We've had quite a busy 48hrs as it turns out, we've explored the northern waters of Phu Quoc scuba diving followed by a motorbike tour of the south (more of that in a minute) and to top it off we've even been trekking in the jungle/forest -I prefer jungle as it sounds more exotic!
I know we've only just come off of the motorbikes after numerous numb bum experiences but we thought we'd see what it like to actually be the driver for once so we rented some hairdryers on wheels from the resort here and hit the road. Believe it or not Tony has never actually ridden a motorbike before so it was I with a wealth of experience spanning some 6 weeks between 1999 and 2002 that led the way! The driveway out of our resort is unpaved and you may have heard that Vietnam has had a touch of rain over the last few weeks, well it has done nothing to help the muddy surface and Tonys first 200 meters on a bike proved to be a touch challenging! He handled it like a pro though (slightly annoying!!) and we got out unscathed. Turning right out of the resort we headed south on the welcomed Tarmac road, and everything was a breeze, until 400 meters on when the Tarmac ran out!
It doesn't happen too often that I am more experienced in something than Tony and I am the first to admit it I quite like it now and again and am prone to milking it a little bit! To cut a long story short at our first stop we were messing around taking photos of each other on the hairdryers when I showed him my best stunt (which was merely a u turn!) and unfortunately the hairdryers turning circle seemed to be akin to that of an oil tanker! Anyway I clipped the undergrowth at the side of the road and had a massive wobble, let out a little scream but then composed myself and just stopped. Tony praised me on a nice save and we went to set off again.
Not such a good save as it turns out, I had actually clipped the brake pedal and it was bent backwards and stuck on rendering the hairdryer immobile. After a quick spot of help from a group of teenage Vietnamese lads we (they) managed to free the brake enough to allow me to ride it to the nearest village. So that's what we did and we found something that looked like a garage but could've just been a man that was fixing his own motorbike, with a simple point of my finger in the direction of the brake pedal, he got to his feet with a smile that said "bloody tourists" and set to work. Brute force wasn't cutting it so in the blink of an eye two of them jumped on to my hairdryer and sped off. We are both just standing there wondering what just happened! A couple of minutes later they are back and it's been heated, unbent and is good as new! We had already had the discussion that this was prime "ripping tourists off" territory so cringed at the prospect of talking money. The chap put up two fingers and we thought that we'd totally got away with that one - 200,000 dong is about 6 or 7 pounds! Tony took two 100,000 notes out of his wallet and credit where is due the chap started gesturing madly - it turns out he wanted just 20,000! We gave him a massive tip anyway and set off carefully this time and the rest of the day was trauma free.
The trek through the jungle was noisy, buggy and somewhat sweaty! Whatever it was making all that noise (like a fire alarm) we didn't see them, we did however see numerous bugs (mainly of the mozzy variety) and the sweat was beyond belief. I reckon even Sure would shy away from shooting their next anti-perspirent anywhere near here! We didn't even get to reap the fruits of our labour. A waterfall with a pool big enough for a dip was waiting for us at the end of the uphill trek but on arrival we found a load of frogs hogging it, little green amphibians we could have coped with but these were the human French variety! So we dipped our feet in the small area they hadn't claimed and headed back down the long trail home.
You'll be pleased to know that the morning we spent diving went without a hitch and we had a lovely morning, it was so nice to be underwater again, particularly as the water was a positively balmy 28 degrees. It's been too long since we were last diving and we might even sneak another one or two in before we leave the island.
Other than that not much has been going on! Apart from getting slightly overexcited by the change in weather which resulted in immediate ridiculous bikini tan lines! Tony would like to stress that that's only me and he is still as white as milk!!!
Love to everyone xxx
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