 | Ho Chi Minh City Mekong Delta Reviews | 1 - 10 of 55 |  |
Tip update: This place is listed under Patricia Schultz's "1000 places to see before you die"
If you're stressed out by all the buzz of city life, step into a lush, green, dreamland that's just south of HCMC.
Yes, I'm talking about the mekong delta and that is a vast marshland and forested area where most of VN's rice is grown.
This day trip cost only about USD12 or less. Do go for the 3 or 4 day trip if you can. I went for a full day trip from 8am to 7pm but only covered one or two provinces.
For more pictures, you can refer to my travelogue Leave a Comment
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Well we'd heard so much about it from all your wonderful tips here on vt, that we just simply had to visit. Straight from the cruise, we hired a taxi for the day (only $40US), jumped in and headed off for the hilight of our cruise.....a trip to the Mekong Delta!!
A lot of people did the bus day trip to the Mekong and paid heaps more, but we got a real bargain and got to see 3 islands with 3 modes of transport and didn't have to travel so far to experience the same thing.
Only about an hour and half down the road our taxi arrived at Tien Gaing for a boat ride to our first island in the Ben Tre Province. Leave a Comment
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Well it's not your apocalypse now type jungle, but it's a great day out. I did a bike tour down there, picked up the bikes then jumped on a boat to cycle round the islands. Stopped for bite of Elephant ear fish and prawns, with a couple of peach brandies. The cycling isn't strenuous as it's all flat.
Reccomed Buffalo tours for this one, bit more expensive than the rest but the guide was first rate and we were well looked after. Leave a Comment
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To get an idea of what you be expecting, you may wish to have a look at this 2 websites:
http://www.deltaadventuretour.com/ and http://www.sinhcafevn.com/AboutUs.asp
Very organised tour agencies...but it also means a lot of customers. Leave a Comment
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As all deltas, it receives the bounty of the siltation from the upper Mekong, and as such is a very rich and lush area, covered with rice fields. It produces about half of the total of Vietnam's agricultural output, and is the place for timeless sceneries of farmers planting or harvesting rice.
The Mekong splits in Cambodia into two main rivers, the Bassac (Hậu Giang) and the First river (Tiền Giang), then in Vietnam into a more complex system, creating a maze of small canals, rivers and arroyos interspersed with villages and floating markets.
Life in the Mekong Delta revolves much around the river, and all the villages are often accessible by river rather than by road. The ‘rice bowl’ of Vietnam, the Mekong Delta, with its nine river branches, low-lying rice paddies, thick mangroves, palm trees, bustling floating markets and enterprising fishing communities, is a fascinating slice of Vietnamese culture.
Activities of the Mekong Delta day tour include visits into a Bee Farm, A Snake Farm, Tasting Local Wines and Elixirs, Fruits, Lunch with Elephant Ear Fish, Fish Farm tour with the Starting point at My Tho City, capital of Tinh Tien Giang Province.
price of tour is $ 26 and is available everyday Address: My Tho, Tinh Tien Giang Province, VietnamPhone: (84 8) 823 3771 - 823 3772Website: www.vietnamstay.com/ Other Contact: Fax: (84 8) 823 3787
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We took the USD10/pax which included lunch. The trip was pretty enjoyable. Nothing much to see. We went to the coconut candy making "location", the candy was great....we bought a couple back. Tried the snake wine...which taste like brandy! But it was "powerful"...i.e. liquour content.
To book, go to Delta Adventure Tours at De Tham. Or go to De Tham and book the tours. Don't book from the hotels.
Prices for the Mekong Delta tour starts from USD7 onwards (depending how intensive you want).
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Next the locals treated us to a fruit buffet and sang to us :o) I gave the two little girls $1US each and the bigger one $2US, which Kelli told me later she saw giving to the parents. .... As we were walking along some children were singing "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands...." in Vietnamese..... so we joined in :o) Leave a Comment
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Another good day out is go on a Mekong Delta trip. I booked mine through Delta Adventure again who I found to be reliable and whose rates were as competitive as most.
After a relaxing drive out of the city the scenery became very rural and peaceful and it was nice to be away from the din of Saigon
At the central embarkation point travellers are directed to different boats depending on which tour you had chosen. We set off on our boat and made several stops to see ( and taste ) the delicious coconut candy, taste honey tea and see rice paper being made. The delta really is the rice bowl of Vietnam and you can see all types of fruit growing in abundance at the rivers edge. Our trip included a light lunch and we were treated to being serenaded with local countryside songs while we relaxed and ate.
One of the options on the one day trip was to return to Saigon by boat which although a little long at four hours was a really nice and relaxing way to return to the city as the sun set and to see more of life on the river Directions: Every agent in Saigon can arrange this or longer tours. Its much to better to use the tour operators outside of the hotels who offer far better rates
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This is a worthwile trip to take. Its about 6 hours all up and very scenic.
You start with a long car journey to the delta and en route you see local life Vietnamese style.
At the delta you transfer to a boat and go past a fish farm, and then call into a tourist island to see coconut toffee being made (and sold), souvineer stalls, morning tea where you sample rice wine, local fruits etc, and get a sample hearing of local music played on traditional instruments and song. - very interesting for me as a part time musician.
Back to the boat and off to another island for lunch where they make springs rolls in front of you. Lunch was great.
Then back to the boat via a trip in the back waters on a sam pan (if they locally call it that?) that is scenic and interesting as you see historic type traditional dutch dwellings and current dwellings of the locals.
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A full day activity starting off at 8am. In addition it takes 2 hrs to go to the pier (and another 2 hrs back) so we had a high expectation to it. But it turned out pretty disappointing.
1) Scenery is definitely not "romantic" as some may describe. The Saigon in Hong Kong definitely is better. I can hardly name anything remarkable regarding the scenery
2) There's a short island trip included in the tour. The tour guide took us to see some of the tropical fruits that are not at all exciting for someone who was raised in Asia. There was a brief stay at a local cafe which was obviously a stop for souvenirs. I was shown natural honey and dried fruit that regrettably very common across Asia.
3) A stop at coconut candy making site which is an open space for tourist to see how they make coconut candy. 20,000 dongs/ pack, buy 5 get 1 free. No bargaining margin but I guess it's a reasonable price. Don't pay in USD it's a rip-off.
4) A stop at another cafe where local musicians perform Vietnamese music -- you wish. They perform Japanese and Korean songs alternatively with only one Vietnamese song in their list.
5) Lunch at local restaurant. We ordered Coconut steamed prawns which turned out to be regular steamed shrimps. Giang Yang Fried Rice which disappointedly was a very dry version of the Chinese Yang Chou Fried Rice. Not satisified but whatever. The lunch (including 1 drink) costed each of us approx USD 10.
6) Another short boat trip on "sanpan" meant to "see how local people live" but in reality it is them rowing your boat to let you see how they make money from you. Couple of the boats passed by us would make special remark with a dollar note (USD) so to remind us to tip our rowers. I tipped my rower not because I was reminded but because she is such a cute little girl. (And that upset me because girl of her age should be at school rather than rowing boats for the tourists)
And that is!
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