Duong Dong, the district of Phu Quoc also known as downtown, is a bustling and modern area full of shops, cafes and homestay-style hotels apart from the bigger and luxury chain stays. Though cabs are easily available and also reasonable if one uses apps such as Grab, it is Google maps that really bring the streets to life as one navigates the bazaars and kerbside curiosities.
The waterfront is close by and cluttered by the fishing village that straddles the mini-highway forming the arterial road that connects to the neighbouring districts, while underneath is the narrow, cramped lane that leads out to the seaside, about a kilometre’s walk from where my homestay was located. Looking for interesting cafes in the vicinity I came across the ‘Buddy Ice Cream and Info Cafe’, a quaint but cosy outlet serving the most amazing brews and views.
Suitably perked up with a Vietnamese egg cream coffee—fascinated by the layered texture and delighted by the nuanced flavour—I walked a few paces further to the what is probably the most elaborately embellished temple in town, the Dinh Ba Pagoda. Reaching there just before the local devotees started to file in for their evening prayers and offerings, I could suitably occupy myself with chronicling the richly intricate details of both the exterior and interior of this magnificent structure.
