Week 8 – Sunday 8th February – Saturday 14th February 2026
Last week was a week of history, learning more about the Vietnam War and the atrocities that went on here. A visit to the coastal town of Vung Tau and some more good eating. This week we are going to have some ‘fun’ with a visit to Phu Quoc, riding cable cars, theme park rides and visiting a local hospital!
Sunday 8th February
We are starting week 8, and today we are getting the high-speed boat back to Saigon, which is very busy. Vung Tau seems to be a weekend retreat for some of the residents of Saigon, as we all pile onto the boat.
The trip passes quickly, though, and we are soon back into the mayhem and noise of Saigon and on our way to check into a hotel we have been to a few times on past visits. It’s a tiny boutique hotel in District 1; they even remembered us by name when we popped in for a drink last week, the week we stayed in a bigger 5-star hotel here in Saigon because it had a pool, but in reality, it was too busy, and we really do prefer our little TripleE Hotel.
It’s in a charming local area with good, basic local eateries nearby. They also have a little bar with a small terrace that faces the street. We love to sit here and watch life go by; it really is an education just sitting here, people watching.
They do make the most amazing cocktails at this hotel, probably the best we have had, and we have had a few of those in our time! They really are quite delicious, and the price is very reasonable. They are so good that we have one before we go out.
We take a walk to the busy local market, followed by dinner in a back street, where we have delicious meatballs and a Vietnamese pork pancake. We take a rather warm walk from there to the famous ‘walking street’, which is the party area of Saigon.
It’s quite a place, so much colour and noise. We’ve never been to this area before, it’s a bit mad. Noisy neon-lit bars with women dancers (and men, or at least one that we saw) with live music. This place is set up for thousands of people and reminds us of some areas of Bangkok.
Back at the hotel, we just have to have one more cocktail and then turn in quite early. It’s hot and noisy, but we quite like it
Monday 9th February
We are flying to Phu Quoc Island today. It’s a Vietnamese island just south of Cambodia and known for its beautiful sunsets, a rarity in the mainly east-facing Vietnam mainland. We have a steak and eggs breakfast at our favourite place, Bo Ne Ba Nui. It’s very busy with people queuing up, but we time it just right and get a (miniature) seat and table inside.
Dining here is done on miniature tables and chairs. They like to squat, so when in Rome…
Our cab is whisking us off to the airport, T1 domestic, for our flight; the only problem is that we are at the wrong terminal. Vietnam Airways moved all of its operations to T3, similar to BA moving to T5. This is not on any of the paperwork, but when you ask to go to ‘domestic’ to the cab driver, even they don’t know that Vietnam Airways moved in May. We have to quickly find another cab to get us sharply from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3, which ends up having to navigate around the busy Saigon traffic, as the terminal is nowhere near the rest of the airport.
We make check in with less than an hour to our departure, only to then find out that the flight is delayed. 1 hour 30 minutes later than our scheduled time, we touch down at Phu Quoc airport.
We are staying in Sunset Town. We have booked a small hotel with a sea view (and a cable car view!). This was a change that we made to our plans last month, sacrificing 2 days in Saigon for an extra 2 days at Phu Quoc.
Sunset Town is a strange place. It’s like a theme park, everything is new and manicured and themed with an Italian style, with all of the buildings, roads and bridges all looking like something from Rome or Milan, there is not a scrap of litter anywhere.
If you’ve ever been to Rome or Milan, however, then you will know how wrong they have got it here! It’s all a bit weird.
The cable car station is in a mock-up of the Colosseum in Rome.
They’ve gone mad spending money building in this place, which includes a huge bridge called the Kiss Bridge. It’s a huge walking bridge that curves out into the sea and has a gap where it meets. The gap is approximately 30cm, enough to lean over and kiss your partner! Of course, you each have to walk on one side to meet in the middle, though there may be some who think that they can both walk up one side and climb over the gap.
There are two shows here that perform every night. We have bought tickets for both, which we think are expensive at a total of £68; we shall see. We grab a quick snacky dinner and head to the bridge to watch the first show, ‘Symphony of the Sea’. It is a spectacle on water with jet skis, flyboarders, lasers and fireworks. It’s jaw-droppingly impressive, well worth the ticket price. All the performers wear LED suits and body-mounted fireworks.
H is most impressed with the flyboarders. A flyboard is a water jet platform powered by a jet of water fed via a long, flexible, thick hose, which is connected to a jet ski! You stand on the platform and can raise yourself out of the water by up to 14 metres (45 ft). There are 5 of these performers, and they are incredible to watch, doing backflips and dives; it’s an amazing show. It all ends with a spectacular fireworks display. This would be impressive even if it were just once a year, but they put this on every night.
The next show is nearby in the world’s largest water projection theatre, which is made up of lights, lasers, dancers, fire and of course water projection effects! The show is called Kiss of the Sea. This, too, is unbelievably spectacular. What the heck is going on in Vietnam? Every show we have seen is the best of its type and shockingly good. It has to be said that when Vietnam decide to build something, they do so on an immense scale. We are just amazed at the effects and vision of the whole thing. This show ends with another, even better, fireworks display. Wow. Del has proclaimed after 40+ years in the business, the best shows he has seen are both in Vietnam, this one, Kiss of the Sea and the amazing Hoi An Memories. The scale and visual presentation are second to none.
Tuesday 10th February
The hotel we are in is unusual in that we have to walk to the hotel-owned restaurant a couple of blocks away. The hotel is good, but a bit odd in this respect. However, after the short walk, we arrive at the restaurant and have a delicious à la carte breakfast underneath the cable cars.
It’s all very pleasant. Today we are going on the cable car, the 8km (5miles) to Hon Thom Island. The ticket includes a water park, so we will have to give that a go too.
We have been a bit dubious about cable cars for a while now, after hearing of recent accidents and fatalities. We did do the terrifying Mont Blanc cable routes, one of which is almost a vertical pull. We then did the route over Mont Blanc, which runs between France and Italy directly above the Mont Blanc tunnel.
We decide that we can’t miss this cable car. It’s the longest over-sea cable car in the world, and the views are amazing – from the manicured European-looking Sunset Town over the hundreds of fishing boats and then the cramped fisherman’s towns, over forests and sea and different islands.
The view of the immense concrete towers supporting the cables, and the catenary of the long stretches of cable hanging down under the weight of the cabins, is truly an amazing piece of engineering, but it’s one that we don’t hear enough of. It’s beautifully engineered and smooth, being built, of course, by the Austrians, Dopplemayr, for fellow nerds like H.
Aquatopia, the water park and amusement park at the other end of the cable car trip, is lovely, well-manicured, very green, and very well maintained. There’s a big wooden roller coaster here, but it’s shut just for today, so H misses out on it, and so does Del, doing his duties of bag carrying. Whew!
We do get to go on some other rides and then head to the water area. We’re not very well prepared for this, but there’s a shop here, so we get some water shoes and rash/UV tops that will be handy back home on the kayaks. We start off with some small slides sitting together in a double inflatable and then have a float down the very calming lazy river. H has spotted some bigger slides, so has to try some out. It’s all very good and well designed.
Our ticket includes a free beer, so we take a rest and get it down us! Buoyed on by the rush of alcohol, H decides she will try the huge funnel slide, followed by the terrifying vertical drop slide.
She’s seen these on the internet and thought, Who would do this? After slowly staggering up the stairs to the top of the tower, she is queuing up when the operator asks, “does anyone want to go on the extreme vertical slide?’ There have been no takers for this thus far, as everyone is opting for the more gentle of the two. H shoots her hand up in the air, which elicits a round of applause from the rest of the queue. She is ushered to the front to stand in a vertical cabinet, which, inside, has a trapdoor. The cabinet door is closed, the operator asks for a thumbs up, then…
The floor disappears, and she free-falls down and into the long deceleration area. Del is watching this with other spectators who give up a spontaneous gasp and cheer as she is released and kind of gracefully deposited below the slide. H is grinning from ear to ear, but a bit shaky. The terror of standing on an opening trapdoor hasn’t put her off, and she’s back up for another go. It’s amazing what courage a litre of free beer does. What an idiot.
After spending a good day at the water park, we get changed and join the queue for the return cable car.
Once back in Sunset Town, we can access the Kiss Bridge with our ticket, so we each walk on the separate walkways to meet in the middle for a kiss over the gap.
It’s full of Instagrammers and drones, of course, but we get our chance. While we are doing this, another water show is starting, and the flyboarders are back doing amazing tricks. One raises himself up to the bridge and gives us a high five!
The skill and control of these guys is impressive, and apparently, 5 of them are world champions from Canada, the UK and other countries.
After all this excitement, we have a quiet dinner out at our hotel’s restaurant on the terrace, which is fabulous, despite the Italian music on a loop… After dinner and a few ‘buona nottes’ to the confused Vietnamese staff, we take a gentle walk around the night market before heading back to the hotel. It wears you out with this fun stuff..! We make it back to the hotel just in time to watch the fireworks from our balcony.
Wednesday 11th February
H had a bad sleep; she was bitten all over by mosquitoes in the night despite spraying herself with repellent. That will teach us to leave the balcony door open while watching fireworks.
We spend the morning looking around the town and having a coffee before moving off in a cab for the 1-hour drive north to the Vinpearl Resort and Spa Hotel, for some more fun…
The hotel is a luxury resort connected to Vietnam’s biggest theme park, run by Vinwonders. Unlike the last one, which was run by Sun World, this one is run by a huge corporation here in Vietnam, going by the very creative name Vin Group, who own hotels, theme parks, schools, hospitals and car manufacturing. They are huge…
We get a lovely ocean view room and sort our bags out now that we have plenty of space.
After a drink on the beach, we visit Grand World, which is part of the complex and is a mock-up of Venice, complete this time with gondolas. (What is it with the Island of Phu Quoc and the Vietnamese and Italy…?)
We have a Vietnamese dinner and wander around the town. It’s all rather odd, all very Italian, all done rather too well! Back to the hotel and a walk around the lanterns. Which are Vietnamese…
Thursday 12th February
We are up early to get the most out of the Vinwonders theme park today. Del has had a good sleep and is limbering up, preparing to carry the bag while H goes stupid on some coasters! The park is huge and has a touch of the Disneyworld look about it, but done with a Vietnamese twist, with a few Italian buildings amongst the Disney-style castle.
This place also has a water park inside. H has plans to go on a couple of roller coaster rides first, however.
Joking aside, this place is done very well and is a popular ticket, which, for what you get, is very well priced. There is the theme park, a water park, a safari park and what is probably the best aquarium in the world, housed inside a huge building in the shape of a giant turtle. It is just amazing what they have done here.
It’s a pretty empty start to the day; it’s like we have the park to ourselves, which sort of makes up for some incredibly slow operations. The two main coasters are very good for their type. Del performs his duties very well, and as a reward for his good standing is given time off to go on the big wheel, which is 120m high, but H draws the line there and won’t go on. She’s scared…!!!
It’s getting hot, so it’s time to cool down in the water park. We have all the right gear with us now, and soon we’re floating about in the wave pool, bobbing alone on the lazy river. H goes on a few slides, but none as scary as the ones earlier in the week at Sun World. Is it the lack of a small libation? We visit the amazing aquarium, which on the outside is incredible, but inside it’s something else! The scale of the place is jaw-dropping, with a huge collection of fish and vast spans of glass and water, all very clean and first-rate. We have never seen anything quite like it.
Dinner is on the beach tonight at the hotel with a glass of wine. It’s a very nice evening.
We are both exhausted, having walked miles and worn ourselves out in the heat, having so much fun…!
Friday 13th February
Today we are visiting a safari park which is connected to the theme park and is part of our fun-filled ticket price! They also have an enormous zoo there. All the animal enclosures are huge and nicely presented. The animals all seem to be well cared for. Some offer feeding opportunities for the animals. We get the chance to feed giraffes and capybaras (our favourites), and there’s even a place where you can feed and stroke Binturongs.
Binturongs (otherwise known as bearcats) are native to SE Asia and famous for smelling of popcorn. They are extremely cute, docile and friendly. We take the opportunity to feed them. We are given a cup each of fruit with a stick. They love it, walking along their enclosure fence, sitting in front of you while you feed them fruit from a stick. The Binturong that H is feeding gets a little too excited and reaches out to her, scratching her arm and drawing a little blood, nothing major, but a scratch all the same, which we clean up and wash thoroughly.
We carry on looking around the park and enjoying the animals, then realise that H probably needs to get a rabies shot. Rabies is very common here, and you can’t take any chances, as once symptoms develop, it’s 100% fatal. If the shots are given soon after the bite or scratch, it’s not a problem. So it’s off to the hospital with H…
We drop everything at the hotel and set off for the short drive to the Vin Group-owned hospital.
We see a nurse and a doctor, and straight away she is on the course of 5 precisely timed shots. The second of which falls on the national holiday of Tet, so we will be back at 8am to see a doctor that day; the first two shots are the most critical for timing. The follow-up shots will be in Hanoi and Thailand, with the final one in the UK. We notice that it’s Friday the 13th!!! Unlucky for some. Once she has had the first jab and is monitored for 30 minutes for any adverse reactions, she’s released.
We have time to revisit the theme park, and we head to the aquarium again, which is excellent. Del says the best he’s ever seen.
H squeezes in a couple of more coaster rides and gets her bravery up to go on the big wheel, the one she is scared of…! It’s a fantastic view of the current park and an abandoned park that shut down 3 years ago, complete with abandoned rides and a castle.
We watch the impressive evening show from the park lake only to then end up in a scrum to get the shuttle bus to the hotel.
There are no chances of taxis. Once back at the hotel, we relax at the beach bar with a drink, listening to a three-piece acoustic band playing a few relaxing tunes to bring to a close another fun-filled day…!
We are ready to move on now… We’ve had enough fun…!
Saturday 14th February
It’s Valentine’s Day today, so we exchange cards. We both thought the other had forgotten. After breakfast, we finish packing and take a last walk along the beach. It’s certainly a beautiful setting here.
The beach is fantastic, and the water is properly aqua blue.
We take a 15-minute taxi to our next place. It’s a boutique hotel in the more ‘normal’ non-Italian-influenced part of the island. It’s easy to forget where you are in a luxury resort and theme park. We are back to the good, family-owned restaurants and busy backstreets. We are early, so we have to wait for our room to be ready.
When it is finally ready, and we go in, we are surprised.
What we paid for, and what we are expecting, is a wooden-roofed, glass enclosure shower with a rainfall head, all part of a garden view wooden villa. All very nice. What we get is a bath with a handheld shower mounted 3ft off the floor, with previously abandoned mounting holes and a tin roof through which the mosquitoes can fly under. It’s a shack; the bathroom is a lean-to.
We complain to the front desk about the blatant misrepresentation, and show them the pictures of what it should be and what we are being given. Del insists on seeing the manager, but we have to wait, and wait we shall… We explain the situation; however, she is in a tricky position, it’s the Tet holiday and therefore busy.
H did our booking to stay here way in advance in May 2025, but it looks like they have palmed us off with the bottom of the barrel. Eventually, she puts us in an ‘upgraded’ room. Which is smart-looking but on closer inspection is all style and no substance, complete with no shower again and a leaking bath. It is brand new and hasn’t been finished. We go out for a beer, miserable, to consider our options.
The only accommodation left for this week on the island seems to be villas for £6k plus or hostels for £15 a night, oh, and our old room dishonestly re-advertised with the nice bathroom with the rainfall shower again. We will have to stay, we guess. We also need to be not too far from the hospital for H’s next crucial jab that has to happen on Monday.
We spend the rest of the afternoon doing this blog for you, dear reader, before setting off for some dinner. The area is very nice, as is the hotel. H carefully vets every hotel, and every hotel so far has been very good. Today they have just given us the worst of all the rooms left. We shall see how we go tomorrow and the rest of the week. Del is not letting it end here…
We forget the room issue and set out for dinner. Most of the restaurants here are what are called family restaurants. They are called this because the business is literally run by the family. The one we go to has three generations working there. We are served by an 11-year-old, a 30-year-old and what we guess is the grandad, but daren’t put an age to him! It was a nice end to a shaky start.
We shall see how our room issue will be resolved tomorrow.
What an incredible exciting time you’ve both had, shame about having to get the jabs though!
The hotel issue can also be reported to Booking but I haven’t say that website is getting on my wick I think I’m often given the worst room because it’s booked through them! Good luck I hope you can move. X
Hello hen…
Good to hear from you. We are finally in the right room and got some compo from Booking.com Hot here, but nice. Off in to town for tea. Keepiong my eye on H. Shot number 2 tomorrow. Lots of love x
How we look forward to reading your blog each week! We are always exhausted after living each new experience with you. The wonderful videos and photos really help us to visualise we are on holiday. Absolutely stunning, thank you!
So nice to hear from you. Its super hot here but we are coping, just. Keeping an eye on Hayley after the jabs. she’ll be ok. three weeks to go!