In this post, I will share some experiences of my journey to Nam Du Island
Where is Nam Du Island?
Nam Du is the farthest archipelago of Kien Giang province, more than 80km from Rach Gia by sea, belonging to two island communes, An Son and Nam Du. Nam Du Island is a cluster of islands located in the Gulf of Thailand, southeast of Phu Quoc Island. It constitutes An Sơn and Nam Du Commune of Kiên Hải District, Kiên Giang Province, Vietnam with about 21 different large and small islands. This is a place that attracts many young people who love to travel and explore at an affordable cost.
In the summer of 2015, I was working as a PhD student at the University of Technology - Ho Chi Minh City, so on my summer vacation, I decided to take a trip to Nam Du Island to experience it, it was also an interesting journey. If you come from Danang or Ha Noi city, take a flight to Saigon, then take Phuong Trang bus from Saigon to Rach Gia city to stay 1 night, then in early tomorrow morning you come to port and board a ship to Nam Du Island.
Itinerary and means of travel
Usually, young people often go on a backpacking trip, departing at 23:00 at night from the Mien Tay bus station of Ho Chi Minh City and arriving in Rach Gia at about 6 am in the next morning and then buying a ship ticket to Nam Du Island. But my journey is little different, I went to Rach Gia city in the evening, then chose a hotel near the pier to have a leisurely time to walk around in the evening, eat and stay for 1 night for comfort and then go to the island in tomorrow morning. Visitors in Hanoi and Da Nang who want to go to Nam Du can take a flight to Phu Quoc and then take a ship to Nam Du or take a flight to Saigon - take a car to Rach Gia and then take a speed ship to Nam Du Island.
After sleeping 1 night in center of Rach Gia city to regain energy and health, the next morning I woke up early to check out and walk to the pier. In the morning at the pier, the landscape is bustling and busy, although it is not the peak tourist season here. There are a lot of ships of many agencies here, but the ship ticket I booked is the Superdong High-speed ship because it is modern and very new. Departure time is at 7:20 am (in Rach Gia) and 10:15 am (in Nam Du Island); travel time is about 2 hours.
Where to stay on island?
I arrived at the island at 10:20 am. Arriving at the port, in front of me is the scene of busy boats trading seafood right at the pier, the smell of the salty sea and the sea winds are so relaxing.
If you go to the island in the high season and want to stay in clean rooms and beautiful view on weekends or holidays, you can book a hotel room in advance and in low season, it is not necessary because there will be many homestays and hotels for you to choose from medium to high prices, you can choose for yourself a place that suits your financial ability. Room price here range from 150000-300000 VND /person/night (round from 7-15 dollars) or higher depending on the scale and location of the hotels. It is best to call to make a reservation before coming to the island because the number of hotels and homestays is very limited in the high season. Or else, to make your trip to Nam Du more interesting and experience, you can bring a tent (you can also rent a tent) to camp and sleep on Dau beach, which is the most suitable place for you to camp.
That time, I stayed at a homestay near the market with full electricity and clean water for 250,000 VND / 2 people / night. To convenient for moving and visiting on the island, I rent a motobike right at my homestay for 200,000 VND/motobike/day (about 10 dollars)
What time should you go?
The best time to go to Nam Du Island falls from December to March every year, at this time the weather is very nice and the sea is calm, so it will be much more comfortable for those who are prone to seasickness. And from April to November is the time when there are many storms that are not convenient to go and there are many dangers lurking.
When I went to the Nam Du Island it was in August, so the weather was not very favorable, the sea was rough, so there were very big waves. The most haunting on the speedboat from the port to the island takes 2 hours, each time crossing a small island; it is like a wave throws you on bed. It's nice if someone throws you on the bed 😁, but it's very tiring if tossing likes this 😅. The second uncomfortable feeling is that the ship cabin is closed with air conditioning, the smell coming from people who are seasick and vomiting; it keeps lurking in the closed space, making you also susceptible to a chain reaction, and about 90% of passengers on the ship vomited. I rarely get motion sickness, but now I'm starting to feel dizzy because of the smell of vomiting, so I had to climb up on the deck to breathe in the air to avoid vomiting. Fortunately, the food was finally able to stay in my stomach.😜
Where to eat on the island?
Nam Du Island is not very big. As soon as you docked, you will immediately see market selling seafood and food, from the harbor to the market is very close, along the way there are many restaurants, so if you like any restaurant, you can just stop by to eat. As soon as I got off the wharf, I immediately stopped by the rice kiosk to eat because I was so hungry and then rest a while before going to the homestay I booked before.
How to play on the island?
As I said, the first day when you arrive at the island, you can rent a motorbike to go around the island to sightsee and take pictures in the afternoon. There are a few nice coffee-houses in the island, so you can stop by and enjoy delicious drinks while looking out at the islands.
Over the next day, you can explore the small islands around Nam Du Island by booking a tour going together with others on a boat. Each such a boat is about 25 to 30 people, the boat goes to 2 points is that Hon Dau and Hon Mau island, or if you go in a group, can you contact the small boats or fishing boats of the people on the island so that the group can go on their own which is not depending on others, how long you want to play and where to play, go for yourself.
At 12 noon, I booked a tour to enjoy a view around the island and dive to see the coral, the retail tour price is 150k / person paired with another group, go to about 5 hours is the end. The weather was quite hot in the noon on the island, so I just sat down hanging out with other passengers, then at 3:30 a.m., I was transported to another island to dive and see the coral for about 1 hour, then each person was served 1 bowl of hot porridge and ends the program.
My favorite part of this tour is when I returned to Nam Du in the afternoon, go up to the deck of the boat to see the surrounding scenery is very beautiful, almost like Ha Long Bay. The night in Nam Du is a bit sad, so most people invite each other to the Seafood market to eat and then return. The next morning, I rode my motorbike to Bai Men beach, which is the most beautiful beach in Nam Du, took a few photos, then returned to the homestay to tidy baggage, check out, go to the pier at around 10 a.m to return to Kien Giang and then pick up the car to Saigon. End an impressive island trip with dark skin.😆