Day 45: Duong Dong town, Phu Quoc

Claire: We're not really sure what we think of Phu Quoc yet. I guess because it's rained a lot we've felt a bit stranded in our little section of the island! Our accommodation is cute, about a 5 min walk from the beach and set back on a quiet road, but there's a main road which divides us and the beach. It's busy and dirty, with only patches of paths for pedestrians — I don't think it's really set up for tourists.

We're staying near Long Beach, which is nice but unless you're in one of the fancy beachside resorts you can't really get to the beach very easily. And when you do, each resort has their own private section of it that commoners like us aren't allowed on. You can't even rent loungers from them. The odd bits of beach which aren't in front of resorts seem to be littered with cans / wrappers / etc... I guess nobody looks after those sections. It's such a shame.

But it's been raining all day again so we didn't want a beach day anyway! I dragged Gav into the town to get some fresh air to help clear his germs. Duong Dong is the island's main town but again not really geared up for tourists, it's more of a local life kinda place. The harbour has tons of bright blue fishing boats all lined up. I wonder if they're not at sea due to Typhoon Tembin warnings?

On the search for lunch we fail miserably. We're really struggling to find even the simplest of cafes / bars / restaurants here. It seems everything is just in the hotel resorts which is totally the opposite of what we love doing. We decide to give up and just find a bakery (ha) to take something back to our bungalow apartment. Of course finding even a bread roll is impossible here but I was determined I wasn't having crisps and Oreo's for lunch (literally the only things the shops sell?!).

Defeated by more rain, I stop at a lady on the street who's selling fruit. Everything got a little lost in translation so I ended up bringing 17 bananas home to Gav. 

Gav's day 45 takeaway

• I still feel poorly today and the weather has been Blackpool grim again.
• But we braved the evening weather in search of food and in wandering down to the beach, the clouds dispersed, the wind settled and the waves lapped against the shore whilst we happened across a super chilled beach bar with an amazing seafood platter. Ahhhhhhh, finally some bliss.