It's not often I'm standing at the arrivals area (Saigon airport) waiting for someone to arrive - if only I'd saved a piece of paper (that went into my soaking shoe) and written a sign I would be fitting in very well!
Susan finally appears 50 minutes after her flight landed (on Boxing Day); due to the Saigon traffic I'd only been waiting 20 minutes and had been kept entertained by the other greeters.
We head over to the domestic terminal and join a long line to check-in. For some reason the next in line goes to the counter before the person at the counter has finished - rather odd we think!
The security lines are even longer, thankfully we have time before our flight so aren't in any rush. Well that's until someone tries to push in front of us, sorry la's you have come to the wrong people! Step behind us thanks very much!
The 40 minute flight to Phu Quoc is really a hop, step and a jump from Saigon. No sooner are we in the air for all of what seems like 10 seconds we are starting to descend.
On exiting the terminal we immediately notice the hotels sign board - easy! It's a good 15 minute ride to the resort, along the way passing "town's".
We are taken to our room via golf buggy - it's like a rabbit warren so goodness knows how we'll get out of here tomorrow.....but that's for tomorrow. For now sleep is needed.
Tuesday, 27 December I wake before 7am - crazy early for a holiday!
We have a chilled start before heading down to breakfast. As we arrived in the dark last night, and had no instructions on how to get to the reception / restaurant / pool area we call for a golf buggy. Within no time at all we arrive - very different route than we took last night; no need to golf buggy again!
We spend the day at the beach – relaxing, reading, and swimming as / when we feel like it. This really is the life, and for both of us something that is so needed after the past week few weeks of craziness at work.
We enjoy the sun setting before heading off the pool bar, electing to sit on the dry side of the bar.
The hotel provides free cocktails and snacks between 6.15pm and 7pm, yes that’s we’ll partake in that. For dinner we eat in the restaurant while listening to a Filipino band.
Wednesday, 28 December I wake around 7am; decide to head out for a run. While the sun is up it’s still not that hot which makes it pleasant.
Our day is a repeat of yesterday – at the beach relaxing, reading and swimming.
Thursday, 29 December I woke at 7am again.....never fun on holiday!
After a relaxed breakfast we head to the beach where we remain for the day. Life is tough!
Friday, 30 December I wake again early 
Mid-morning we get a taxi to the "town" nearby, Duong Dong - probably best to try to see something of Phu Quoc other than our hotel. It's a quick ride with things to look at along the way. Then before we know it we're driving on the old runway....a tad strange but hey ho!
Time to go exploring! With no idea where we are, and no issue with not knowing we head off down the street. The constant toot toot of the motorbikes is all around us.
Within minutes of getting out of the taxi we come across a temple, which has what I believe is bark outside it drying. 
We continue along and find ourselves in the daily market - if we had a kitchen (and wanted to cook!) we would be in the right place. We wander around taking it all in - fish of all kinds; fruit and vegetables; variety of eggs along with a variety of chooks and ducks; meat of all kinds hanging up.....I'll pass on that thanks! In between some of the stalls there is an option to buy some plastic containers; children's clothes and get your motorbike cleaned and fixed. 
The heat has definitely increased with the wind disappearing, time to find a place that sells water then a taxi to take us "home". The rest of the day is spent chilling at the beach - this is the life!!
With our room booking we received a spa session so just before our time we wander over.
On exciting the building we stand and watch the beautiful sun setting; they definitely do put on a good show here!
New Years Eve (Saturday) it's another early wake-up for me; I decide to start the last day of 2016 (how can this be??!) with a run.
At breakfast we notice there are a lot more people around that the previous days. We decide to walk back to the room via the beach where we got extremely lucky with the last two sun loungers.
Mid-afternoon the clouds start to roll in and within a few minutes the staff were coming around putting the umbrellas down. Eeks hope it doesn't rain! It’s definitely not cold so no need to be rushing anywhere.
Tonight there is a special New Year’s Eve gala dinner. We had seen them seating up all day so had a vague idea what to expect. We pick up our free drink and head to our table, thankfully no sharing here!! With the number of other guests at the party we definitely aren’t the other ones not mingling at the cocktail hour….just going back to full up our glasses.
As the evening progresses, in typical Asian style there are games. The children’s “game” is entertaining, that’s until the host announces she’s in love with one of the boys (probably around 9 years old) and a few minutes later announces him the winner of the game and gives him a bottle of wine. Yes very appropriate NOT!!!
Thankfully we are back to the music before the adults games begin…within minutes of the first game starting Susan and I look at each other and decide it’s time to get out of here and fast.
New Years Day (Sunday) I wake to blue skies and sunshine - heaven! A shame we are leaving today. Great waking up without a hungover!
I head out for a run; boy it's hot! The latest I've been out this week. Along the way I have a few people on motorbikes that say hello. After a relaxed breakfast it's time to cool down - into the pool we head!
Time seems to rush by far too quickly, back to the room we head to pack before checking out.
It’s too early for lunch so we relax by the pool, in the shade for a bit! Thankfully there is a bit of a breeze to keep us cool.
Last holiday lunch - I'm not ready to go home and back to cold! We had received our shuttle time (to take us to the airport) so wandered to reception just before 2pm, neither of us happy about it!
Check-in was nice and easy, no long lines and people just standing around at the counter like we had in Saigon.
The airport is crazy busy - finding a seat is a challenge. And of course because we have time to spare before our flight we are delayed....typical! Fingers crossed it won't be delayed more than an hour otherwise it will affect my next flight. Although a night in Saigon won't hurt me!!
Finally our flight is called - the plane is literally a hop, step and a jump from the terminal but we all need to get onto a bus. Crazy system.
My bag is literally the first one out in Vietnam, nice! We wander over to the international terminal; it’s the reversal of what we did less than a week ago. Would absolutely prefer to be going in the opposite direction!
My Vietnam adventure is over......and I'm not ready yet! Been an amazing week - starting off with the crazy motorbike riding and ending with relaxing on the beach. Happy New Year!
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