Chapter 41 - Vietnam - Part 3 of 4 - Phu Quoc Island - Scooter Riding, Monkeys & More Man-Made Fun (11/29/25

Another fun Christmas display in Vietnam.

After Da Nang, we hopped a short flight south to Phu Quoc, an island about 1¾ hours away. Right away we got our first “travel bribe” at the airport—$200,000 dong (about $7 USD) to use the priority check-in line. It was money well spent when there were over 200 people in line.

We landed after sunset and it felt really dark. Streets, businesses, hotels looked dim. Then we realize the power was out. Some hotels and restaurants had generators, others didn’t. Thankfully, our hotel had a generator.

We picked a restaurant with the lights on, but we could still feel the chaos—servers racing around, orders piling up, customers on edge. We were just happy to eat pho, noodles, and a few spring rolls.

November 30

We rented a scooter and headed toward Ham Ninh Fishing Town.

We enjoyed our new wheels for about two weeks.

In the fishing town, we stopped at a floating seafood restaurant for a beer and coconut water.

Video of the restaurant. The place was held together with twine. Yikes!

A friendly Vietnamese man sitting next to us offered Corp a shot of his rum—then took one himself. Turns out he and a friend were pedal-biking through Vietnam on a 66-day journey.

We also came across a place that was drying starfish.

We assumed they were drying the starfish to sell them at one of the local stores.

We scootered around half the island that day, surrounded by beautiful nature and surprisingly smooth roads.

Video of Vietnamese ladies pulling weeds in the grassy boulevards.

The weed pulling seemed so crazy to us.

December 1

Our first true sunny beach day in Vietnam. Pina coladas, cold beers, and plenty of sun from a beach chair on Long Beach—exactly what island life should be.

Long Beach is over 13 miles long. In this particular location the beach had very coarse sand and a steep incline that made it tough to enjoy a beach walk.

We caught our first beautiful sunset on Long Beach in Vietnam.

We saw a stunning sunset on Long Beach. Picture perfect!

We found a cute toy in the sand that will join the other souvenirs in our gazebo back home.

Everyone kept telling us, “You have to try the seafood!” Massive tanks filled with fish, crabs, lobsters, scallops, oysters at all the seafood restaurants. You point, they scoop, they cook. We struggle with the part where you make direct eye contact with your dinner first. Chickens, pigs, cows—we eat them, but we’re not standing in a field locking eyes before lunch.

December 2

Another scooter day—this time to Sunset Town on the south end of the island. Another manufactured-fun destination that was very quiet. We learned Phu Quoc’s busy season runs from Christmas through July.

Sunset Town had with very few people.

Sunset Town was designed to look like the Amalfi Coast in Italy.

Sunset Town was visually appealing, but feels like artificial manufactured fun at the same time.

We discovered Khem Beach, which was stunning—wide, walkable sand with mountains at one end.

Khem Beach was a nicer walking than Long Beach.

Corp chilling on Khem Beach.

On the way back, we stumbled upon another stretch of Long Beach near the Sailing Club area—same beach, totally different vibe, and much more walkable.

Letters on the beach that spelled out the name of the island we were on.

Funny elephant sculptures in the water. I had to snap this photo quick because a security guard was telling us that we had to leave the beach.

Construction is everywhere. We heard there’s been a big influx of Russian travelers thanks to cheap charter flights, and heavy Chinese investment in infrastructure.

Hotels, condos, massive roads—it’s clear Vietnam is building for a future in tourism.

That night, we finally tried seafood: grilled basa fish.

Basa was fine—meaty like mahi mahi but fattier. We were glad we tried it, but wouldn’t order again.

We ended the night walking to the Duong Dong Night Market, wandering past crabby peanut vendors, lots of seafood tanks, and pearls of all colors and sizes.

The night market was definitely a busy place!

Our favorite purchase at the night market? A Campion bandsaw-cut keychain.

The bandsaw cutter was amazing to watch.

December 3

We rode the scooter 30 minutes to Starfish Beach, and it didn't disappoint.

Before we arrived at Starfish Beach, we has to walk down this narrow path for about 30 minutes.

When we arrived at the beach, we saw the starfish right away. They were bigger than we expected.

Lots of starfish were around us.

A close up of the starfish with our Crabby travel blog mascot.

Starfish Beach had a relaxing hammock in the water.

Video of the starfish at Starfish Beach.

While at the beach, we met Sheldon and Rhonda, a fun couple from Toronto.

We ended up sharing drinks at a pontoon bar with Sheldon and Rhonda. We paddle boarded out to it and back just before the rain hit.

Corp couldn't resist walking up the steps to get a photo. He said the steps were pretty rickety.

Later that night, we met up with Sheldon and Rhonda at the Night Market. After showing them around the market, we shared a Thai meal together. Surprisingly, the power went out mid-dinner and stay out for quite a while. When it came back on, the lights felt blindingly bright.

December 4

Started the day with a morning massage. That evening, Sheldon and Rhonda invited us to Grand World, about 20 minutes away.

There were a lot of sculptures in Grand World to check out.

We watched a 45 minute Vietnamese folklore show outside in the rain.

Video of the folklore show.

We explored the Bamboo House that was made entirely of bamboo.

Grand World itself is massive and more manufactured fun—a European-style entertainment city with canals, gondolas, cafés, shops, and nightly light shows.

All aboard the Christmas train.

The daily end of the night light show was pretty good and longer than we expected.

Our waiter, Hai, was incredibly sweet, and the four of us spent the night chatting with him and his friends.

Chatting with Hai. He told us to pronounce his name like Hi.

We took a few Christmas photos and then had an early exit.
Grab rides can be unpredictable later at night.

The blue decorations at Sheldon and Rhonda's hotel, The Radisson Blu, were beautiful so we couldn't resist a quick photo before we left.

December 5

We spotted a very thin street dog and went on a mission to find dog food. It took a while, and when we came back… the dog was gone.

We shared the food with other dogs, who surprisingly weren't interested.
That is good because at least we know they are not hungry.

We stopped by The Bar to see Yeri, who was such a pleasure to chat with. She kept commenting on how tall we are, so when we took a photo, we squatted down to her height.

She laughed so hard at this photo because she kept saying we were her size.

December 6–7

We scootered to Khem Beach for a few nights. Gorgeous, walkable sand… and once again, very empty. Another place clearly built in anticipation of future tourism.

Walking on Khem Beach was great.

On our afternoon walk, we spotted a computer bag drifting just offshore. I waded out to grab it, already excited about what might be inside.

A lone crab had taken up residence inside the computer bag and startled me when it darted out as I unzipped it. There was nothing else inside.

Khem Beach was another area where there was definitely an overbuilding of houses.

Video of one of the villas interiors.

Here is an exterior photo of a constructed villa.

Upon closer look, the villa is just a shell with a dirt floor waiting for a buyer to finish the project.

December 8

A big adventure day at Sun World Hon Thom. To get there, you ride the world’s longest continuous cable car.

The 5-mile ride over the sea and islands takes about 15 minutes.

The Aquatopia Water Park was impressive, with slide designs we hadn’t seen before. Corp loved Python Plunge because it dropped him straight down 5 stories, but our favorite ride was FlowRider.

We both rode it multiple times and did surprisingly well for the first time. We both agreed that we would definitely do it again.

Corp catching the wave on FlowRider.

Me catching the wave on FlowRider.

The amusement park side was smaller, but the wooden roller coaster was fast and smooth. There was construction everywhere, so we expect this place to grow a lot.

After returning, we visited the Kissing Bridge—two arches stopping just 12 inches apart over the sea, symbolizing connection and love.

At the Kissing Bridge.

No sunset that day due to clouds, but still a perfect spot for a photo with the Kissing Bridge in the background.

Sunset Town

Nightly fireworks in Sunset Town.

Sunset Town at night.

December 9

Scooter ride back to Long Beach—smiles before takeoff, but tension about me tipping backward turned the ride into a rough travel day.

December 10 – Corp’s Birthday

He wanted banana pancakes to start the day—his favorite Vietnamese breakfast.

Then off for bò né (Vietnamese sizzling beef breakfast). Delicious, but we missed potatoes.
Potatoes are surprisingly hard to find in Vietnam.

Next stop: Mixue, Corp’s favorite ice cream spot.

Four young girls giggled when we walked in and chatted with us in excellent English.

When they learned it was Corp’s birthday, they disappeared… and returned with gifts—stickers, a Hello Kitty plush, a Stitch keychain, and a Vietnamese toy. They were so sweet!

After $11 massages (with tip), we hit the beach.

We met Carol from Arizona, her daughter Laura from Tokyo, and Mae and Nicole from Belgium.
All seasoned travelers who shared great travel tips with us.

Birthday sunset

Carol and Laura with Corp

Corp had a fun birthday, capped off with lots of messages from home.

December 12 – Pickleball & Monkeys

We finally played pickleball! The paddle and court rental was $6.84 USD for an hour.

We wished we’d found it sooner even though it was pretty hot and humid.
We were grateful for the shade from the roof.

Playing pickleball.

After pickleball, we were off to see Grand World during the day.

The Bamboo House was really neat during the day too.

Grand World has so much fun sculptural art to see.

The Vietnamese trolls.

A tiled water sculpture.

Practicing my tree yoga pose.

The buildings and shops along the canal in Grand World. We decided against taking a gondola ride, although it was a popular activity.

Grand World had a Teddy Bear Museum.

After Grand World, we scootered the northwest part of the island and stopped a drink.

Corp trying to enjoy his jackfruit smoothie. It was very sugary.

On our way back to the hotel, we came across monkeys on the road. Obviously, a common spot for them to be hanging out.

Video of the monkeys. It was crazy to watch them open up cracker packets and eat them like humans.

When we returned to the scooter after two weeks, we’d put 231 miles on it.

Our last night in Phu Quoc, we played billiards with Yeri.

She wanted to practice so she could improve her game. We discovered billiards is a really popular activity in Vietnam. She played much better than us.

She was so tiny that she had to lay on the table for this shot and she made it. She was giggling the whole time.

Miscellaneous random cute/funny/interesting/weird pics/videos below…

I always love taking photos of Christmas trees when traveling. I wanted to take this little chenille tree home since it was so cute.

A fun Christmas display we saw while scooter riding to the beach.

More Christmas fun!