Sunday 14 December 2008

The Long and Dusty Road...

...That leads to... nowhere in particular.

With apologies to Paul McCartney, I figured this the best way to sum up Sunday, our last day on Phu Quoc. We wanted to explore some other parts of the island, so we hired a bike and set off. This turned out to be a mistake, as quite frankly there was nothing to see - at least, not within half a day's travel! Aside from Duong Dong, most of the island is incredibly un-developed, with hot, dusty, potholed roads with little or no view to speak of.

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At one point the track got narrower and narrower, until we had to stop and ask a family for directions through the bushes.

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A lady kindly offered to lead us back to the road on her bike, although help doesn't come for free it seems, as she asked a fee to cover her petrol - probably 4 or 5 tanks-worth it seems for only a 5-minute ride, but we couldn't exactly barter with her. No wonder they're smiling so much in the photo. This must happen to many a tourist on this route. Suckers!

It's well publicised that the Vietnamese Government wants to invest some $2 Billion US on turning Phu Quoc into something like Phuket in Thailand, along with its own international airport. We think this will be a crying shame, as it will undoubtedly lose a lot of its charm. That being said, it definitely could do with a little bit of money - some decent roads and some signposts will go a long way.

As it was, we got fed up with our 'Road To Nowhere' and turned back to enjoy what remained of the day on our beach.

Namaste!  

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