It never rains, it pours...

When you wake up hugging a bottle of water and the decorative cushions, bed runner and thank you card from the hotel are still placed exactly as they were when you first arrived, you know it's not going to be your day. Suffice to say, the final night out had been fantastic and in true Pritchard form, I'd completely outdone myself. My mouth was as dry as Ghandi's flip-flop, there was a sledgehammer making music in my skull and Mother Nature had decided to start repeatedly punching me in the uterus.

Note to anyone visiting Vietnam, if a local offers you their potent homemade rice wine, tell them you're allergic to alcohol haha!

I'd messaged the boys to see if they were alive and luckily for them they were sensible and stopped before I did so didn't feel as rough. Ash had mentioned previously that he wanted to get into a routine of eating more at home using chopsticks and because there are lots of restrictions on wood going into Australia I decided it would be nicer to donate them than have to chuck them away so went to find their room to hand them over and say the final goodbye.

Not going to lie, it made me sad leaving them. I'd had so much fun with those two as their humour is similar to mine and I could just be completely myself goofing and joking around for two weeks. Was going to be seriously weird not having them around.

I grabbed a banana from breakfast as it was the most I could manage and got set packing the final bits and then Connie and I left for the airport. Even though we had booked the return flights to Phu Quoc Island (absolute bargain at £40 in total each), we hadn't booked a hotel the night before as we ran out of time. We had a frantic search online and found a cheap 4 star hotel called Sasco Blue Lagoon Resort and it was a bargain at £45 a night for the two of us.

The rest of the day went in a blur of slow-mo, nausea and painstaking waiting around. In true fashion when you feel rubbish, I chose a queue to check-in for the flight and drop the bags off as there was only one family in front of us. What I hadn't noticed before I committed myself was that this family could probably have equated to half of Vietnam as there were so many of them and it took about 25 minutes to sort their stuff as the bags just kept coming! In the meantime, the people in the other queues were whizzing through and we were stuck - standard.

Once we'd checked in and dropped off the baggage, it didn't take too long to get through security so we went and sat ourselves down and I reluctantly did some blogging to try and distract myself. We found a Burger King and I treated myself to a cheeseburger to see if it would help - thank god it did a bit!

(Think this photo brilliantly sums up how I felt!)

The flight was super quick, only 40 mins, and we were met by a man holding a sign with Connie's name as a free airport shuttle was included in our booking - result. Driving to the hotel, the first thing I noted was how much work the Island needed. It had so much potential but was quite run down and in need of some serious tlc. You could tell tourism hadn't quite yet hit and although in many ways, I appreciate that an awful lot more abroad where it's still authentic than having it replicate Britain, it would be great to see the island in a few years and check out how far it has advanced.

The politest way of putting it would be to say that the hotel was lacking in similarity to the pictures on booking.com. Again, the potential was all there but the hotel had been seriously neglected and was very run down. The first room they showed us to was right near the beach which was great but it had a double bed so was no good and you also couldn't miss the fact the entire wall was covered in mould and it was damp and cold. The next room was a step up in that it had twin beds and was a cute bungalow about 100m from the beach and there was no mould but it was definitely damp!

Depressingly it wasn't sunbathing weather so we decided to do some exploring of the town. It was so traditionally Vietnamese which was great and there were only a couple of shops with clothes and souvenirs for tourists. The rest were food stalls, pharmacies or makeshift mini-mart style stores that sold a bit of everything. Thankfully after my hunt the previous day, when I stopped at the pharmacy to get some mozzie spray, I found some tampons - wahoo (its all about the little things in life!)

We explored the main part of town, walking around the market and seeing all the fish restaurants along the harbour and stopped for a drink to cool down at the Windows Cafe.

After that, we wandered some more until we came across a restaurant with lots of locals in so we stopped for dinner. I was still off the idea of food so had a plate of chips to tide me over. To be fair, after seeing Connie's reaction to her seafood fried rice, I think I was distinctly better off. It was still really early and as there was nothing to do at the hotel where the bar wasn't open, we continued wandering around the market although there wasn't much to see. After that, we just walked back to the hotel and had an early night.

The following morning we were up fairly early and I was relieved to feel a bit fresher although my stomach wasn't in agreement. We hit the breakfast at the clubhouse and were shocked that there was literally no-one around and the hotel was practically empty. I had some fruit and toast with jam and laughed when I went to grab some butter as they had laid out the synthetic burger cheese slices and labelled them as butter so we had to tell them otherwise!

Basically, this breakfast was worst than the one in Hoi An and didn't have a lot to offer. I was hoping there might be some bacon or something but the only hot food they served was noodles and Vietnamese dishes or spag bol which was a bit random!

It wasn't really sunbathing weather at that point so we wandered off in the opposite direction to town in order to look for an ATM that would work so I could pay Connie for the hotel and a place that did laundry cheaper than the hotel did. Luckily we found both and also chanced upon a cute little cafe called Peach which did some really nice juices. We got given a free hibiscus tea and I ordered the flu fighter which was pineapple, lemon, orange and ginger in the hope the ginger might settle my stomach a bit!

By this point, the sun had finally agreed to grace us with its presence and we were able to go and lay on the beach. I got myself seriously comfy and enjoyed watching the waves come in whilst listening to the music on my phone. Connie stayed for about an hour and then wandered into town for a change of scenery leaving me in my element to bake!

Connie later came back to enjoy some more sunshine but it was short lived as the rain came down in sheets. We held out for as long as we could to see if it would pass but it started to get heavier and was coming through the bamboo umbrella above us so we made a run for it back to the room. Once again, we were pretty much stuck within the confines of the 4 damp walls and the cabin fever started to take hold where there was so little you could do when it was that torrential apart from read, watch Vietnamese tv, fill in my journal, surf the net, blog, Skype home if anyone was up and about or watch trash on Netflix.

Later on in the evening, it cleared up enough for us to pop out for some food and we now both had appetites where we hadn't been hungry at lunch! Where the weather was so temperamental, we chose a restaurant closer to the hotel so we didn't have to walk the 15/20 minutes into town in case the heavens opened again. We found a roadside restaurant full of locals and a spattering of tourists so settled ourselves in for a cheap dinner and beer. The menu was full of seafood options, especially snails but where my stomach was unsettled, I just wanted meat and boiled rice but no such luck. Most stuff was fried so I just ended up eating beef fried noodles which wasn't too bad but was a bit reminiscent of uni, eating a bowl of uncooked crispy bachelors super noodles with the addition of veg and meat.

The rest of the evening back at the room was a continuation of the earlier cabin fever activities and we had an early night in the hope that the weather would cheer up so we could get back out on the beach.

I woke up feeling rubbish and had slept in so by the time I surfaced, Connie was already showered, dressed and was sat on the balcony reading. I wasn't hungry for the rubbish they served up but knew I needed to eat something so settled for toast with jam on. They'd got one step further with actual butter when I got there but when I turned the packed over, it was about 6 months past the expiry date and had gone a weird texture so I swerved that; certainly didn't need anything to make me feel worse!

The weather was perking up so I told Connie I would stay near the beach for the day and she went off into town to keep busy.

(Selfie I sent to Izzy whilst on the beach!)

In hindsight, it was a good thing I did stay as I still felt rubbish and my stomach was unsettled which resulted in making a dash back to the room a couple of times. There was no way I was going to let it spoil the long awaited sunshine and I couldn't complain as it wasn't a proper Delhi-belly like some people had been on the receiving end of during the tour!

By lunchtime, we'd worked up a bit of an appetite and fancied a snack but of course the hotel didn't have a lot to offer to we went off in search for something close by. I'd seen the Embassy in Trip Advisor which was supposedly really good but when we got there, it was closed despite saying it would open in October. The Swiss lady that owned it came out for a chat with us and said they'd only just got back to the island so wouldn't be ready for another 10 days. Her advice was for us to carry on and see if Kay's was open as they had eaten there recently and said it was cheap but good food. We found a Kay's but unfortunately they were shut (we later found out it was the wrong one and the correct one was further up!) Instead, we crossed the road to Chez Carole which I'd also seen on Trip Advisor with great ratings and I had spring rolls that were like sausage rolls where there weren't any noodles or veg in them and Connie and I shared some chips too.

In typical Phu Quoc fashion, the rain started again just as we were leaving the restaurant and it was about 15 mins walk back to the hotel. Even more typical of my luck, I just happened to be wearing a white tshirt so Connie and I had a laugh when she threatened that surely there was somewhere on the island I could be entered into a wet tshirt competition. We ducked out of the rain to collect our laundry and headed back to the room for the afternoon as it was about 3pm by this point.

There wasn't much to do whilst confined in the room so I watched He's Just Not That Into You (ultimate trash!) and had a long catch up on Skype with Mum. By half 8, we were bored stiff and decided to brave the rain and go on a mission to find somewhere to go and get a beer to escape the hotel. We found a great bar right by the hotel called the Drunkn Monkey where the bar tender spoke the best English we had come across so far so we could actually have a conversation! I sat with an ice cold beer and treated myself to some chicken nachos as I was a bit peckish. The rain continued to come down in sheets and was even starting to come through the roof of the bar so we waited until it had calmed down a bit before heading back to the room!

The 26th was a big day as it was Connie's 50th birthday! I made her a makeshift birthday card using the paper and envelope from the hotel and for artwork that looked like a kid from nursery had done it, she was really chuffed!

We went over to the breakfast hall and had omelettes on toast and had a fairly chilled morning. Later on in the day, we wandered towards town and found a lovely little restaurant on the water front - we had finally found somewhere that served meat with boiled rice!! I had the chilli and lemongrass chicken and rice with an iced tea. Even though the weather was slightly overcast, it was a really humid day sat sweating eating lunch but the views were nice and it certainly made a change to being cooped up at the hotel!

We had a look at the little trinket and souvenir shops on the way back and then relaxed for the afternoon and re-packed our luggage before getting showered and ready to go out and meet Stephanie for the evening at her hotel.

(The Island are obviously big fans!)

The taxi didn't take too long and Stephanie's hotel was pretty insane! You could definitely tell it was 5 star and it had a lovely lobby, bar/lounge with a cigar room and a big pool and beach area with a bar and plenty of garden space to roam around. If anyone fancies Phu Quoc island and has a bit more budget to play with, I'd definitely recommend the Salinda 5 star Resort :)

We had a wander onto the beach and sat by the bar and had a pink mojito. After a little peek around the hotel, Stephanie let us see her room and then we headed out in the rain and over the road to another highly rated Trip Advisor restaurant; Cami. The atmosphere was great, the people were so friendly and the food was good too! I told the waiter it was Connie's birthday so they played two birthday songs over the radio which was hilarious and gave her a free mojito. The girls went for a seafood hotpot which looked great but I wasn't too hungry so chose a beef with five spices served with boiled rice. It was nice but I didn't like the flavour of the 5 spices so only ate half of it.

After a lovely time there, we headed back to the bar and lounge area in the Salinda hotel and ordered some g&t's whilst watching a band play; it was so relaxing and upmarket compared to what we were used to!

I couldn't believe how quickly the time had gone here even though the weather had put a stop to doing anything most of the time and made it feel like we were moving in slo-mo. We waved goodbye to Stephanie and headed back to the hotel to bed, ready for our flight back to Ho Chi Minh City the next day.

The next day we were up fairly early and ready for breakfast but I didn't feel brilliant so only had toast and jam. I left Connie to wander along the beach but had to leave her to it and head back to the room. Considering it had been unsettled since we arrived, it's always the way isn't it when you've got to catch 3 flights in one day and your stomach decides that's the day it will give you real hell. Suffice to say, I didn't move very far and went back to bed for a nap to see if that would help before we had to check out at 12. Luckily, I was well prepared with Imodium and rehydration sachets and guzzled them down like they were going out of fashion; absolutely anything to stop things moving south whilst on the flights!

Our free ride to the airport arrived and drove us to get checked in. Considering the weather had done nothing but rain pretty much the whole time we were there, I wasn't sad to be leaving and was especially looking forward to getting to Penang and seeing Jess.

The flight was super speedy at 40 mins and felt like the minute we got up in the air we were coming back down again. Once we landed, we picked up our stuff and said our goodbyes and then I made my way from the domestic terminal over to the international one.

Because I was there over 3 hours before my departure, the check-in desks for Malaysian Airlines weren't even open yet and I had to sit around and wait. Once it opened though, everything moved fairly quickly and it didn't take too long to get through (immigration was the longest part!) For an international airport, I was surprised that it wasn't bigger and there wasn't more stuff but there was enough to keep me busy so I mooched around and got myself a Burger King to tide me over. There was free wifi too so I got to speak to the grandparents for about half an hour which was great and I managed to catch Mum, Amanda and Rebecca at the same time too as they were all in the car on the way to Marlow :)

So far so good on the stomach front and there had been no further issues although I was starting to feel sick and horrible so just wanted to get on the next plane and be with Jess. I was relieved when they called us onto the flight and I know people have voiced concerns over Malaysian Airlines because of the incidents that hit the news but I had absolutely no complaints whatsoever. Even though it was only a short flight to Kuala Lumpur, I had 3 seats to myself for the 2 hours and they put the films on so I watched Mike and Dave need wedding dates which was funny!

I had a 1 hour transit time at KL which whizzed by and everything was easily signposted so I didn't get lost. Then before I knew it, I was back on a plane for my third and final flight to Penang...wahooooo!

Quote for the day from Coco Chanel: "Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself."

Ciao for now! Xxx