Phu Quoc Bai Sao beach - garbage and construction madness

Some of the others partied hard last night. This morning tt was pretty easy to see who went to bed early and who'd had a lot of drinks. Most of us wanted to go to the beach so the decision was to meet later on Bai Sao beach some 25 kilometres from our resort. We needed to rent a scooter before heading there or anywhere so the others left, we went for scooter rental and eventually made it to the beach around 12 and met with some of the others.

There were a lot of people on the beach and generally busy around the restaurants. We went for a swim in the ocean and we constantly bumping into pieces of plastic and other floating trash. Such a petty for a nice beach. Looking at the beach it became quite obvious that there is a lot of construction going on and that garbage is left in piles on the beach itself. The locals put it on fire once in a while so at the other end of the beach there was a huge plume of smoke. We took a walk on the beach later in the afternoon and it was just so depressing to see the plastic and garbage everywhere.

Heading home to our own place also gave some input to think about. The whole island is more or less one big construction zone - partially finished sewage pipes, some already full of grey water, others half dug in the ground, pedestrian areas partially finished, construction materials left here and there and so on. No doubt that the island has a lot of potential but there is some way to go and if you look for quiet places go to Thailand - there are plenty of good options there.

We brought food back to our resort and had sushi for dinner before going down to our "own" beach across the street for drinks at one of the beach bars. The mood there was perfect, a quite big place, but not too noisy and not too crowded. And then we spent the rest of the evening and part of the night having drinks and enjoying the company from our place. It's still great to be on Phu Quoc.

Bai Sao beach

Looks great from a distance

Lots of trash on the beach and in the water

A day on the beach at Kantiang Bay - and another friend signing in

We had breakfast early and left to met up with Katrine, Jeppe and Karl to go a bit down the island to another beach - Kantiang Bay. It was quiet in the street outside the bungalows and not too many vehicles passing by. We waited for a while until we managed to stop one of the local pick-up-truck-buses. The driver asked for way too much money so the haggling started and we ended up with a price that was a bit too much but given the driver selling the trip as passing over high mountains for hours and hours.

It turned out to be 20 minute drive over a couple of hills. We enjoyed the ride, seeing the coastline of the island or rather the endless row of buildings be it hotels, bungalows or apartments stretching all the way from our place to our beach. We were dropped off by the driver in front of a couple of tuk-tuks and couldn't help to laugh a bit since our driver insisted that the road was too steep for tuk-tuks to go there. Of course not but all tricks apply when it comes to selling.

A 5 minute walk on the beach and we were at the other end. The place looking significantly more upmarket than our own place with beach chairs and umbrellas placed nicely and ready for "rich" people to occupy them. The whole place was nicely quiet in the morning and we relaxed next to the rocks where there still was a bit of shade to be found. Karl was in a really good mood so we played with him a bit until finally we couldn't resist a swim in the ocean.

Later we ran out of shade - or felt the hunger for lunch so we headed back to the other end of the beach, found a nice restaurant and had lunch including the mysterious "No-name"-dish. It turned out to be some kind of spicy deep-fried rice and vegetable balls - but delicious.

Going back to Green Chili bungalows it was Malenes turn to haggle the price with the taxi drivers. Or this time the tuk-tuk drivers. It turned out to be easy to get a slightly cheaper price but they were a bit reluctant to take all of us in one tuk-tuk. So we walked away and we immediately offered a good price in a car of "some friend". Two minutes later our car arrived and we were back at "home" in no time.

Arriving at our place we were happy to see the Cecilie had checked in. For the next couple of days it's going to be "all of us" hanging out here. Sunset drinks and some good food for dinner. What more can we want??

Breakfast on the beach

Kantiang beach

Young and determined

Yet another fabulous sunset