Chanukah in the Sand, Phu Quoc, Vietnam

23 December 2014

 We flew to the tropical island of Phu Quoc (pronounced foo KOK), in the Gulf of Thailand, sort of just south of Cambodia.  Actually, on a map it looks closer to Cambodia than it is to Vietnam, but Phu Quoc is Vietnam's largest island (almost 600 sq km, or roughly 230 sq miles).  So this is a big island, but in all the photos we've seen it looks gorgeous.  We don't know, we arrived at 7 PM, and it was dark.  

We're staying at a little beachy resort, although it's a backpacker kind of resort.  We have half of a little bungalow, with big basic beds, a porch, a bathroom (with a resident frog we're encouraging to leave), and speedy wifi.  The price includes breakfast, which is at the restaurant on the beach.  But to get to the beach, we walk on an elevated concrete walkway that goes over the middle of a swamp.  Or marsh.  Something with plants and water and frogs.  We'll see in the morning.

But we're really looking forward to the beach, the aqua water, and the snorkeling and diving!!!!  That's why we came to Phu Quoc.  Well, and we both like islands.

Anyway, tonight was the last night of Chanukah.  It didn't seem worthwhile to carry the menorah to the island for just one night, and I figured I could improvise with something.  (One year, I put my candles in a bar of soap.  And found out that soap burns.)  

So our Chanukah improv menorah is an ash tray filled with sand from the beach.  It looks rather like a small birthday cake, but it worked.  We sang the blessings as we lit the candles, the fans sped up the burning process, and Chanukah was over before you could sing "Rock of Ages" in Hebrew.

Happy Chanukah, and I'll blog again soon with pictures of this amazing tropical paradise!