One last sunset…

…and one last cocktail.

It’s our final night in Vietnam. Tomorrow we’ll leave Phu Quoc and head to Ho Chi Minh City, and then this time tomorrow we’ll then be on a plane back to Sydney.

The last few days have been remarkably unremarkable (in a good way). Since we had five days here on the island, I thought during that time I’d probably want to do at least one or two of the touristy things on offer here. But despite ready access to cooking courses, tours of Phu Quoc, and the night markets being only a short taxi trip away, we’ve managed to avoid actually doing much at all. This is Holly’s ideal way to spend a holiday, but I’m normally much more inclined to want to fill in our days with activities. Perhaps it’s the heat, or the proximity to a great beach, but for once I’ve been very okay with lazing around.

Having said that, today we did manage to drag ourselves away from Mango Bay to visit one of the local pearl farms. On our arrival we were greeted with a demonstration of pearl extraction – taking a three year old oyster, they opened it and with a few deft knife movements revealed a small but perfect pearl. I may have been wondering more about whether the remains of the oyster were edible than admiring the pearl, but Holly was hooked, and spent the next hour browsing the jewelry on offer. The posters on the wall of Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama wearing pearls that apparently came from this farm at least convinced me we’d chosen the right place to shop at.

And I did get involved in a badminton game this afternoon. Also managed to convince Holly to play some bocce/boules/petanque (only with the promise of the pictured cocktails afterwards). So, perhaps it’s not been quite as sedentary as I first thought. Either way, going back to work next week does not seem a reality.