Our bus from Saigon to Can Tho never made it there. It took a strange circuitous route that included waiting to cross a one lane bridge to get on a ferry before arriving at its final destination, Rach Gia. When everyone was getting off, I tried to ask the bus attendant why we never went to Can Tho and pointed to my ticket. He looked at it and said something to the driver. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but based on their expressions, they had screwed up and were supposed to have gone there, but there wasn't much they could do now. And there wasn't much we could do either. It was nearly midnight and our Rough Guide didn't have a map of the town, but as is always the case in southeast Asia, there were guys standing by the bus as we exited begging to take us to a hotel.

It turned out that due to our unplanned detour, we were at the launching point for the ferry to Phu Quoc island, touted as one of the gems of Vietnam, so away we went. Phu Quoc is a quiet island that is actually closer to Cambodia than Vietnam. Its ownership has long been disputed between the two countries, which has resulted in multiple military bases being located there. I personally didn't see what was so great about Phu Quoc other than the motorcycling opportunities. There are cheap motorbike rentals and loads of largely deserted roads to ride them on. I had never been on a motorcycle, except as a passenger, and I decided this was the perfect place to practice. I was a bit worried about working the clutch, but to my amazement, I didn't need to. We rented dorky underbone bikes, which seem to be everywhere in these parts, and I was surprised to find that they had a centrifugal clutch, meaning that I didn't have to worry about manual clutching. I hadn't realized that a centrifugal clutch could be used with a multi-speed transmission. I thought they were reserved for scooters and golf carts.

The first day we rode to the east side of the island, did a short hike through the woods along a stream, and then rode all the way to the northeast corner of the island and back. The second day, after a bit of trouble figuring out which roads to take, we rode to a beach on the northwest corner, which was a much more beautiful journey. The island has lots of dirt and gravel roads in addition to some paved ones and I went down on one of the bumpy dirt sections, which shattered one of the mirrors and mangled the foot peg. I also came away with a scrape on my arm. During the few days I was there, I witnessed several of the locals hit the deck as well. It was great to be able to get experience riding on so many different types of terrain.