Crossing the Border to Vietnam

We were collected by a tuktuk from Kep Lodge after breakfast and taken into town to Kampot Transport, where a little bus pulled up about 15 minutes later and we climbed aboard to find the most fabulous decor for our journey to the border.

The trip went without a hitch, and we were dropped off at the border crossing, which we had to navigate on foot. First, we made our way to the exit point of Cambodia to get our passports stamped, fully prepared for some kind of ‘fee’ however we were pleasantly surprised to find a permanent sign fixed to the desk, clearly stating that no money would be required. It was heartening to see this border checkpoint making an effort to minimize corruption.

With our passports stamped, we walked out of Cambodia and across the river to Vietnam. It was a baking hot day, making the walk across with our bags a rather sweaty experience.

At the arrival checkpoint, we waited to show our passports and visas, and as we got to the front, some people pushed in front of us as though we were invisible, showing their identity cards and asking to be let through. There was only one guard on duty, and there seemed to be no order to things, as he took the identity cards from the people who’d pushed ahead of us to process their entry. When another group entered and tried the same thing, both Shaun and I said no, and asserted our place at the front of the line, placing our passports into the hands of the official so he had no choice but to take them. This seemed to work. I can guess what the conversation that ensued in Vietnamese beside us was about, but if there’s one thing we’ve learnt in the past six months, it’s how to hold our place in a pushy queue! First in, first served, no apologies.

After what seemed like an age for the first step of processing our entry, we had to go to the next window for a health slip and to have our temperature taken. At this point, the official then said it would be US$1. Shaun handed over a $1 note and then  quickly walked away before the official could ask for $1 per person! Clear of immigration, we walked into Vietnam and met our friendly van driver who took us to the Ha Tien harbour, where we would catch the ferry to Phú Quôc. The van was incredibly modern and comfortable, and we arrived within 20 minutes, leaving us time to devour a fresh banh mi before boarding the ferry. Everything about Vietnam seemed a little bit shiny and new compared with Cambodia, which makes sense with Vietnam being 20 years ahead with their war recovery.

The ferry ride across took a couple of hours, and it was very pleasant sitting in the air-conditioned cabin. At Phú Quôc, we disembarked and walked along the pier to find ourselves a Grab. It was so empowering to be back in a country where Grab is widely available because it provides bargaining power with local taxi drivers as well. We can look up the Grab price and negotiate a fair price from there, which is exactly what we did.

A few steps behind the rest of us, Shaun snapped a few photos as we made our way down the pier, including this resourceful guy using a mattress as a raft!

Nadine Resort and Spa

We had booked our Phú Quôc accomodation that morning at breakfast and gotten an amazing deal on a lovely four star resort. When we arrived, we found that we were one of only three groups of guests at the entire resort!  We were greeted by Daisy, the lovely receptionist who made our stay incredibly comfortable.

At first, it all seemed a bit rushed as no sooner were we sat down with a welcome drink we were being asked what we would like for breakfast the next day. Daisy explained that because it was low season, they did a la carte instead of buffet breakfast, which meant they needed to shop for the ingredients the day before.

After choosing our breakfast, we were shown to our room, although Shaun stayed back to get his papers in order and go over the information Daisy had provided. For those of you who know Shaun well, you will know about his penchant for double and triple checking things and keeping incredibly detailed lists. When Daisy returned from showing Leo, Anna, and I to our room, she came back to find Shaun still sitting at reception and said:

“Sir, I notice that you are a careful man and that details are important to you!”

When Shaun relayed this story to me later, I think he was quite chuffed with Daisy’s observation!

A Walk Around the Local Area

We were staying on the western side of the island, on the outskirts of the main area of shops, restaurants, and hotels. The following day, we went for a walk exploring the local area, stopping for lunch at a local bun cha place.

The bun cha with cooked spring rolls was delicious, as were the fresh spring rolls.

After eating, we made our way down to the beach, which was a five minute walk from the bun cha place.

The beach itself was beautiful, although the surrounding area is incredibly built up, so the beach isn’t visible at all from the main road.

After our walk we were so hot that we went back for a swim at the resort, which had a great pool.

We also organised our tickets to Vinwonders the following day, as we had promised the kids a visit to this theme park. Leo kindly agreed to write a blog post for this part of our Phú Quôc visit.

After an early breakfast the next day of amazing beef pho, eggs, bread, and roasted potatoes, we were off on the free Vinbus across the island for our epic day out.

Everything I Did at VinWonders Ranked by Leo

Vinwonders was super fun and the biggest theme park I’ve ever been to. So, I’m going to rank everything I did there and spend hours of my time doing it.

24 The Sheriff Academy

The Sheriff Academy was a shooting game where you shot targets and different things happened like a can falling down. Not that much to say, but it wasn’t bad.

23 Kids’ Area

It was a kid’s area… the only cool thing was there were sandpits with stuff projected on them, so I got to make a mountain. But my hands got all sandy.

22 Down The Rabbit Hole

Just saying most of these bottom ones are from the fantasy world which is mostly a kid’s area. But it had a cool illusion at the beginning and the rest was ok. I liked the maze though.

21 Western Steam Train

It was a short little train ride when you went through tribal-themed areas with tents and statues. You also went through the desert.

20 Giant Python Struggle Slide

It was a non-water slide when you got a mat and slid down. It was way faster than expected because I thought it would be super slow and it was actually pretty fast. But I’m glad I had the mat because it would be big pain in the ass (in both ways) if I went down without it.

19 Realm of Giants

This is the first ranking from the Sea Shell. The Sea Shell is a giant aquarium that looks like a turtle, and it is 27,500 sqm containing over 20 million litres of water. It was all amazing (just saying past this point, everything is amazing). But the realm of giants was pretty cool. It sounds awesome, but it’s just lots of big fish that you already see in all the other aquariums.

18 Eagle Soar Glider

This was cool but I don’t think it was safe. Basically, you had these gliders and we thought we could control them, but we just got flung around the place and my legs almost hit a tree. It was the best ride in fantasy world though.

17 River Rapids

The river rapids were river rapids. But the only differences were it was themed around Vikings and there was a giant splash of water at the end. It was really fun, and I like river rapids rides.

16 Midnight Drifters

Midnight drifters was another part of the sea shell. It had glowing jellyfish and even jellyfish inside a fountain but nothing else.

15 Maui Twin Tornados

The Maui twin tornados were very similar to the Superbowl at Waterbom in Bali except there were two of them. We only had time to go on two of the waterslides because the park is huge. So, the ones we chose were the serpent’s venom and the twin tornados.

14 The Dragon’s Spell

The Dragon’s Spell was a 3D shooter ride. You sat in a cart and went along two different areas when you shot monsters. You got points as you went along, and we had to shoot the monsters. Dad got the highest score by a mile, and Anna came last.

13 Virtual Aquarium

The Virtual Aquarium was a fun thing when you had to help a baby turtle get to safety. There were tons of interactive games, and you even walked over a shark tank! In the end the turtle made it, and you get a view of the main aquarium.

12 Sharklantis

The shark tank I was talking about is Sharklantis. It is an area full of hammerhead sharks and those big fish I mentioned earlier.

11 Sky Drop

The Sky Drop was a pretty tame but really fun drop tower. You went up, and you dropped. You did not full-on fall, but it was still pretty scary. That’s me and Dad on the far left and the far right.

10 The Wheel of Time

The Wheel of Time was a giant Ferris wheel around the size of the Angkor eye. Except you got a view of the whole park. We went in here when it was raining, and it was super fun.

9 Serpent’s Venom

The second waterslide we went on was the serpent’s venom. For both waterslides me and Dad weighed a total of 161 kgs and the limit was 160, but they let us on anyway, and we went down. It was similar to the Boomerang at Waterbom, except it was a giant snake head. When we went down the slide, we went completely airborne. Then we went up the side, and the sharp water from the snake’s fangs got in my eyes. If you wear goggles or close your eyes just before you go up there then it won’t get in your eyes.

8 Amazon Volcano

The Amazon Volcano was like a log flume ride, but it had 2 massive drops. It was really fun, and after Anna went on the drops, she was just in a silent shock for the first 5 seconds, and then she burst out crying.

7 The Aquatic Treasure

The Aquatic Treasure was the main aquarium of the sea shell, and it was amazing.

It had manta rays and big groups of fish. It even had these big shark-like fish called the Guitarnose.

6 Mermaid Show

The Mermaid Show was the main aquarium, except there were mermaids swimming around in it.

5 Fish Feeding Show

The Fish Feeding show was also in the main aquarium. It had divers who came down and fed the fish. They fed the manta rays and the big fish who just ate the sardines in one bite.

This one diver was getting swarmed by all the little fish. Honestly, after feeding the big fish, I’m surprised they still had their hands.

4 Skate Ride

The Skate Ride was when you were on a skateboard, and you spun around. You went up, and you were facing up, then you spun around super-fast until you were facing down, then you went down and up the other side and did it again.

It was genuinely horrifying, and Dad said when he saw me turn around, my eyes were rolled back in my head! Dad also felt a bit ill after this ride.

3 The Frozen Palace

The Frozen Palace was the best part of the aquarium because it had penguins. It had giant fluffy emperor penguins, and you could see them swimming.

You could even look out of a dome and see them walk past you. It was amazing and I think I’ll never see something like it again.

2 Castle Show

The Castle Show at 7pm was amazing. They projected stuff onto the castle, and there were fountains and fire.

Sometimes, they even sprayed water and projected videos onto the water. It was incredible from start to finish, and at the end, there was a big battle. It also had good songs in English.

1 The Eagle Warrior

When me and dad went on the Eagle Warrior, we asked how fast it was the man said it was 18 km/h and we went on it.

We were confused because the signs said if you’re over 60, you can’t go on it. We went on it, and it turned out it was an 80 km/h high speed roller-coaster when you went upside down. So naturally, we tricked mum into going on it with the same method.

Mums’ reaction afterwards was similar to one of an 80-year-old woman.

The High Ropes Course by Anna

The High Ropes were really really fun but also scary. Heights can be a bit scary, and when I was on the zipline, butterflies were swirling around in my tummy, but when I did it, I felt really happy because I overcame my fear.

Anna’s Phú Quôc Highlights

Exploring the Island

On our last full day, we hired scooters to go and explore the island. After getting some petrol, and eating lunch at the yummy bun cha place again, we headed in the opposite direction from the town centre, hoping to find a decent swimming beach.

The traffic moves pretty fast on Phú Quôc, so it took a bit of getting used to on the scooters, but as we drove further away from the town, it settled down a bit.

Eventually, we turned off from the main road, discovering yet another enormous resort stretching back from the beachfront. Phù Quôc is the most built-up island that we’ve seen since Phuket. There was a road running parallel to the beach that we could ride our scooters on until we reached a fancy resort that had closed it off, so we returned to the main road.

We gave up on finding a suitable swimming beach, as there was so much litter on and around the beach that it wasn’t very appealing. It seems that if you want a nice beach, you need to stay at a resort, or at least swim in front of one, because they clean their own beachfront every day.

On the way home, we stopped for gelato, made by a couple of local women who are passionate about their product, and who also do vegan ice cream. It was pretty tasty!

Phú Quôc is the first island that we’ve visited that seems over-touristed, to the point that the natural beauty of the place is obscured by the overwhelming number of hotels, restaurants, bars and shops. You also really need a scooter or car to get around, as things are quite spread out.

We were glad that we were only there for three full days, although it was totally worth the visit to go to Vinwonders. We also really enjoyed our stay at Nadine Resort because Daisy and the manager there were so kind and welcoming. Having the pool to ourselves was pretty great as well!

After ice-cream, we left Shaun to get a haircut, while we went back to the resort for a swim.

Last Dinner on Phú Quôc

While out on our scooter ride, we had found a lovely little place down the road for dinner that evening.

After we’d eaten, we dropped Shaun off at a pub nearby so he could watch the football before heading home to bed.

Football Friends by Shaun

On our travels, Amelia and I often try to give each other some time to ourselves. An opportunity to just peel off from the other three family members and enjoy doing something on our own. On weekends, if I’m lucky we’ll be at a location near a sports bar. This is when I always cash in my chip for a few hours! English football games kick off at a reasonable hour here compared to NZ. I’ll enter the pub on my own but leave at the end of the evening having made some really good friends……that I’ll most likely never actually ever see again!

One of the things I love about travel is the people that you meet. The different nationalities and personalities. This evening at the “Passion Pub” was no different. It was full of travellers with travel stories, fellow sports fans and friendly locals. I had a top night!

On the way home I met this friendly banh mi lady and naturally had to buy one. She was so sweet, it would’ve been rude not to.

The next morning was an early start, so we went to bed with bags packed, ready to fly to Ho Chi Min City.