Phee Phi Phu Quoc

Things that made me sad on Phu Quoc island: cloudy water seasoned with sea lice, dead coral, and garbage everywhere. While scuba diving, Mark and Deets were able to descend to depths that had not been totally inundated with plastic bottles, wrappers, lost fishing nets, or water logged styrofoam. They emerged happy from the ocean, whereas Margo and I (my friends too) were disheartened by the swill on and below the surface. Only on our last of four snorkeling ventures, we did get to see healthy coral, anenome, and tropical fish. I sunburned my butt cheeks where I missed the sunscreen, which was pretty lame, and there was one restaurant (I'm looking at you: Intercontinental Hotel Sea Shack) that took over 4 hours to complete our lunch. A few more than me waddled home with chafed heinies. Also lame.

All that complaining aside, there was plenty of joy too. Things that made me very happy on Phu Quoc island: sunsets over the warm ocean; Buddhist pagodas; waterslides; crab hotpot; playing charades; and floating on the Quakken (as Deets named it) in our Airbnb pool with our friends. We ate fabulous croissants at a legitimate French bakery, cooked homemade dinners, and enjoyed slow afternoons with naps. Taxi drivers were kind, plus we had seatbelts on every ride. We could drink beer on tap at the grocery store and at the water park, which is only accessible by a 25-minute cable car ride to Thom Island. This island also has a wooden roller coaster, a viewing tower, private beaches, and a European style town that developers hope to fill with vacationers. On the day we went, the crowd was minimal so we rode the Zeus Thunderbolt Waterslide many, many times and screamed until we were hoarse.

Valuable lessons were learned. Mark and Deets learned how to scuba dive and got certified. Margo tried scuba and completed two dives, but didn't love it (like me). And I learned that I should always test unlabeled containers first. I thought I put sugar into my morning oatmeal, but instead I seasoned it with fish scales. Worst part of it all was how I thought it tasted oddly salty, fishy, and bitter - but continued to eat it anyway. I was laughed at so much.  More so later too, when I broke the pepper grinder not once, but twice, dumping the entirety of the container's peppercorns onto my plate. Some lessons are harder learned for a 42 year old. Ha ha.

I know this is on his schlinkshots blog, but I just love it.

private poolside. (and suprisingly affordable!)

I tried to order the one-person crab hotpot.
It probably could have served 6, but I ate it all.

The (hopefully) up and coming European town
from the cable car. Big Ben in the distance.

Fishing boats at rest.

The cable car is 7.8km long, plays
music and tells stories along the way.

Taking it in at the pearl farm.

Break time while we trod through his workspace.

Conch galore.

Carving that involves a lot of high pressure water spray, drills, and chisels.

china.

Tall Buddha. This pagoda had lady Buddhas,
happy, mad, poor, rich Buddhas, etc.

Wearing borrowed skirts to pay our respect for Buddha
and his/her/their followers.

My people. My safe space. 
credit: my love.

Millions of teeny fishes baking in the sun.

Deets in his natural surroundings.