Last night's dinner in the Night Market was OK - a bit pricey for what it was. Phu Quoc is renowned for its seafood. We had found a restaurant that was recommended on TripAdvisor but we could not find it, so we went to one that looked popular in the night market. Various fish is on display in the tanks, you pick your seafood, they weigh it, charge you market price and cook it. We wanted to try a couple of things that we had not tried before. So we ordered sea urchins - they taste like mushrooms, snapper, and flower crab. The crab was expensive, small and fiddly to eat - not really worth the effort. But we would have regretted it if we had not tried it.
We got up for an early breakfast and headed off for the Vinpearl Safari. This is in the North of the island, but they run a free shuttle bus to get you there. As soon as we arrived, we headed for the Giraffe Cafe as I wanted to feed the giraffes. £1 buys you a bag of carrot sticks and a banana. It was amazing, they come right up to you and they are such beautiful animals. They have very long purple tongues! We loved this experience and we had them all to ourselves, everyone else was wondering around the zoo/Safari.
We then got on a bus that took us on a Safari route. They have so many animals, not just a couple of a species but herds! About a dozen white rhino, a hundred zebra, and lots of different tigers and lions.
There is also a good sized zoo that you can walk around. No-one else seemed to do this, we appeared to have the zoo to ourselves as we hardly saw another soul. We also managed to feed the elephants. I was supposed to video Simon feeding the elephants but all I managed to capture was a couple of minutes of the ground/ my feet! Well, he's the photographer of the family, not me - I have other skills....
We were in need of a beer as it was quite hot so after the zoo walk, lots of tigers, lions, antelopes, primates, we headed back to giraffe cafe. It was such a lovely place to sit and watch the giraffes.
We spent 5 hours at Vinpearl Safari and so glad we did it. It was awesome! The roads for the journey back were very quiet as Vietnam U23 football team were in the Asian Football Confederation Championship Final. All the locals were huddled around T.V sets, this was a big footballing moment for Vietnam.
We got back to the hotel in time for our free cocktail and a dip in the infinity pool. The hotel is right on the beach and faces West so there are fabulous sunsets. After a G&T on our garden patio, we took ourselves off to the beach to watch the sunset from the hotel beach bar.
We had done some more research on restaurants and made our choice for the evening. However, when we got there it was closed for the day! So we went to a restaurant a couple of doors away that again looked popular. They did appear to get our order confused. We ordered banana flower salad with shrimp as a starter. What arrived did not look like shrimp and it had slimy lumps in it. We questioned it and found out they had given us giant snail salad instead of shrimp! They took it away and replaced it with another salad, but this one had no shrimp... questioned it again with 'where is the shrimp? ' third time lucky we got the starter we had ordered.
There were hoards of bikes/scooters cruising the streets with Vietnamese flags and tooting their horns, we assumed they had won the football. They in fact lost 2-1 but this was a triumph for them. They were never expected to get to the final, so losing by only 1 goal was celebrated. Imagine if they had won.
A parade of hundreds of motor scooters celebrating Vietnam's success(?) In the U23 football.
We wondered back towards the hotel and came across a rooftop cocktail bar called The Skyebar. Not quite The Skybar in the Burj Al Arab but then again neither were the prices. We were given complimentary cocktails on arrival, we assume because of the football. Simon ordered a couple of Negronis to finish the night off.
So all in all, we have had a fabulous day. Only one day left on Phu Quoc.