Yesterday I took the ferry back to the mainland of Vietnam from Phu Quoc and the long bus trip on to Saigon. The previous day I took a boat trip around a group of islands south of Phu Quoc, collectively known as An Thoi. The snorkeling wasn’t so great. In the same place as where people are snorkeling trying to look at the coral and fish, other people are fishing off the back of the boat. There was a mixture of Australians, French and an Italian guy on the tour. By the afternoon we were kicking back on the deck drinking Tiger beers.

Phu Quoc had some amazing electrical storms while I was there. Most of the bungalows are pretty far away from town, so there is not much to do at night, except for reading and relaxing in a hammock. I am sure the island is going to develop more in the future.

I got into Saigon at 11:30 pm last night and it wasn’t until 12 before I made it to the backpack area of Pham Ngu Lao. It is similar to Kao San Road in Bangkok. I found a funny little hotel for 6 bucks a night. I went out for a couple of beers and when I got back to the hotel I had to step over bodies sleeping on the tiled floor to reach the stairs to my room. I wonder if the family converted their house into a hotel at the cost of having somewhere to sleep themselves.

The room even has double doors with a balcony looking onto a small alley way.