Not everything when you're traveling works out exactly according to what you plan it to be. But Vietnam had been going so perfectly, that when that tenet roared up to show me it's teeth, I had completely forgotten it was even a truth universally acknowledged anymore. So far, I had stayed everywhere I'd wanted to stay, done everything if wanted to do, eaten everything I'd wanted to eat at exactly the moment I wanted to! Even in rainy season, the weather had been kind of amazing.
Phu Quoc is an island in the Gulf of Thailand, just to the southwest of Vietnam. If you look at a map, you'd think the island belonged to Cambodia, much in the way you'd think Staten Island belonged to Jersey. In order to get there, I had to take a bus from Can Tho down to Rach Gia and then take a ferry.* I'd hoped to do this the morning I hired the boat in Can Tho: see the Mekong at dawn, be on the bus by 9am, be on the ferry by 1pm and be basking in the sun on Phu Quoc by mid-afternoon. No wasted time.
*The ferry to Phu Quoc, by the way, has the most brilliant name. Literally my favorite name of any boat I've ever been on. Wait for it....wait for it...the Superdong! Just see if you can say that to cab drivers and hostel employees and not grin like a maniac everytime. I'm still laughing about it even typing this sentence!
Well, the morning bus was booked, so by the time I got to Rach Gia, I'd missed the ferry and had to stay the night there. Which worked out fine--there's just not much going on in that town. And then, when I got to Phu Quoc a full 24 hours later than I'd wanted to, it proceeded to rain for the next 3 days. And not just light happy rain, but the kind of rain and wind that--just recently in the last five years or so--has grown to make me more than a little nervous.
But! I had a great little house on the beach, so got to enjoy the amazing ocean view, even if the seas were feeling a bit stormy. And the hostel restaurant served up some delicious banana pancakes, so I was never without a warm meal! Although I had originally expected that Phu Quoc would (finally!) be the place I hired a motorbike in Vietnam, spending my days reading and playing scrabble certainly didn't seem like the end of the world either.
But motorbike--I'm coming for you! As soon as I find another quiet island with paved roads and barely any traffic, I mean!