Vietnam's Phu Quoc island has the ingredients

By Cliff Terry
July 19, 2009

Early in January, just before the start of the Year of the Ox, five Americans and 10 New Zealanders finished the first of two weeks with Habitat for Humanity International in Vietnam, helping build houses for eight families near the city of Rach Gia in the southwest Mekong Delta region.

After long, hot days of digging muddy foundations, mixing mortar and concrete by hand, tamping dirt floors and schlepping rocks and bricks, the Habitat leaders offered a welcome break: 2 ½ days on the lovely island of Phu Quoc in the Gulf of Thailand.

The island is about 50 minutes from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) via Vietnam Airlines or a 2 ½ -hour ferry ride from the city of Rach Gia on the Superdong Fast Ferry. (At this writing, a U.S. dollar was the equivalent of 17,800 Vietnamese dong.)The Vietnamese government is intent on making Phu Quoc (variously pronounced, roughly, "Foo-kwa" or "Foo-kwok") an up-and-coming, spiffy Asian island resort comparable to, say, Phuket in Thailand. As we discovered, it isn't there yet, but the people are trying.Though it might seem far for a lot of Americans, it's ideal for the adventurous who appreciate discovery.

A large sign in the Rach Gia airport featured an unattributed quote citing Phu Quoc as "one of the top five hidden beaches of the world." On the island itself, a snazzy hotel promised that a "gaming club" featuring blackjack, roulette and baccarat would be opening soon.

For now, there are (inexpensive) massages on the beach, and some island shops are starting to sell touristy items such as bikinis and "Hawaiian" shirts in outrageous colors.At the moment, the social mores seem to be mixed.

The beaches are not supposed to be topless, a rule obviously not enforced, and smoking is allowed in restaurants and bars.But a "Resort Regulations" memo at our hotel sternly warned: "Taking street-walkers to the room, having gamble and using narcotic are forbidden." Phu Quoc is Vietnam's largest island, and it also reportedly is claimed by neighboring Cambodia, which may be why the Vietnamese government is eager to put its tourism stamp on it.

During the Vietnam War, the island was used by Americans as a prison for captured Viet Cong. To help put itself on the world stage, a Phu Quoc hotel manager told me, the island is expecting the completion of an international airport in 2015. At the moment, it boasts lovely beaches, tourist-worthy hotels and an assortment of good restaurants."Ten years from now, this place will be exploding," ventured our Habitat co-leader, Lou Piezzo of Long Island, N.Y., who works in the financial-services industry.

There are basically two seasons: rainy (May through November) and dry. Phu Quoc is noted for its excellent fermented fish sauce (nuoc mam), pepper-tree farms and native hunting dogs, which have ridgebacks and blue tongues.

People get around on ubiquitous motorbikes, but it's much easier to dodge them here than in the frightening streets of Ho Chi Minh City. (Pedestrians in Vietnam apparently never have the right of way.) A Lonely Planet guide notes that the island, "one of Vietnam's star attractions," once was "a sleepy backpackers' retreat" that has "ramped up tourism significantly." It adds that the peak season for tourism is midwinter in the U.S. but cautions, "When it's not raining, it's stinking hot." (Stinking? In our short stay, the delightful temperature was somewhere in the 80s.) The Habitat people put us up at the Thien Hai Son Resort, a three-star establishment that has clean, spacious rooms, some with dazzling views of the Gulf of Thailand, and a complimentary breakfast of both local and Western fare (complete with the equivalent of an omelet bar). All this for 50 or 60 bucks.

The sandy beach was a delight, and we found some nice restaurants. "It's like Singapore years ago, when they bulldozed some of their [undesirable] areas," said Sue Dwan, a personal-management trainer and educational writer from Christchurch, New Zealand. "Being here is very nice. I think it's a haven for water sports.

As a non-beach-loving person, I like walking downtown and watching people and the fishing boats.""I think it's incredible -- better than I expected," said Piezzo, who met co-Habitat leader Katrina Martell, a language teacher from Auckland, New Zealand, on a Habitat build in Chile last year. (They would be married in April, prompting the two to suggest a new Habitat motto: "Build a house and find a spouse.") "Phu Quoc has the same characteristics as the Vietnamese mainland -- surprisingly good restaurants, wonderful people -- plus those beautiful, pristine beaches.

Our hotel is considered middle of the road, and I'm pleasantly surprised with the accommodations -- other than the beds being somewhat rock hard! But they're spot on for service."Val Roses of Santa Barbara, Calif., who ran her now-retired surgeon husband's medical office, observed: "The beaches are quite nice, but the water is not as warm as some of the oceans where we've been. The sunsets are beautiful. The tours need to improve. The food in the restaurants is good, but sometimes the service is inadequate, probably because they don't have an adequate staff. I can see Phu Quoc as an upcoming destination, especially for people in countries closer than the U.S."Already, there is an international feel.

During our brief stay, we saw few Americans but many tourists from Scandinavian countries and Germany. At a four-star hotel, the menu was written in Vietnamese, English and Russian.

And one afternoon, on the beach, an impromptu volleyball game attracted players from Vietnam, the U.S., New Zealand, Austria, Norway and Spain. "Phu Quoc has all the amenities of a great tourist destination," Piezzo said.

"I just think they need to tweak some things to appeal to Western tastes, like improving their English. I've been to Phuket, and I thought it would be similar, but to me this is much nicer. It's not as developed, not as commercial. Once all that happens -- more luxury hotels and so on -- I think it becomes a totally different experience. I don't know if I'd want to come back then."So will this largely unknown island become a new hot spot? Hard to tell.