On 16 January, we flew from Da Nang to Phú Quốc Island, which is Vietnam’s largest island located just off the coast of Cambodia. It was very hot on our arrival! 32° and sunny! Amazing!

This part of our trip was primarily to relax, enjoy food, visit the night markets, sip on a cocktail at a sunset beach club, and join an island-hopping boat tour (we also wanted to ride a motorbike and visit other parts of the island… but we didn’t quite get to that).

On Saturday, we simply relaxed. We had way too much food at the biggest buffet breakfast I have ever seen, strolled around the resort and swam in our pool. There was a beach located just out the front of our villa, but the water was 30° and way too warm to enjoy. So, we lounged by the pool, read our books, soaked up the sun (in the shade because we’re too white) and just did nothing, really. At about 2:00pm, we took a Grab (equivalent to Uber) to a restaurant called Saigonese and enjoyed sashimi, purple fried rice with scallops and roast duck and vegetables – it was beautiful.

After lunch, we walked down to Ocsen, a sunset-facing beach club, with orange beanbags and tables spread across the sand, a DJ and amazing cocktails. Pat set up a time-lapse for the sunset and we chatted until the sun went down. After this, we took another Grab to the Phú Quốc Night Markets – literally mayhem. I have never seen so much seafood, or so many rolled-ice cream stands in my life. Anyway, we walked around and I settled for a corn cob on a stick, while Pat chose a chip on a stick, and we both enjoyed ice cream. Yum.

The next day, we arranged a speed boat tour around the islands surrounding Phú Quốc. We joined a group of mostly Vietnamese tourists as well as American. Vinny, from California, thought we were 30+ years-old and getting our life back by spending vacation away from the kids! Mmm… not quite!

Our first Island was Buom Island, where we had our professional island photos taken (we are models now), and swam in the crystal-clear water for about 40 minutes before heading to the second stop.

Next, was Gam Ghi Island, where we jumped off the boat to snorkel and explore the reef. We saw lots of fish! This was Pat’s favourite part of the day. It was sad to see how polluted the water is… lots of debris. As snorkelling makes me very sea-sick (quite literally), I hopped back on the boat after 20 minutes to photograph the huge white seabass (Pat).

We then took a 30-second boat ride to May Rut Trong Island, to enjoy a local seafood lunch (of fish and prawn with noodles hot pot, squid salad and fresh watermelon) and relax on the day beds, before returning back to Phú Quốc Island for the evening.

Once we returned to the hotel, we sat by the pool and sipped a bottle of wine away, before walking up to the Novotel restaurant for dinner (we were very lazy, if you couldn’t tell).

The next morning, after a sleepless night from my food poisoning (thanks to the prawns at the seafood lunch), Pat kindly ventured into town to Google-translate my symptoms to the pharmacist. He returned with antibiotics, paracetamol, gastro-stop, hydralyte, and digestive enzymes – none of which I could keep down. It was a horribly long day of vomiting and gastro. Thank goodness we had a pool in our villa to keep Pat occupied.

Instead of flying to Ho Chi Minh City the next morning (as previously planned), we took 3 taxis around the island to 3 different medical centres and hospitals before we arrived at Vinmec International Hospital. Poor Pat had to unload and re-load our 70kg luggage each time, whilst dealing with a whinging patient and a difficult language barrier. I felt (and still feel) so bad for him. After an ultrasound, IV fluid, anti-nausea medication, fresh antibiotics and rice soup, I was discharged from hospital and Pat booked a hotel for the night before our flight the next day.

I feel so grateful for Pat’s patience, generosity and support. I’m not sure that I would’ve stayed as calm and as kind as he did, if the roles were reversed. Boyfriend of the Year (after only 3 weeks of 2023).

Don’t worry… we made it to Ho Chi Minh City.