The bustling and somewhat strenuous city just wasn't providing the right vibes at the right time.
After a surprisingly easy visit to a Vietnamese travel agent; the next night we were off on a 7 hour bus ride towards the west coast port city of Rach Gia.
We arrived in the early morning, and were immediately taken to our designated ferry "terminal." We would soon catch a boat from here to Vietnam's largest island: Phu Quoc.
Outside the ferry building at sunrise
Once arriving on the island we were immediately hammered by people wanting to take us to the hotel they were getting commissioned for. They will do anything to get you within talking distance. Including what happened to us: A worker on board the boat found out mine and Nick's names and called them in to a "business acquaintance" on shore. Soon enough, we were greeted with signs with our names on them once we stepped off the boat (completely unaware of how they got there). They then convinced us to ride in their taxi, which would take us wherever we wanted to go. Once inside the taxi, that turned into a bit of a different story. They immediately started selling us on a different place and took us directly there.
This may sound like a rough story BUT it must be said that: this happened on more than one occasion in both Vietnam and Cambodia, and it always worked out fine, if not better. We ended up at one of the best, cheapest,and most low key places on the beach.
The beach on which we eventually took settlement (thats name I will refrain from mentioning due to certain acquaintances affinity for. Hint: "Snoop Dogg's from there. And it's so sick. WHaa!) was quite an odd place. Almost eerie.
First thing to notice, was the overall lack of people. There was hardly anybody filling the dozens of hotels and resorts that lined the sand. Second, were some of the resorts themselves who had been adorned with cheap statues and enpty cabanas.
This mermaid for instance:
On the other side of the pit-o-death, was the strangest and yet nicest half-built, vacant hotel/resort. I figured that it was still under construction but there was no sign of workers or equipment anywhere. And, nearly everything was finished. All that remained were the innards of each building. It also wouldn't make much sense to not finish a resort in the offseason (which was now).