Spend a magical day in Phu Quoc, Vietnam. Start the day right with breakfast in bed, explore Grand World's Venetian style canal, unwind in a soothing mud bath and feast on Phhu Quoc's local specialties at the night markets (with a surprise end of the night!).
Our second full day in Phu Quoc is full of surprises. Our day at the Radisson Blu Phu Quoc starts off slowly as we wake up but Mr NQN has some zoom meetings so we skip breakfast downstairs in favour of room service. A little tip Dear Reader: the room service breakfast menu while obviously more compact than the buffet breakfast spread is full of excellent options. If you like having your coffee made for you or miss avocado toast, go for the room service breakfast.
We order avocado coffee, a gorgeous creamy coffee made with the abundant avocadoes grown in Vietnam. The coconut coffee is also delicious with a strong coconut flavour to it.
But it's the avocado toast that I absolutely love. It's probably the best avocado toast I've ever had. With soft, scrambled eggs on perfect sourdough (soft and spongy in the centre with a thin, crisp crust), and a generous amount of mashed and seasoned avocado and avocado chunks, I regret offering to share this with Mr NQN!
After lunch we head to Grand World. A lot of the criticism of Phu Quoc comes from the development of theme parks and the land looking like a ghost town or fake. Indeed when you look closer at the shop windows you'll see that the shops aren't real or open, they just look like it from afar. But if you do enjoy Disney-esque theme parks or Lav Vegas and have a family or are young at heart, then Phu Quoc might be for you.
Grand World is a replica of Venetian canals complete with gondola rides and gondoliers wearing straw hats and striped red tops. Sorbet coloured buildings house shops and restaurants on either side. The shops, cafes and restaurants that line each side of the "Lake of Love" offer everything from massages, facials, food and there's even a Daiso and Sanrio store and a Teddy Bear Museum.
Entry to Grand World is free although gondola rides are extra at 230,000VND/$12AU/$8.70US per person and include a round-trip and an ice cream or a bottle of water and a tote bag.
The Radisson Blu Phu Quoc has buggies that take guests to and from Grand World. These leave the hotel every 5-10 minutes and at Grand World, you press an intercom button that will call the bell hops to come and pick you up which is very convenient.
We arrive at Grand World just after 12 pm and take a stroll up and down each side. Then we take a 10 minute gondola ride, grateful for the sunshine that appears. The gondoliers have an easier job than those in Venice as the boat is motorised rather than relying on human power. Mr NQN enjoys the mung bean ice cream which is pretty tasty and covered in white chocolate.
Tip: unless there is a long queue, get your ice cream after the ride. They handed us the ice cream and then we boarded the ride and you have to eat it very quickly if you want to take photos because the gondola ride is only 10 minutes long! There is also the option to have a one-way gondola ride up to the clocktower and you can walk back.
We head towards the beach on this steamy but breezy day. There's the Azure Beach bar on the beach and activities such as para gliding. There is also an enormous lagoon style swimming pool for guests.
This afternoon at 3:30pm we catch a Grab car to the largest town in Phu Quoc, Duong Dong. Our first destination is the Soc Nau Mud Bath. After trying mineral bathing in Hepburn Springs, Victoria I have become a complete convert. Duong Dong town is 30 minutes away and is also where the Phu Quoc night market is so we decide to combine the two (although the Radisson Blu Phu Quoc also does daily complimentary drop offs at 5pm and pick ups at 9pm).
At Soc Nau spa there are several packages to choose from here although it's not entirely clear what is in each one. You do need to prebook a voucher and make a reservation at least 1 hour before you want to arrive. We purchased the basic package with the mud baths for around 473,025VND or around $30AUD although you can also upgrade with massages and spa treatments.
They provide swimmers and a towel because the mud can stain swimwear. A staff member guides us to the jacuzzi and brings fresh orange juices. We sit in the jacuzzi for 15 minutes and then move onto the mud bath that they've drawn specifically for us. It's not a thick mud bath but a more liquid one and it feels like we are relaxing in a giant hot chocolate. We take the coconut ladles and pour mud on each other. After 30 or so minutes our lady comes to get us and we rinse off and go to a water jet area where we can enjoy the massage jets. Then it's time to enjoy the pool before showering and leaving.
Night falls quickly and we head to the night markets which are a 10 minutes car ride away. The Phu Quoc night markets are geared specifically for tourists and are known for their seafood. The markets are spread out wide and we accidentally get dropped off in the more local area with vendors selling fresh ingredients to locals from sea urchin, clams and fish to cook at home.
We cross the bridge to the other side where the neon signage marks the night market. It is very much a tourist market with everything from Pad Thai to scroll ice cream and fried chicken.
One of the specialties of the region are Chou Chou or caramelised peanuts sold by Chouchou Phu Quoc by Dominique Samarine, a French man married to Huynh Thi Mai, a local woman from Phu Quoc. The locally grown peanuts are sun dried and then shelled before being rolled and coated in a mixture of refined sugar and spices. They come in 30 different flavours from cappuccino to mango and pandan and they happily offer tastes of these delicious coated nuts.
There are also containers filled with a mix of 30 flavours of peanuts so that you would really never know which one you will get next.
Tip: these are really delicious, I recommend buying these as gifts. We loved the chilli garlic flavour (I wish we had bought more!).
A few metres away we come across some restaurants and my stomach starts rumbling. We take a seat at Phu Quoc Deli who serve some of the dishes that Phu Quoc is famous for. Seafood is a specialty here with everything from sea urchins served with lemon juice, wasabi raw squid, grilled lobster, crab steamed with beer or grilled snails with onion fat.
On one side of the restaurant, it is the busy market teeming with customers and the onset of rain and on the other side are the fishing boats and the river.
We try a Phu Quoc specialty, the seafood noodle soup with prawns, squid and fish cakes and wilted iceberg lettuce, coriander and vermicelli noodles. This is a comforting soup that reminds me of something that my mother used to make.
Another specialty of the region is the seafood hotpot with a spicy tomato and pineapple broth to which you add egg noodle cakes, prawns, squid and clams as well as morning glory and glory and cabbage. Dip them in the nuoc mam sauce for a delicious, healthy dinner.
One of my favourite items is the Phu Quoc herring salad or Gỏi cá trích made with raw, fresh herring fillets, onion, sawtooth coriander, coconut, peanuts, and grated carrots. It comes with a sauce made with fish sauce, pineapple, lemon chilli and garlic; add the sauce generously as that really gives this dish its personality. The secret weapon is of course the locally made fish sauce that Phu Quoc is known for. Personally, I feel that Vietnam makes the best fish sauce in the world and Phu Quoc's is legendary.
Tip: Phu Quoc fish sauce is a popular souvenir and also available at the hotel's gift shop but make sure to buy some here as I didn't see it at Phu Quoc airport!
Our waitress asks me, "Madam what do you think?" as she point to the herring salad. When I tell them that it was my favourite she grins proudly. We look out and the light rain has turned torrential. It's the rainy season so it is to be expected and we were lucky that we had no rain during the day. Our pick up isn't expected until 9pm and since it is 7:45pm, we wait it out as the rainfall grows heavier leaving half a foot of rainwater to wade through. Time edges closer to 8:15pm, then 8:30pm and 8.45pm. We chat to the staff who ask me where I am from (everyone we meet is convinced that I am Vietnamese).
At 8:45pm we need to make a decision to make a run for it. Now the water is around 2 inches deep outside the restaurant but it is clear rainwater. The staff offer to sell us some raincoats and we gladly accept. Bidding the staff goodbye with high fives and waves we plunge into the water which is cooling and sweeps away the dirt on our thongs and feels good. We are only 3 minutes walk away from the bus and we climb on board. I turn to Mr NQN and ask him if he is ok. His eyes are shining and he says, "This was the best adventure!".
So tell me Dear Reader, would you have waited for the rain to clear or made a run for it? Have you ever been to Phu Quoc?
NQN and Mr NQN were guests of the Radisson Blu Phu Quoc but all opinions remain her own.
Radisson Blu Phu Quoc
Special Zone, Bai Dai Area, Phú Quốc, An Giang, Vietnam
Phone: +84 297 3660 000
www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/hotels/radisson-blu-resort-phu-quoc
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