I had a pretty grueling day of sightseeing planned on Phú Quốc Island. I wanted to tour the North of the island and see all of the beaches there.
I fought my way through the traffic of the incredibly congested Dương Đông town, making some wrong turns and ending up on a dirt road. Google Maps indicated that the road went somewhere, but it kept getting smaller and smaller. It became a dirt track, then ended up in somebody’s yard. I backtracked to find a road that actually went somewhere.
There was a lot of construction on the way. Roads are being built and upgraded. Bridges are being laid. When I got to a beach I would have to park at a resort, since there is rarely any public access.
I got to a portion of terrible dirt roads. Not like the roads in Cambodia. At least those roads were flat. These roads were incredibly bumpy. And very narrow and sandy in parts. Yet trucks would keep coming. They are busy building resorts, even though the roads have not been upgraded yet.
I made my way slowly down the remote dirt road to Dài Beach, a long, deserted strip of white sand. There were no resorts here. It was blazing hot in the midday sun, so I had a swim in the clean, warm water.
I had a nice lunch of seafood fried rice at a packed restaurant on Ganh Dau Cape in the northwest, the fishing fleet parked just outside. I traveled to beautiful Peppercorn Resort and paid for an iced coffee so I could relax in a hammock. It was shady, a cool wind was blowing, and it was deserted. Cambodia’s Bokor highlands, where I looked at Phú Quốc Island, loomed not so far away. I asked how much one of the bungalows on the beach cost, and was shocked at the price of $150 a night!
Then I cut across the island on a surprisingly long dirt road. I eventually came out on the main road, and had a long ride to Thơm beach in the Northeast. That one wasn’t so great. Only a few locals were there signing karaoke.
Then I had a long drive back on the deserted new highway. I could go fast on this road, but still had to be careful since people don’t pay attention and at any moment might pull right into the middle of the road. Even driving fairly fast, it took about an hour to get back to my bungalow.
