AspiringNomad

OK, I may have spoken a little too soon about how peaceful and sunny life on the island could be. Don’t get me wrong, I have loved it here and the Starfish tour was amazing but we were all put through our paces today. Looking back, I still don’t think I would change it at all!

Molly and I had set our alarms for 7:30am to get up and out for the beach before the tour in the morning. As my alarm woke me up, I could hear the rain on the dorm rooms and text Molly (who was in another room) that I was going back to sleep! The beach somehow seems a lot less appealing when it is raining outside!

The rain was too noisy for me to drift back off and so I decided to head up to the reception area. I ran down the pathway and within seconds, I was absolutely soaked! I was met up stairs by Matt and another woman (I don’t know her name). The area was absolutely saturated. Water coming down the side of the roof and even in some areas THROUGH the roof. All of a sudden, a bolt of lightning struck the roof of the bathroom block and blow out the electrics of part of the hostel! The flash was crazy and the thunder that followed was the loudest I have ever heard! Matt, the French woman, and I were a bit shaken up by how close the lightbing struck but Huong, the wife of the hostel owner seemed to act like it was a regular occurrence and laughed at us for being so nervous! A few more people started to join us upstairs and we were all asking the same question. ‘Are we going to Starfish Island today?’ Duong was adamant that the rain was going to clear up and after a couple of hours, sure enough, it did!

9 of us and Duong got onto the shuttle bus and drove to the north of the island. As we got off the bus and boarded the little narrow boat to head to the secluded beach, the clouds opened again and I can honestly say there was not one thing on that boat that was dry! Passports, money, phones, cigarettes, clothes, trainers, paracetamol packets, everything that people had bought along were drenched. We did our best to cover our bags and protect ourselves from the bullets of rain coming down on us, but it was no use! Now, I realise this sounds almost torturous, but we were all laughing at how utterly ridiculous this situation was! It felt like we were on some deserted island film, getting battered by the wind, waves and rain! I turned around from towards the front of the boat to see everyone sat in life jackets with their heads down at their knees, hands over their ears, desperately trying to shelter their already wet belongings. Some soggy bread had been sacrificed and had fallen into the water at the bottom on the boat, no one could open their eyes because there was too much water and Duong was sat near the front just laughing at the absolute chaos! It was a sight to behold, and despite the rain, I couldn’t help but laugh too!

We eventually made it to the beach, still raining of course, and ran into the sea to warm up in the bathwater temperatures! It was surreal, the sea by the beach was so calm, the rain was still coming down and we were actually warm in the sea!

There was a break in the whether and Duong took us to his and his friends’ floating restaurant. We were under cover here and he supplied us all with the most ridiculous restaurant merchandise clothes made for children. But being the only dry thing we could get our hands on, we happily accepted. Looking like an all-inclusive kids entertainment team, we posed for a few photos (which we are pretty sure Duong is going to use to promote his Hostelworld account) and drank some beer whilst waiting for the sun to drop and light the sky in pink and blue. It was so pretty, but after dark we headed back to the hostel.

My hands were still like prunes on return because the air was so damp so, I waiting until I had dried out before Julian and I met some others in a local snooker bar for a few games. As an English person, I should really be used to losing at any sport, however losing against the French, German and Austrian, seem to hit harder! Head in my hands, the Canadian on my team tried to consolidate our loss by offering me more beer! I agreed to one more and the others joined us. At about 1:30am we all decided to head back to bed. It was a lot of fun and a very enjoyable last night in Phu Quoc.

Feeling a bit lazy this morning, Molly and I didn’t head up for breakfast and were rudley reminded at 11:10am that we had to leave for the airport at 12:00! Still needing to shower and attempt to pack our wet clothes, we were in rush mode.

I managed to shower and pack everything fairly organised before realising I didn’t have enough cash to pay for the hostel. Molly met me at the reception after only having a chance to pack her 28kg of luggage and clear out some jam that had exploded in her bag! The other half of her budget was blown on ordering tailored clothes in Hoi An! She ordered so much that she had to purchase another duffle bag to carry it around! She also realised that she didn’t have enough cash and at 12:20, Huong could see we were a bit panicked so let us use one of the mopeds to go to an atm. I jumped on, with Molly on the back and raced to the nearest ATM in the town to withdraw some more dong.

We eventually were paid up and ready to leave and made it to the airport an hour before departure (Huong had told us this was plenty of time, but we were sceptical and really didn’t want to miss our flight!)

We boarded at last call and are now on our way to Kuala Lumpur for the weekend. I plan to meet Bavo, the Belgium guy who I met in Phong Nha here and Kevin from Nha Trang (who lives in KL). Kevin had offered to show us to all the best places in the city for a good night out and good food! I’ve heard so much about KL and it’s always seemed like such a foreign place to me so I am really pleased to be able to say that I have visited. 

My time on Phu Quoc has really inspired me to spend some more time on an Island or at least by secluded, white sand beaches and after speaking to a few people I might review the destinations for the rest of my trip and see what I can fit in. But whilst I sort that out, it’s back to city life for a little while!