Phu Quoc Island.

Rach Gia. Unless you want to fly to Phu Quoc Island from Saigon by air, to reach this island, you need to get to Rach Gia, there you can catch a high speed boat. You can also catch a flight to the island from this coastal city.

Speedboat Duong Dong. The more than two hours trip is convenient for those who can stand the high waves. During the rainy season the sea is rough, so don't be surprised to see a lot of people get sick all around you.

Thanks to hi-tech, now even the island of Phu Quoc does have internet, which makes connection to the world a breeze.

Drifted items that I collected on a deserted beach.

This variety of wild orchid is collected on the mountain slope, people attach it to the coconut tree, it doesn't seem to thrive much given a quite different habitat.






My best breakfast combination, bun ken (bu'n ke`n), coconut juice complimented with more than 4000 songs packed in my iPod listened through the Altec Lansing IM3 portable powered speakers.

Stormy Sea.

Cua Can Beach.

Navigate the fishing boat through the shallow channel.

Wild flower, also found in the mainland.

I found this little with a radiant face as she played among the banana trees. It came to my mind right away to pose her in the middle of the banana leaves.

Woman and her talking bird (sa'o). She bought it for 100.000 dongs (about $7.00) only a week ago. Already, the bird follows her around all the time. I know the reason why; she's its main food source. Asking if the cat would attack the bird, she says she has scolded her cat not to do so. Things are still at peace, so far. Not something like 'I thought I saw a pussy cat'.

Highschool girl in ao dai amidst the tra`m field. Years ago, I traveled to Phu Quoc many times and couldn't find the right girl to model for me. This time, I hit the jackpot.






Untitled.

Untitled.

Freedom cows, unlike their mainland counterparts, these island cows enjoy total freedom of wandering around. No cord, no string attached to their head. The herd, led by a senior cow wearing a wooden bell, come home from a day at the pasture. Absolutely no cowboy, no cowkid to watch them.

Immerged Tree Beach.



Jungle water falls, mosquitos are fierce here.

No door house, years ago, life on the island were very safe, no need to have doors. Now things are changing quite a bit, not too many like this remain.

Large seashells used to trap baby octopusses.

Finally, I found a very good hotel for a very good price; 80.000 dongs a night (around $5.00) It has TV, fridge, hot water. For air cond, another 50.000 dongs will be charged to make it 130.000 dongs (around $8.00). In June, the weather is cool, there's no need to have air cond.

Breakfast row, every dish for a good breakfast can be found here.

Bun ken (Bu'n ke`n)

Bun ca (Bu'n ca')

Girls playing foosball.

All girl bike wash, I won't mind at all to have my iron horse washed over and over at this wash station! Too bad I didn't have time, since my departure was only an hour away.

Often during my long bike ride, I need to stop at the roadside for a stand-alone-dump (computer terminology for dumping garbage data when the machine hangs or something like that), this lizzard seems to be there on the bush branch to greet me. 'Good day fella!'

My faithful iron horse is being tightened up for the sea voyage back to the mainland.

Speedboat Superdong, don't know if the owner of this boat is well aware of the meaning of the name. Hollywood X rate movie producers would love to do something with this boat. It leaves right on time. The schedule says 1pm, it leaves at 1pm sharp!

These taxi canoes deliver passengers to fishing boats, etc. They also do a special task, take on late passengers and chase speedboat for boarding. My friend and I were once late for the speedboat departure, these taxi canoes hurried in vain. We had to pay for the futile canoe ride, stayed over another night at the hotel and had to buy another ticket to catch the next day speedboat ride.

Candid shot of a young pretty little girl sitting on her grandmother's lap. Perfect use of my Nikon Coolpix 8700, looking at one direction and shooting at another to get the natural unposed portrait. The backlight of the boat window behind the little girl adds even more moody effect to the picture. This one is a winner!