Judy's Vietnam Adventures

January 23rd Rach Gia Gateway to Phu Quoc Island

Vietnam airlines flies a propeller plane from HCMC to Rach Gia and then on to Phu Quoc.This is the first non-jet that I've been on since my travels began.

Rach Gia is a seaport town on the Gulf of Thailand, in the southwest part of Vietnam. It's about 1 full day's drive from here to the Cambodia border. Most tourists come here briefly on their way by plane or ferry to the Phu Quoc resort island.These big ferries make the 2 1/2 hour trip daily.

The smaller ferries also go, but the trip is longer and not as safe.

The Cai Lon River empties into the Gulf here and a busy part of the city is on a small island with the river flowing to the sea on either side. The river has a fairly strong current and is brown, like all the Delta rivers, rich with fertile sediments.

There is a nice park with grass, sidewalks and benches next to one side of the river. Unfortunately, that's where the homeless children hang out, also some less than desirable characters. But, if you walk the other way, there's interesting sights to see. These steps are used by the public for an outdoor bathroom (both kinds) and also for laundry. They are very near one of the two bridges to the island.

I had stir fry cuttlefish with greens for dinner in this restaurant overlooking the anchored fishing fleet. The chef didn't remove the cartilage piece, so I had to eat with care. It was delicious. One disadvantage of traveling solo, is that you can't order a lot of food to try, because it's impossible to eat that much. With two people, you can at least order two dishes.

The fishing fleet here numbers in the hundreds. Most boats seem to be anchored in the daytime, so I'm assuming that fishing is a nighttime activity.

Here's a interesting site to learn more about types of boats that are used here in Vietnam.

http://www.boatsandrice.com/sGulfCoast.html

If you need an anchor, you could get one here.

I was walking around and saw this restaurant which sits over the Gulf of Thailand. I had coffee here and am going back for dinner. It's a big place and a wedding celebration was taking place in the banquet hall of the restaurant. I always want to take photos, but out of respect I held off due to the private nature of the gathering. Imagine if a stranger began snapping pictures at your wedding!
While I was having coffee, a group of 8 Vietnamese came in and sat at the next table. I tried to make my coffee last as long as possible to see what was ordered as the man seemingly in charge of the group began barking out menu items. They began with a big plate of fresh crab, which they cracked and picked and ate. The crab shells were put in mouths, sort of chewed up and then spit out.
Next came a hot pot, which was a pot of broth over a flame on the table. I couldn't see what was in it, but several plates of food that looked like they might go in it arrived, noodles and sliced vegetables. A couple of large bowls of rice to share came along with a clay pot dish which was probably carmelized seafood. I didn't get to see the big fish that was ordered, I think that was coming later. The fish was picked out live from an aquarium, weighed and taken to the kitchen. It dropped out of the fish guy's hands and he had to scramble to pick it up off the floor as it was flapping around. It was fun to see the people really enjoying the food.

On the land side of the restaurant is the local lighthouse.

There are not a lot of restaurants that have English on the menu here, so if you get hungry enough, just stop in anywhere and hope for the best. Here's lunch, some kind of grilled meat, probably pork, rice and some veggies.

It's polite to throw your napkin on the floor. A sign of a busy restaurant is how many napkins are wadded up and on the floor. There seems to be no particular rush to sweep them up.

These little storefront restaurants are usually multigenerational. Here's the cook.

The ingredients are in glass cases with minimal counter space for preparation.

At night, everything is taken inside and the bed is right there, ready to go.

This is a typical scene. I'm seated inside at a low table eating. A person on a motorbike drives up and orders to go. The grilling man is grilling. The teenage daughter is delivering to someone down the street. An elderly woman is walking by hawking lottery tickets. And the granny of the family is watching me eat every bite.
Yesterday when I was eating a street food pancake in a different restaurant, evidently the granny didn't think I was up to speed on pulling the pancake (savory filled with sprouts and shrimp) apart and wrapping it up, so she sat opposite me and did it for me, checking to make sure I was dipping it into the sauce. I felt like a baby being fed. It was fun and we both had a lot of laughs.

Of course I've been to the market and there are several things that I haven't seen elsewhere. There are a lot of shellfish, all sizes and shapes.

I hadn't seen these purplish tubes before and the lady vendor invited me to try one. I took a bite and it didn't taste like much of anything. I've probably eaten it in a soup and didn't know it.

If you look behind this man, there are two halves to a big pig, which he brought on his motorbike. His shirt and the motorbike were a bit bloody. He also had the entire swine head and neck and a bag of entrails. It's fresh!

I was trying to figure out why the fowl weren't running off to freedom. Then I saw the motorbike fowl delivery person with the chicken's and duck's legs tied together, slung over the motorbike handlebars. He grabbed the bunch from the bike and put them in the baskets.