August 7,

Jeff woke me up at 0518, and we readied. Today we leave Thailand. So sad😢, but I'm looking forward to our next venture! We are going to Vietnam!😀

At 0550 Jeff called for taxi via Bolt and by 0610 we were in the taxi. It is more congested on the toll road at 0630 compared to 0400 when we arrived almost a month ago. 0650 we were at the airport. We had to check in because Vietjet Airlines didn't let us precheck online. (We had to check our two bags anyway.) Then we were through security, but we were held up a tiny bit due to the ice in our cup – that's a new one. Anyway, through immigration and into the Coral Lounge.

We are allowed in the Coral Business Lounge with our Priority Pass. This airport has many different lounges! But I like this one, it is nice. I can not image what the First Class Coral Lounge is like. We had a great breakfast– french toast, steamed buns (custard or egg yolk filled), yogurt, fried egg, papaya salad, champagne, fruit juice and coffee and hot chocolate. A service lady came by and even offered a massage! That's cool, but we declined.

At 0840, we left the lounge and went to the gate. It was posted as final call already! That's crazy – the flight's not for for 40 more minutes! We loaded on the shuttle bus by 0850. The bus did not move until 0905! Anyway! Now, we climb a stair jetway to enter the plane. (That seemed silly 😜). At 0915, we were on the plane, buckled, and ready for 0920 flight. 0917 door locked. 0920 backed up. On time!!! 0933 Plane took off. It was an uneventful, short flight – the kind we like. We had a little turbulence – just enough to disrupt the beverage service. Supposedly you can not even have your own food or beverage – can only buy the airlines stuff! (Really?? Questions❓)  So because of the disruption we never had option of even water. At 1028, the plane touched down.

              Welcome to Phú Quôc, Vietnam❗❗❗

At 1040, we were out of the plane, and by 1100, we had gone through immigration, collected our bags, and were out of airport… in the rain — unfortunately 😐. At 1105 we had found our driver and were leaving for our new home. During the drive, we realized that we are on the right side of the road. The driver is on the right side also. This SEEMS so wrong, because we've been on the left side for so long!!! It is messing with both of us!

We arrived into Sunset Town, and at our place is The Hill. The Hill complex has four tall 19 story buildings looming over the back of this touristy, Mediterranean/Italian styled town. (More about this town later.) We got registered into our place. Jeff booked this stay through Agoda.com. Our place is on the 18th floor! We got in no problem. Yeah! The apartment is a cheery yellow & gold coloring, with fish decor, and appropriately named The Fish Condo by our host. I love it! It is a Front room/Kitchen area, then a Bedroom and a Bathroom area. There is a sliding door opening to balcony – off the Front room and another sliding door/window opening from the bedroom. The view up here is phenomenal!! We look out on Sunset Town toward the beach and the ocean! I will happily call this home for a month!

We ditched our bags and went up one floor, the top floor #19, to look at the pool. It is an outdoor, infinity pool at the edge, but it does have a glass half wall, becuase well 19 floors up… We explored the rest of the building – found the workout area. Now, we decide to go explore the town.

This is whole town is surreal. It has a ritzy feel with all the Italian-style architecture: statues, columns, and accents of faux marble and gold gilding. But it is kind of eerily quiet and seemingly vacant of, well… people. We thought of “build and they will come” motto. There are many places for shops that are mostly empty. We work our way down, as the town is set up on a hill, toward the ocean front. It is hot and humid, but the rain has stopped. We go down stairs and escalators that are outside – and each landing area that we arrive at has a posh set-up…. a statue setting; a pool/ fountain area; or alcove of a small garden. It is so seemingly grand, but yet fake feeling. It is hard to describe. Anyway, we arrive at a restaurant, RuNam Phu Quoc. We went after looking at their menu. We ordered Squid Ink Linguine with Smoked Duck Breast, and Spaghetti with Shitake Mushrooms and Crispy Pork Belly and just water to drink. It was good, but it was expensive… as in 660,000! … well, that's Vietnamese Dong!🤭🤣😂  This equals $26, which is still expensive for lunch. The water was in a glass bottle and imported from Italy, which cost $7 by itself! When our food arrived, it was portioned way too small. We finished and knew we would be hungry soon. So… we will be eating mostly outside of touristy Sunset Town.

We did head out of the town to the local areas, walking. We had to to find an ATM!! There is not one in the town/complex! We got some cash and went back to our place- we still need to unpack and we are getting a rental scooter delivered at 1600.

The scooter guy was late, but we got the rental all taken care of. It was nice to have it delivered, with helmets. We hopped on the scooter and drove into the local part of this big township/area called An Thoi, which includes Sunset Town. We just looked around as we drove, finding a phone shop for a SIM card for my phone; a local wine shop; and a Korean chain restaurant called BBQ Chicken Phu Quoc. We ordered take away – so we could get back to our place for first Vietnamese sunset.

Back at our place we ate supper – having Corn Salad, Corn Gratin, and BBQ Chicken Leg- marinated for 12 hrs w/ a rich Jamaican sauce. Yumm! Then we watched sunset unfold on our balcony. It was a small show of color due to the large cloud shrouded sky, but glorious in its own right.

Then at 2100, we went out on the balcony for a show… Sunset Town puts on a firework show every night, except Tuesdays. At the beach, a lagoon type enclosure was built for this touristy town. There is a Kissing Bridge and the show stage for the nightly- light, sound and following firework display. The whole production was in English and lasted 35 minutes. It was pretty cool! We will get to experience this six nights a week. Don't know if the show is the same each night, but I can't wait to find out. Either way, I love fireworks and that will make it worth it!

What a day!!!