I am a pro-surfer, am I?

R entered the water in Sao Bao beach in Phu Quoc, Vietnam & was immediately set upon by a group of men who were perhaps on a buck's night or a work conference, given the japes going on.  They thought he was a professional surfer.  He did have surfing lessons when we lived in Sydney for a short time & he was good, but not that good! These guys were convinced & kept him out there for a while, until the need for them to start removing each other's boardshorts took more attention.  It was a little awkward for the one man they left naked in the water for the morning.  After the allotted time for fun in the sun, they all piled back onto the boat from which they had emerged hours earlier. Hoardes of people arrive by larger cruise boats, are readily dispensed into row boats & then have an hour or two at the beach before moving on.

Going to the beach in SE Asia has been eye-opeining.  In Myanmar & Cambodia, everyone wears their clothes, no bathers to be seen, with a few exceptions made for little kids.  Babies are naked & even in hotel pools there are no swimming nappies - doesn't bear thinking about too hard.  In Vietnam we have found a mix of attire.  Very few women wear bathers, most are covered up like the lady in the picture above. In Vietnam, being white is desirous so people do not tan, use whitening in all beauty products and use umbrellas against the sun.  Even though you can't see any of her face or much of her body, this woman was happy to pose for an elongated series of photos.  There are countless professional photographers on the beach (& at all tourist sites & pagodas) to capture some happy snaps.  The shoots go for a long, long time & the variety of poses struck is hilarious.  We love it when we see these photos taken as although we are the ones exposing flesh via wearing bathers, we would never be so provocative as seems standard fare when in front of a camera.  The photos are published at the beach & handed to the subject in cute cardboard frames - ready-made memories. Lots of people wear matching clothes, mothers & daughters; husbands & wives; entire families.  I think it looks great, the members of my family I would need to agree are not so enamoured.


There are always round fishing boats on Vietnamese beaches. We are yet to try paddling one, they look like they take lots of skill & energy.  We love going to the beach & especially loved Sao Bao as there was no rubbish in the water.  There seems to be a littering problem which really impacts preparedness to swim or paddle in the water. On Phu Quoc island they have started beach clean up sessions on the first Sunday of the month to try to raise awareness. However, the problem would seem to need a bit more focus as people washing in rivers & the sea leave behind their shampoo bottles etc & the boats seem to just throw any rubbish they have over the side into the water.  We have seen all manner of things washed up on the shore.  The better hotels have staff whose role it is to remove rubbish washed ashore.  These are the hardest working staff members.