Phu Quoc

The fast boat from Ha Tien to Phu Quoc is 160,000vnd and it took about
2hrs i think. Theres a small space in the back where you can sit
outside but the engines are REALLY loud so make sure you have
earplugs. On the boat they sell minibus tickets to Long Beach for $2
which is a fair price but I was so over minibuses for the day that I
couldn't bare the thought of being stuck on one driving around
everywhere so I decided to figure something else out moto taxis to
longbeach are generally 50,000 VND but I only had 33,000 in my pocket
and I easily found a driver who would do it for that. He took me to
the best spot on long beach where there are the most budget options.
The island was super busy though and we tried like 6 places but they
were all either full or too expensive until I found Lien Hiep Thanh
Hotel, known as Family Hotel (tel. 077-3847-583, 0913-758-034,
0906-722-828) they had one cheap room for $15. The room is really nice
with a fan, bug net, hot shower that doesn't work and a fridge. The
hotel grounds are nice made up of lots of bungalows and it has a
reasonably priced restaurant right on the beach. Definitely recommend
staying here. My room is the cheapest, cheapest bungalow was $25 and
bungalow with ocean view and AC is $50. They rent motos for 80,000vnd
for a semi automatic and 100,000 for an auto which is the going rate.
The only hotel I found that is cheaper had rooms for $13, wasn't on
the beach and the rooms weren't nearly as nice as mine. Actually I
found Kim Nam Phuong seaside resort (tel: 077 846319) and they had a
$10 room and the resort was on the beach. Seemed like a good spot but
their cheap rooms were all booked for a week so I didn't get to look
at them.

The night market has decent seafood for dinner but it's not that
cheap, 80,000 gets you a grilled fish filet with no sides or anything.

Leaving Phu Quoc I bought my boat ticket to Rach Gia through my hotel
(250,000vnd) on the boat Superdong 1 plus a shuttle bus to the boat
for 40,000. The boat left about 20min late. It has a good size area on
the roof to sit outside and it's covered. It's also pretty loud though
so earplugs!

SCAM! In Rach Gia! Ugh, so annoying. Got off the boat and of course
there is the usual scrum of moto drivers trying to take you somewhere
but I just walked past. Ran into my swedish friend who had met a
Vietnamese girl and they were both going to Saigon. The Vietnamese
girl knew less than I did I think and she was getting hustled with us.
The Mai Linh bus office at the pier had prices posted (60,000vnd for
Can Tho and 110,000vnd for Saigon) but she told me they were sold out
all day. Then a moto driver wanted to take me to the far bus station
(7km, he said it was 12km) for 100,000vnd! WAY too much. After arguing
with him for a while he decided to tell me about a nice mini-bus to
Can Tho for 200,000vnd, also WAY too much. He told me "ok ok 80,000vnd
to the bus station" I said get lost. Mind you he started with 70,000
when we first got of the boat but moto rides are rarely more than
40,000. To make things worse he kept following me around and basically
not allowing any other drivers to take me. I separated myself a little
and tried to talk to a different guy and the two drivers swooped in
and basically told the driver to get lost which he did. These guys
were really pissing me off and there was no way I was going to pay
them a penny even if they did give me a good price. They eventually
came down to 40,000 but I told them to go to hell and sat down and had
a Pepsi waiting for them to leave the area then hailed a moto for
30,000. I later met 2 Italians who had the same thing happen but
instead walked to a different bus station closer where they were again
told that the mini-bus was full but after 30minutes they got seats for
80,000 on Mai Linh. Total scam going on there at the Rach Gia Pier.
Maybe it was just cause of Tet and all the tourists coming through,
vietnamese and foreign alike, that generated the scam but who knows.

The bus station in Rach Gia is like a bombed out shell. The public bus
to Can Tho runs every hour, costs 55,000 and is either a mini-bus or a
real bus. No AC and whichever vehicle you're on expect it to be jam
packed. When I first got to the station a mini-bus was about to leave
but the driver tried to charge me 100,000vnd even though it said the
price was 55,000 right on the door. He told me that was the Vietnamese
price and I wasn't Vietnamese so I had to pay more. I refused
obviously and went to the ticket window and after that driver left
they sold me a ticket for 55,000vnd. I got on the bus, a big red old
heap. This driver tried to make me buy another ticket for my bag
because it was in a seat next to me but I said no we'll put it in the
luggage place in the back which we did but then he wanted me to pay
20,000 for the back but I just refused and they stopped bothering me.
The ride took about 3 hours, maybe a little less and wasn't really
that bad. Luckily I was sitting right next to a wide open window which
made a huge difference.