The Mekong river - The longest river in Indochina is divided into nine tributaries within Vietnamese territory and has given birth to the vast Mekong Delta. The Mekong Delta is often referred as the ‘rice bowl’ and the ‘garden of heaven’, because of its rich soil which is the breeding ground for dozens of vegetables, fruit and flowers. A visit to this region allows you to experience the ‘life on the water’ of the local people.
The Mekong River Starts from China and is a cradle for Vietnam.
The soil brought by this river makes the area
surrounding this delta, Very fertile and hence the reason of water of Mekong looks soiled and dirty. The Mekong Delta is devided in two parts.
1) Cai Be
2) Ben Tre
Cai be is little farther then ben tre and if you are planning for one day trip choose Ben Tre first.
Your journey will be for less time and you will have more time to enjoy.
It takes 3 hours for Cai Be and 2 hours for ben Tre.
There are many Tours and Travel company but the most famous one is Sinh Cafe, Situated in Pham Ngu lao Street. The trip for Ben Tre starts at generally 8:30 in morning and by 10:30 you will reach near Mekong River My Tho,
The Place where you can get boat to start your Mekong visit.
You Can also plan a bike trip to Mekong Delta, Ben Tre island. The distance is around 70Km from HCMC and the condition of road is quite good.You can get Ferry to carry your bike to the other end of Mekong.
At My Tho you can find some nice shops where they might be selling belts made of crocodile skin or snake skin but make sure and take help of your guide since the belt can not be made of real skin.
Sooner you will be cruising along small creek to Mekong River estuary, to Con Phung (Phoenix Island) and stop over a garden restaurant at a local house for Vietnamese lunch. They Take care of your vegetarian or non-vegetarian taste and also h
ave a menu to select food for lunch which will be chargeable. IF you are not so specific in food, you will not find any difficulty in enjoying the food.
The motorized boat having a capacity of 40 people will go along the river giving you a nice scenery with lush green islands on both the sides and some boats going around carrying goods or fishing boats or some personal boats. Sooner the boat will stop right in the middle of natural beauty and quiet village in Ben Tre Province. After landing in Ben tre you can go inside the village. Here you can find horse driven carts
and can see the real Vietnam Closely their culture, their housing style and their way of living.
Along with farming which is the major source of income they have some small industry of bee farming and snake culture. you can also taste natural Honey wine and honey. You can find few things made of snake skin there. You can enjoy the traditional music and see some traditional home made instruments. The traditional music is entertaining and you will really enjoy it.
You can try some peculiar and tropical fruit. Here Coconut is a good subject for research for village people. They are quite good in using i in many ways
. The coconut is used to make coconut candy which is tasty but sticky and comes in many flavor. Can see the Making of "Coconut Candy'. Also they make Soap from coconut.
The upper part which cant be used for any purpose is used for making show items, and also used in making spoons and other things.
explore the local coconut candy production process, taste candy & coconut pulp here and then move to the small boat which goes through small canal, also called back water.
This will lead you to your big motorized boat and will lead you back to My Tho. Your bus will be waiting there. and again it will take 2 hours to go back to HCMC.
