Today (Wednesday October 25, 2023) we woke up at 5:30 because we're bad at jet lag (not the game, Hunter thinks we would be pretty good at that) and because the sun rises incredibly early and we like to see the sunrise!
We wanted to do one of the offered bike rides today which started at 8am, so we went to breakfast at 7am. It is very quiet so early in the morning which is nice. During breakfast, we also got to meet John, the general manager of the property. He was nice, and had spent a lot of time in Bali which we just visited.
Such a nice balcony
Incredible sunrise today!
Literally #nofilter sunrises
Some fun facts in our elevator!
More fun facts!
Fun ads
Breakfast on day 3
I found the self-serve ice cream! Raspberry sorbet was the best!
After breakfast, we headed to the gym for our bike ride and unfortunately got told we were supposed to book in advance. We thought it was first come first serve since it didn't have any notes beside it on the activity list, so we went to the main desk to ask what was going on. Thankfully, they were able to accommodate us and we walked back to the gym. Our group consisted of a young couple from Vancouver, Canada and another not so young couple from Dubai, UAE. Soon after starting, we were met with a series of hills that caused the Dubai couple to do drop out of the full trip. After another hill, we finally made it to the coconut prison. All of us were covered in sweat! It wasn't that it was a far bike ride, but that it was just very very hot outside so early in the morning!
Let's go!
Hunter and the Canadian couple
Stormy!
The coconut prison was quite intense. We first went to a small museum they had set up, and then we walked into the prison grounds. The prison was first built by the French colonial administration in 1946 and was considered to be the largest prison in Southeast Asia at that time, eventually holding 14,000 political prisoners. In 1954 after the Geneva Agreements ended French involvement in Vietnma, most prisoners were released. During the Vietnam War (1967-1973), South Vietnam with support from American forces reused the prison to detain communist soldiers and spies. During this time, it held up to 40,000 people. This is also when it got its more well-known name "Coconut Prison", which comes from its location in Cay Dua Village (Coconut Tree Village), even though there are no coconut trees here. Inside the grounds, we saw more tiger cages, another box they used for torture, and then various displays of torture methods. It was very graphic and a lot to take in.
The prison museum stressed a narrative of the US being the ones running and operating the prison. This was despite the fact that they used the term "American observers" and had photographs where it was clear that most of the guards and administrators were Vietnamese. Hunter thinks it was probably more politically convenient for them to focus on the Americans as the enemy vs acknowledging that most of the violence that took place here was Vietnamese on Vietnamese. It was interesting that the Canadian couple we were with were clearly not well versed in history, but even they were more or less immediately aware that the narrative had been heavily massaged here since they realized some of the stories and timelines of American involvement made no sense. As with the museums in Ho Chi Minh City it was clear that the older panels in this museum took a much stronger anti American stance, except here there were not many new ones.
All in all the prison was very interesting, as we walked from building to building seeing various depictions of what conditions were like when it was occupied. We then were shown one of the tunnels that were used for an escape attempt. Only 1 person survived escaping. It was also extremely hot between the un airconditioned tin shacks and us still recovering from the intense heat and hills on the bike ride to get there.
Art portraying the cruelty during the war
Watchtower over the prision
Rows of barbed wire
Tiger cages
reenactments of the torture that went on (note the nationality of the torturers)
An example of a narrative panel
Tunnel used for escaping
The hole from which they entered the tunnel
A bigger tunnel alongside the original
Where they came out
After seeing the prison, we walked back to our bikes and took a moment to rest as it was very hot. Thankfully the hotel gave us each a water bottle at the start, but they were small and we quickly finished them. The bottles were probably 250-400ml, Asian hospitality is always lovely but they have a very different drink size preference than the US. 500ml is considered quite big, and I think our 44oz Maverick drinks we would get back in Utah would be quite baffling for the locals. Its funny how you notice the small things the more you travel.
As we got ready to continue to the next stop, the couple from Canada decided to go back to the resort since they had already seen the fish sauce factory. Hunter and I biked across the street with the guide to the fish sauce factory. Here we watched a quick video on how they make the sauce, and then we got to try the two kinds. It's so incredibly salty and I don't think either of us was expecting it to be that intense! I was thinking it would be like soy sauce, but it's so much more than that! Hunter thinks it was the saltiest thing he has ever tasted and it almost burns your tongue. Thankfully the sales staff seemed to know we were not in the market for any fish sauce today.
We then were shown the big wooden crates they used to compact the fish to produce the sauce. This is a traditional method that has been done on this island for generations. Prior to the more recent tourism boom this sauce is what most Vietnamese people knew Phu Quoc for, besides the prison. It is very popular sauce on the mainland of Vietname, and we had seen some trucks with this Phu Quoc Fish Sauce Co branding on them while we were touring Ho Chi Minh City. The actual process of making the sauce is pretty simple, and they stick to the traditional methods today, just on a much bigger scale. Every 3 layers of fish gets one layer of salt! It was pretty smelly in the room, so we took a picture and then left, stopping at their store on the way out which had all sorts of interesting things!
Clearly fish sauce makes a great gift... for someone
Hunter with the fish sauce
Dried everything from the ocean
Dried shrimps
Fish to purchase
All kinds of sauces and dried items
Not sure if I am brave enough to try this...
Once we finished up, we got some more waters to replenish our fluids and de-salt our mouths, thankfully from our guide, and then started the bike ride back to the hotel. We had to go back up one big hill, and then a gradual hill but then it was mostly downhill which was much needed due to the heat. I was so sweaty! When we got back, we returned to our room and then got changed to go swimming which was much needed to cool off from our bike ride. Poolside I worked on some blog photo stuff and Hunter went to chat with the GM as he had invited him earlier. John wasn't available, but Hunter talked to the operations manager who spoke decent English. He was very understanding about the frustrations we had with miscommunications and checking in with the property. Surprisingly, he was also very frank that they struggled to recruit decent English speaking staff to come out and live on the island as there wasn't much to do for young people and not many people wanted to live there. While it was an incredibly beautiful island, Hunter could understand growing up in Jackson was very beautiful but also limiting. Ultimately, the hotel definitely seemed to be trying to change for the better, they had had a very rough time during covid due to the combination of a primarily Chinese tourist base and harsh lockdown procedures in Vietnam to stop the spread of the virus. It seemed that the new management was trying to get things back up to standards, as this had previously been ranked the best JW in Asia several times. The staff offered Hunter a lot of freebies, but we were more interested in communication than any give aways, so he declined and headed back to the pool to join me.
We made it back!
Getting a little blogging in poolside
Once Hunter returned, we ordered some poolside snacks - guacamole and calamari! It was quite unique to see how the guac was prepared. It was pretty good! After more relaxing, we ordered a pizza again (since the guac and calamari didn't fill me up and I was hungry), and took it back to our room to cool off and relax before our campus tour this afternoon! I also made sure to consume more caffeine so as to not fall asleep all afternoon and was successful!
The university tour started at 3:30 in the lobby where we were shown some of the small details the architect, Bill Bensley, added to the main concierge area including suitcase handles around the top of the room. We were also shown the bell desk with many cool bells and then memorabilia in the Hall of Fame from the university days (all fictional). It was funny because while we knew this history was entirely fictional and just for fun, there were some non English language native speakers on the tour who seemed to more or less be taking things at face value and every now and then would end up confused by reality vs the tropical French Harry Potter but without magic story we found ourselves in during the tour.
The walk continued down the main street into the spa which has a Alice in Wonderland theme. The ceiling in here was covered with mushrooms, all going in one direction, except one which we were tasked to find which I successfully did. We were then shown the tunnel out which was set up in an optical illusion way to shrink/grow as you go further to the other end. As we walked to the next spot, we were shown the gym, and then also told about the night markets they used to have before covid where they would have vendors come in and sell food and souvenirs. It's sad they no longer do that, but hopefully something the new management could bring back with their changes.
The JW Secret Spot, every JW has one, although this was only the second we had been to that we know of despite visiting a lot of JWs
The next stop brought us to French and Co, the bakery. Here you can purchase some baked goods as well as drinks like coffee. They also now hold afternoon tea here which the Canadian friends we made were having. It looked delicious and they were very nicely dressed - so cute! The cafe also served as a gossip place for the students since there were no girls at the school, the students came here to talk.
Retro art vibes
After the cafe, we continued to Tempus Fugit which means "time flies" basically in Latin. They called it this because the student's time at the university flew by and now they look back on it longingly. This building was previously the school of architecture and as a homage to that, the door handles are actually rulers!
Retro ad
We continued onwards to the Pink Pearl restaurant building. It is pink because it for one of the headmaster's wife. Once we got inside, we were blown away by pink everything! It was pretty impressive. They serve fancy dinners here that cost around $200 per person. Unfortunately, it didn't look like it was getting much use - there was some bird or bat poop in various places. They also have an upstairs area and the tour guide explained that they used to have afternoon tea there, but now they don't because they don't have enough people participating so they just hold it in the bakery.
Alice in Pink Wonderland
Once we were done here, we were shown to the chemistry department, which is a cute bar they have set up. This is where the tour ended. We walked along the beach and decided to head back to our room where we relaxed. Amazingly, I didn't fall asleep! We watched some TV and I worked on blogging.
Their research was not 100%, Hunter found this German Dornier X inspired seaplane masquerading as French
Another lovely sunset
Around 7pm, we decided to take a taxi to the night market just north of the airport. It was about a 30 minutes away. Once we were there, we spent around 2 hours enjoying all the food stalls and looking around. We got drinks from one vendor and then found a little bakery stall for a fresh cream puff. We also tried a walnut/cashew pancake thing which was very tasty and popular with the locals. It was fun to wander around and get lost in the noise of the night market
Entering the night market
You've heard of pick your own lobster but what about pick your own shark?
Live conchs
Some of the goods in the market tried to run away
Stormy's weakness
Pretty park that was full of local kids playing
Cute streets
Nom Nom
So much seafood
Not sure if this wiring would have met US standards...
Waiting for our ride back to the hotel
Once we got back to the hotel, we jumped in the shower and headed to bed after a long day.
Date: October 25, 2023
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