Blogging Pubbitch

The trip from Tuc Dup Hill to our base on Phu Quoc Island was remarkable not for any scenery that we might pass, but because of the torrential downpour that accompanied us almost the entire way. For those of you who are used to the gentle climate of Britain, you might think that by "downpour" I mean "heavy rain" Oh no! How wrong you would be! By "downpour" I mean something more like "prolonged cloudburst"

In itself, a little rain is not a problem, but the journey to the island was mostly accomplished on the back of motorbikes, so as far as we were concerned it was a truely miserable experience. When we arrived at Hon Chong, on the Vietnamese coast, the water had somehow managed to penetrate our waterproof tops, and our shoes squelched with every step. Frankly, we could not have got wetter even if we'd tried to swim to the island.

Obviously, swimming was out of the question, with stormed lashed seas smashing against the dock in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately, a hydrofoil was to hand, complete with meat locker-esque air conditioning and oddball Vietnamese TV --- our voyage was accompanied by a video of a small 5 year old child kicking various shades of crap out of either mythical robots or San Fransisco bikers, aided by a stroppy woman, a useless man and a lecherous child.

On landing at Anthoi on the southern tip of Phu Quoc Island, the rain had stopped just long enough for us to make our now slightly hypothermic way to some more moto drivers who offered to take us the 30km to Duong Dong which is near Long Beach and where we wanted to stay. And then it started chucking it down again. When we reached the places where we intended to stay, we found the road to it had turned into a stream, and that it was full. Such is life. Fortunately, we found somewhere else that was cheaper, almost on the beach and that had rooms.

Tired and sopping wet, we changed into the only clothes we had packed (our main bags resting in Chau Doc) and went to try and find some food before passing out.

Needless to say, once we had changed, the rain stopped.