Driving in Australia, there is always a risk of hitting an errant kangaroo (Robin did last week). In Vietnam, dragons are the problem.
Dragons … and motorbikes, of course!
At the birds’ nest soup factory, they also had a sideline of Agarwood products. Agarwood is a highly valuable, aromatic, and resinous heartwood produced by Aquilaria trees in Southeast Asia when infected by certain species of fungus. It is considered one of the most expensive natural products in the world, often called “wood of the gods”. Nowadays, Aquilaria trees are farmed commercially and artificially infected. However only a small percentage of the cultivated trees produce the Agarwood. And for best results, the trees have to be grown for maybe 30 years … I bet they end up with a lot of tree wood!
At the pearl farms, Ben was able to choose an oyster. Both of them contained a pearl when opened. But neither of them was he allowed to keep!
Of course, pearls were for sale as you might imagine! Thousands of them. White, yellow, pink and black. Necklaces, bangles, earrings and brooches. Little ones and ostentatious ones. You name it they had it – and if they didn’t, they’d make it for you in 20 minutes! This was the most expensive item I could find. Competitively priced at 1.5 trillion dong – a snip at £42.4 million!
Luckily, Glenda said it was a bit too flash for her liking! But we did end up with a necklace and matching earrings! But not on the first visit. We had to return another time to finalise the deal!
We had the opportunity to see the “real” Vietnamese life in the main town of the island, previously known as Duong Dong, now, confusingly, as Phu Quoc. The administrative centre of the island. At the entrance of the harbour, on a rocky outcrop, stands a tiny temple. Dinh Cau.
The history of this temple dates back to the 17th century. Legend has it that back then, the local fishermen used to face harsh storms and never return from the sea. One day, a rock formation emerged at the mouth of the Duong Dong River, offering safe passage. Seeing it as a divine sign, the locals built a shrine here.
Even today, some fishermen visit to say prayers before heading out to sea in their highly colourful boats.
We did venture into the market area which runs along the river bank a little further upstream. This is the site of a famous night market. In my view, it’s probably much better to visit at night when the rubbish and, indeed, the rats are less visible. Best of all might be during a power cut, late in the evening when there’s a new moon! To be fair, this was the only really mucky place we saw on the island.
At the second pearly place, the Ngoc Hien Pearl Farm alongside the “pearls for sale emporium”, there was a HUGE display of salvaged pots, plates, cutlery and all things ship-wrecky.
There was also a massive collection of fossilised??? giant clam shells.
I guess these things were collected by early pearl fishing divers. This is part of the collection of broken dishes, not good enough for the main displays.
Out the back door, the boys discovered we were on the beach …
… almost immediately under the flight-path of planes landing at the airport … Noisy!
At the north end of the island, there is another theme park with rides, flumes and a huge aquarium with a surprise show. This is Grand World Phu Quoc aka “The Sleepless City”.
Glenda filmed me for ages waiting for me to fall off the wave!
The aquarium located in a huge turtle, obviously, as they would do …
It has lots of other aquatic super-stars. Shoaling ones …
… big ones …
… and little ones.
And during the show, some surprise visitors arrived in the main tank …
Our last visit on the island was to Starfish Beach at Rach Vem. Located in the far north of the island, it is a bit of a journey. About as far from our hotel as is possible. When the road stops we took a sandy track for a couple of kilometres. Then out on a long and very rickety pier …
… from where a motor boat took us a similar distance further to the west. Onto the beach – with a brief hesitation on a “non-kiss-bridge” …
And there they were. As predicted. Starfish!
As the sun set, it was back on the boat …
… to our starting point and waiting taxi. Just as night fell.
So that draws our visit to Phu Quoc to a close. Tomorrow it’s a flight to Ho Chi Minh City and further tangellations with zillions of motorbikes!
Before I end this episode, I thought I would show you the power of the “Magic Eraser” on my phone. The inside of the temple at the harbour mouth in Phu Quoc (as seen above), was partly blocked by a huge safe for collecting donations from devotees. Magic Eraser not only removed the safe, but inserted what it “thought” would have been behind the it. In amazing detail. Even down to a bunch of yellow flowers, based on a couple of petals showing in the original. I guess it got the idea for the right-hand edge of the alter from the left side. See the before and after pictures below. Very impressive. Well, I’m impressed anyway.
Now you can’t trust any of my pictures!!!
I still trust your pictures and stories to be beautiful.