When I think about the country of Vietnam, I think about a country that seriously developing in a rapid space. This ofcourse has pro's and con's as economic wise this will surely benefit a lot of people. On the other hand you wonder for a bit what this does to the landscape and also to the authenticity on what a country has.
One of the biggest examples on where you where you can see this is on the island of Phu Quoc in Vietnam. In the Southern part of the island this whole new town has been pumped out the ground and the landscaping has nothing to do anymore with the original state. Not sweet at all if you ask me.
It feels a bit like a megalomane project which was made in someones mind and just dropped here. What they have made here is a gigantic cable car crossing 3 islands with a total length of nearly 8 kilometers long to eventually reach another island more South that has a waterpark on there. This will take you about 20 minutes on a trip.
Say what? A waterpark on a separate island where you have to use a cable car to get there on another island? And that while this island was originally a peacefull bounty island with a lot of underwater life there? Exactly, that doesn't feel like we are heading in the right direction are we?
Starting with the first weird thing, that is the price of riding the cable car. For an adult this is 650.000 Dong for a roundtrip on the cable car which is about 24 bucks for a roundtrip. Crazy expensive if you ask me. But on the other hand, people in Switzerland pay 80 bucks for a roundtrip in Engelberg on the rotating cable car. Apperently there is always a market for something.
Now wanting to enter the waterpark this will also cost you 300.000 Dong which is about 11 bucks. For two people a ride on the cable car and the entrance fee to the water park will cost you in total 70 bucks. Not cheap for a day somewhere.
The view on the waterpark, which is actually a very cool park and is totally worth visiting if you like some rides here and there
The interesting part is when checking the deals around the cable car is that eventually I found a hotel which costed 70 bucks for *2 nights stay in total, including breakfast both days *and the entrance to the waterpark and the cable car.
But huh? This is the same price but including 2 nights of staying somewhere? I am very confused on how all of this works. But if you want to save a buck.....check on hotels that have the deals versus making it a day trip.
Coming from Europe and visiting the Alps a lot, we are used to hanging out in cable cars. This specific one here is a 3S car which means it hangs from 3 lines and is very stable even when the wind is getting bigger.
There can be around 16-20 people per car and the windows are built for panorama views. And the views...yeah those are very cool honestly!
Starting from the ground station the first views are overlooking the town of An Thoi and also all of the fishing boats. And these gigantic support poles for the lines are high! And I mean seriously high.
Passing the cars coming towards you it always makes you wonder how long their ride has been already. Check the amount of boats over there and all of the islands in the back.
Honestly, it is beautiful.
Passing over one of the islands the cars a lot closer to the ground and that gives you cool sights on these little houses on land which also seem like rental places.
If you ask me, those are the kinds of houses you would want to stay in. Not the modern places in this town with high rises and everything concrete. But hey...who am I?
Also from the cable car you could see these fishing villages beneith you. The fish here are held in fresh salt water where people spend of hours on.
But these kinds or platforms are also used for the pearl industry. Phu Quoc means 'Pearl island' and apparently a lot of pearls are found and harvested here on these kinds of structures.
Well, for me the main reason to visit here was the visit to the water park and that also meant riding the cable car towards is. With the ride on the car and the waterpark together this makes a really fun day trip on the island. That was also attractive because we had a sweet deal with the hotel as well.
But riding the car just for the sake of riding the car? Nehh, I wouldn't recommend. Also if you are looking for idyllic views of the classic side of Vietnam, this is not your place to visit.
The views though.....
