In my last article I talked about my expedition of Long Beach on Phu Quoc Island, but in this article I will talk about some of the other places that I ventured to outside of my hut! I would recommend staying at least 3 full days on this island because between the beaches and the central town, there’s a lot of neat things to see. I spent my mornings swimming on the beach and evenings chasing sunsets. It was truly the best 25th birthday I could have imagined!
Since I wanted to see as much as possible on the island, I booked a day tour of the north and south sides of the island through Viet Fun Travel. This is a completely private tour run by Phu Quoc locals, so it’s very high-rated and you can customize it to your liking. I asked that they please take me to the Ridgeback Dog Farm because I wanted to feed the Phu Quoc dogs. They happily complied with my request and created a custom itinerary for me.
Unfortunately because I was by myself this tour cost $195 USD which is very expensive, but since there are not many ways of transportation on Phu Quoc Island it was worth the money. If you bring more people with you the price will drastically decrease. Since these islanders don’t always make a lot during the low season, I didn’t feel regret spending this much for a quality tour. It was fun and I got to experience so much! My tour guide was very nice too.
Here are the places that we stopped at. This tour lasted about 10 hours and included hotel pickup:
- Pearl Farm & Fish Sauce Factory
- Truc Lam Ho Quoc Meditation
- Sao Beach
- Coconut Tree Prison
- Phu Quoc Ridgeback Dog Farm
- Nguyen Trung Truc Temple
- Passing Cape Ganh Dau
- Vung Bau Beach & Ong Lang Beach
Our first stop was the pearl farm and the fish sauce factory. Fish sauce is Phu Quoc’s most famous food and is exported all over the country. I got to see how it was fermented in giant barrels which was pretty neat. The “pearl farm” was a museum of pearls mostly geared towards selling them, but I didn’t mind seeing it for a short amount of time. The pearls were so gorgeous. If only I could afford them! My tour guide bought me a sugar cane drink to sip on during the drive. It was super sweet and full of sugar as the name implies. There was also some mysterious green seaweed-like vegetable we tried.
The temples we saw on this tour were really beautiful too (unfortunately my photography skills from 2018 do not do them justice). Truc Lam Ho Quoc Meditation has a beautiful garden you can see when you reach the top. I enjoyed seeing the Choco-Pies that were placed in front of the deity at Nguyen Trung Truc Temple too. If I ever become a deity, I hope people place Choco-Pies in front of me too.
We next stopped at the Coconut Tree Prison that was built by French Colonists to imprison Vietnamese soldiers during the Vietnam War. Many tortures were performed here such as caging humans and burning off their flesh. I didn’t take many photos because it was grotesque, but you can Google it for yourself and see just how horrible it was. I was grateful for the personal tour because I never knew that there was a prison here! Most people that visit Vietnam only get to see the Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi, as the Coconut Tree Prison is quite remote.
After that gruesome reminder of Vietnamese history was over, we stopped for my birthday lunch at a local Vietnamese restaurant. Everything was on the house~ Cheers to turning 25 on Phu Quoc!!
At the restaurant we ate octopus, fried rice with blue crab, and I tried snails for the very first time! The snails kind of taste like sautéed mushrooms but are chewy. I recommend trying them at least once if you get the chance. The flavor is actually quite enjoyable. The best part about this restaurant was definitely the atmosphere. Even though I was a tourist, I felt at home here.
We rode briefly through the central town of Duong Dong so our driver could get gas. This is the largest town on the island just north of my island hut. There is a seafood market and many temples and pagodas you can see. We stopped briefly to see a Cao Dai temple before continuing our tour so I could rest for a bit. If I ever some back to Phu Quoc, I would like to stay in this town for just one night to see what it’s like!
Next we stopped at the Phu Quoc Ridgeback Dog Farm so I could feed the dogs. For some reason this was one of the most anticipated stops for me! Phu Quoc dogs are some of the rarest and most expensive breeds in the world. They are extremely independent and love roaming the beaches. During the high seasons you can watch them race through courses and place bets on them. Since I was here in October, I could only pet and feed them, but that was fine by me. They were absolutely adorable:
My tour guide was extremely kind and gave me an extra bag of food. He knew pretty much everyone on the island so people were always giving us souvenirs. After I had fed every dog on the farm (and I mean EVERY dog), we decided to hit the southern Sao beaches. I didn’t take a lot of pictures because I was swimming, but it was extremely surreal to see cows grazing out here:
While I was swimming my tour guide told me I could stay out here as long as I liked because he was practicing meditation with an mp3. I stayed until sunset and got to soak up a lot of sun. Everyone that is native to this island practices spirituality, but they never try to force their beliefs upon you. I really enjoyed every single moment here even though my time was short.
I would recommend this tour to fellow adventurers because it truly takes you everywhere. I was exhausted by the end of my trip and was thankful I could rest in my hut. My next article will be the last of my Vietnam series! Thank you to all that have read up to this point.