Can't remember if I mentioned it, but flights prices off the Island literally doubled on the 31st of December. When I arrived for my flight I kind of figured out why, the place was packed. People were arriving (to depart) by the busload.

In a minute I'll describe my arrival and departure from the airport in Ho Chi Minh City (OMG), but first back to Phu Quoc Island.

It turns out there was a music festival not too far from the area I was staying (the reason for everything being booked up) with an estimated 10,000 attendees over a 10 day period. Mostly under 30, many openly gay (not that there is anything wrong with that, just an observation) you could tell the festival goers by their wristbands, and there were many. So restaurants were busy, as were the beaches if you didn't go early. Here a couple of pictures early.

And I figured out why the beaches were cleaner, they belonged to the resorts and were "Private". How's that go "take paradise and put up a parking lot". A clip from the evening before I left.

It's almost 11am New Years Day here, and almost 8pm on the West coast of The US. So happy New Year's Eve, and Happy New Year from the East coast of Vietnam!  (Da Nang).  I stayed out till 11pm, had a few beers (quite a few) and some air fried potato wedges (big plate of em, $2.59) Total evening (6 hours) cost me $11.94 including a $2.00 tip! Gotta love that😄

Gonna save the nightmare airport story for next blog (coming shortly) So stay tuned travel fans. Here's a picture of my $8.00 hotel room in Dan Nang, 5-minute stroll to the beach.