The Island of Phu Quoc

Our second journey with out friends began at 5 AM on Thursday morning. We had decided that one van would not do for the five day trip, the seats were made for Asian people not us large Americans, so we were now riding with some extra space in two vans. Our guide thought is was best to get out of town before the traffic jams began. It was a breeze even over the pot holed road and one lane of traffic. At 9 we stopped for breakfast and at noon for lunch at a very exotic restaurant. This first day we were headed to a place on the Mekong that our friend had told us about that needed help building a new bridge. The bridge was wooden and was rotting and the government wanted the home owners to build another one. These people live in homes much the same as the bridge. We had to take a ferry ride to get to the town where we were met by the home owner who then took us on his small boat. It was a 30 minute ride and on the way we stopped to buy some coconut and other fruits. The people make their living by going up and down the river and selling their wares. We were met at his home by many children from neighboring homes and the man's friends and family were there to greet us also. We shared coconut milk, straight from the coconut and wonderful, sweet watermelon with them and took pictures of the bridge and their home that had a big gaping hole right over their bed, which happened to be in the living room. The family had a granny who was serving us, her husband who drove the boat and the husband and wife and I am not sure how many kids. They all lived in the one story room which was divided by a small wall. The group and this family had something in common, their faith. It was a blessing getting to spend some time with them and share some food. The grandpa headed us back down the Mekong to town and as we passed all the families that were doing their laundry in the river or bathing in it or washing their dished in it we were all reflecting on the many blessings we have in our lives. Our journey continued in the vans for the next three hours to the coast, where we were to stay overnight to take a 3 hour boat ride to the island of Phu Quoc. It had been raining most of the day and we were told that instead of the boat leaving at 8 Am it would leave at 1 PM. We knew that there was a typhoon off the coast but thought that if the boat was still going it was ok. Well the ride started out very smooth, then we hit the open seas. They had passed out plastic bags which I thought was for garbage but turned out to be for all the sea sick people, which was over half the boat. Mark, our guide and another lady from our group were deathly ill. I was getting sick just hearing the sounds coming from all the people throwing up. It was worse than any roller coaster ride any of us had ever taken. The waves were crashing over the boat and then we would hit the water hard coming down. That was the longest three hours for all of us. At the dock we were met by a vans to take us to the hotel where we were staying. Not to many of us were hungry for dinner that night. On Saturday we visited some places that sold pearls, they dive for them off the coast and had a beautiful selection then we hiked up to a water fall. Muddy but beautiful. On Sunday after everyone had recovered we spent the day on the beach. We had lunch and rented kayaks and a wave runner. The day was beautiful and fun was had by all. We were to leave the next day but Mark and the lady who were so sick and I decided to fly back instead of chance the boat again. We had to spend an extra day on the island as the plane on Monday was full. It turns out that the boat ride back was not as bad but we had no way of knowing this and no one wanted to take an 8 hour van ride back to HCMC after the boat ride, if they were going to be sick. Better safe than sorry.