Vietnam : Ho Chi Minh City - Mekong Delta

Continuation from here...

Filling our days in Ho Chi Minh City, my friend and I booked a trip to Mekong Delta with Kim Travel at Lan Lan Hotel 2 since our other group of friends stayed there.

We were picked up by a minibus at the hostel at around 7.30 am. After picking up several other people from their places, we departed for Mekong at about 8.15 am.

The drive through the country side took about 1 1/2 hours. Our tour guide, Alex, provided lots of interesting info along the way though half way through the journey, most of us in the bus already fell asleep. hahaha...

The bus stopped for a short break for 15 minutes at an R&R. It looked more than an R&R to me, it's like a garden. The place was beautifully taken care of and it was full of water plants. Of course I went for a quick walk around to camwhore. ;p

Then we proceeded to the My Tho pier.



 After some more explanation by Alex, we hopped on one of the fishing boats and were brought across the river to these islands.





Our boat! And that's Alex explaining the tour itinerary.



Rach Mieu, Mekong's Penang Bridge, connecting the city of My Tho with Ben Tre province.



Visiting the four islands, we joined in the daily activities of the local people and enjoyed the atmosphere.

Honestly I forgot on which islands we did the specific activities so I'll just name them Island #1, #2, #3, #4.

We first stopped at Island #1, and visited a bee farm.



Spot the Queen Bee! And my USD 1 fishing hat. haha...

After the fear factor moments holding the bees, we were served some natural honey produced like the honey tea and honey snacks.

Then we went to the back of the shed where we had a meeting with a python!

Fear factor number 2.



I am really geli with snakes but acted macho smiling in front of everyone.

Then we moved to Island #2.

Here, we visited the local fruit orchards, and later tried some fresh fruits as well as some dried ones. While we were having our snack break, the locals entertained us with singing and traditional music.



Next, we were led through the orchard to a canal.

Travelling on the sampan along the canal was really a unique experience. Too bad there's soo many tourists at the same time there was traffic jam on the canal! 



We were transferred from the sampan back to the fishing boat and continued to Island #3.

On Island #3, we got to see how coconut candy are produced.

Some of the processes...

Packing time!

This is the one you bought at the markets.

We stopped to enjoy local food for lunch at Island #4. 

 

The lunch was quite basic, but it was good enough for me. If you want more, just ask for the menu and place an order.

You wanna try this?



Snake? Crocodile? Iguana? Thanks. But no thanks.

We were given a lot of time on this island so after lunch, my friend and I decided to walk around the village while others chose to relax on the hammock. Napping after lunch sounds like a great idea, no? haha..

If walking is not your pastime, you can rent a bicycle but I forgot to take note of the rate.

grave of the local people

Walking around the peaceful village and watching the life of the people here was really enjoyable.

We returned to the city at about 5 pm.

Overall, I think it is one of the must-do things when visiting Vietnam as it will give you some insight into the life of people living in the vast Delta area. I paid USD 16 which seemed excellent value to me for a full day trip including lunch. You can actually go for the trip cheaper than that, depending on the itinerary and of course, the travel agents. Honestly I think our travel agents are a bit expensive but their service was great so I was satisfied.