I returned yesterday from our rest and relaxation weekend. It may seem kind if silly that we needed a vacation but we have been working hard with four interviews a day requiring anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes of biking to each one. We spent three nights on Phu Quoc which is a small island in the Gulf of Thailand off the southwest tip of Vietnam. The trip there involved six hours in a little bus meant for people with Asian-lengthen legs, a car ferry, and 2.5 hours on a speed ferry named the Superdong 3, which all of us very mature Canadians thought was oh so funny.
The vacation was just what we needed - some personal free time, a change of scenery and Western food! I went scuba diving with a few others and as I am still not certified it was fairly shallow and definitely left me itching to get certified even more than I had been before. We were staying right on a beach with wonderful sand and huge waves. The Vietnamese girls all went swimming for the first time and they tackled the waves with a lot of courage, even though my roomate preferred to hold my hand, and I happily obliged. I also rented and drove a motorbike for the first time which was also awesome, and terrifying as the roads are in various stages of development. For the amount of tourism that is here (Vietnamese and foreign vacationers) I was surprized by how horrendously bumpy and rustic most of the roads are. A couple were paved, but most tourists fly in, rather than sit through the ferry and rocky drive from the port to the main town. The island us known for it's pearl farms so the girls enjoyed the markets and all of the Canadians enjoyed the pizza and burgers.
We are back in Tra Vinh and the next two weeks will be a bit of a whirlwind as we have to write our report as well as fit in some say trips, presentations, and a three night homestay.
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