. Hunter went low, so we fed him a bunch of gummies and waited for his sugars to come up. While waiting, our guides had me do a little photo shoot. Once Hunter was revived, we headed into the falls to cool off and swim a bit. It is really amazing how being in water really regulates your body temperature! Hunter was super excited once his blood sugars came up and he was able to appreciate the beautiful natural sights.
I always try and grab some pictures of the local streets and such
Fun animal statues were spread throughout the park
Beautiful hibiscus
A massive preserved tree
Wood burl tables and chairs
Pangolins
Elephants
Monkeys
Rules for forest fire prevention and fighting
Interesting spikey tree
Millipedes
Our first nope rope spotted in Vietnam
Beautiful harmless but venomous oriental vine snake
Such a pretty slender snake
Photoshoot time - I think the guides had more fun than I did doing this!
Hunter is revived from his low and now we get to cool off in the waterfall
Can you spot one of our friendly guides?
Happy Hunter now that he is not dying
There he is!
Cute photo together
After cooling down for around 45 minutes, we walked back to the car and started our drive towards the starfish beach and lunch spot. This was a much longer ride, around 1 hour, and down the most bumpy washed out road ever! Hunter was excited to get some real off-roading in with the Fortuner, although sadly he was not driving. We have ridden in them before but never on more than smooth dirt roads and it was interesting to compare it to its sibling the 4Runner, which we are much more used to driving. Sadly, we were both passenger princesses today and Hunter didn't get to drive. Along the way, we found ourselves in the beautiful Phu Quoc National Park where there were a lot fewer people and mostly just jungle. There were however increasingly more military bases and troops on the north end of the island, as the Vietnamese have had a rocky history with the nearby Cambodians (where they intervened militarily to overthrow the dictatorship of Pol Pot and end the genocide).
Extremely tall tree
This lady was walking around holding a crab like it was normal!
A POMELLO TREE! This is the colour my car is based on!
Cool tree
Driving to our next stop
Military building
Bumpy road!
Many potholes
A military base to keep out the Cambodians
Local houses
Once we arrived, we took a boat and stopped at another spot like 5 minutes away which we thought was odd. Luckily it was just a quick stop for Tommie to ask some questions, and also give us a quick view of the awesome starfish. We then headed further, towards the northern tip of the island on the boat, where we could see Cambodia pretty clearly. Here we got dropped off, in search of our own lunch! We were definitely not fully expecting another round of snorkeling but we're happy to be back in the water. This time I took control of the GoPro and got a bunch of photos and videos! While not as amazing as the first snorkeling spot on Tuesday, this place was still amazing to just float and watch things! We spent probably 3 hours in the water as the current and our swimming pushed us towards our picnic spot. It was one of the longest open water swims we have ever done but a really cool experience.
Finally to the beach with this cool vine and flowers growing!
Our ride
Staying cool in the shade
Boat Ride
Vietnamese star overlooking Cambodia
Cool little rain cloud happening
Cool little fishing village
Fast moving weather
Boat houses
Starfish beach
More starfish
Picturesque rock and tree
A small shrine
Checking out if this spot is good enough for our picnic location
The great lunch hunt!
Off to snorkel
So much cool coral
Hunter picking clams
After snorkeling for what felt like hours, and Hunter having cramps, we finally made it to the beach picnic spot, just in time for it to start raining! Thankfully the rain is not cold here and the ocean is like a warm bathtub! Hunter wasn't feeling great so we waited for lunch to be prepared and hoped that some food in his tummy would help. We played around more in the water and enjoyed our time on our little secluded piece of beach, and eventually, after Hunter was still declining, asked to return back to the hotel. The guide completely understood and we started the trek back. We did miss out on more swimming with the starfish, but it was okay because we had lots of pictures and enjoyed the snorkeling most. Hunter felt really bad that he was cutting our trip short but he was really not doing great.
Our boat
Such a beautiful beach
Crabs and shells
Delicious seafood lunch
The land in the distance is Cambodia not Vietnam, we are at the edge of Vietnam
Cooling down with a Coke
It was so nice just chilling in the water
The boat came and picked us up, and then we headed to where the car and driver were waiting for us. We did wait on the beach hammocks as our crew got everything loaded and I ensured Hunter was taken care of. I thankfully packed lots of "just in case" medicine and so I was able to give him some anti-nausea pills to ensure we could get home without issue since he also gets car sick. Poor Hunter!
It took about 2 hours to get back to the hotel. The ride was pretty good and we even passed by some interesting things like a large group of soldiers jogging back to one of their bases. Hunter drifted in and out for most of the ride and only managed to get a few pictures. Once we did get back to the hotel, we showered and cleaned off our clothes from all the sand and salt water, and then we got Hunter in bed with some more meds and cold towels to try and help break his fever. It was a nice quiet night and the sunset was beautiful.
Beautiful temple gate
A fire danger sign at the National Park offices, Hunter made sure to get a picture for his dad. They use a similar wheel to the US to show fire danger, you can see today was very low danger, which makes sense with the rain!
Vietnamese Soliders
Another Day in Paradise
Such a nice view
Date: October 26, 2023
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