Mekong Delta, Ho Chi Minh City

We took a day trip to the Mekong Delta with a private guide (we chose to book the guide who had picked us up at the airport). Our guide was originally from the Mekong Delta, and so had an insider's knowledge to the area.

We were driven in a car and taken to the river to a place where we were placed in a small boat.
It was a surreal feeling gliding up a small canal amongst deep water reeds. It felt for a moment like we had stepped back in time, and we really were in a different world. It was fantastic, and it was peaceful, gliding along a very small arm of the mighty Mekong.

The Mekong River is a life line to millions of people in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. It is a source of food, and a source of livelihood and income. People live on the river in house boats. People fish on the river. People take tourists on the river. People use the river to get from A to B. People live by the river. The Mekong Delta also supplies food to other parts of the country. It is of major importance and significance.

We had a lunch of a whole fried fish with tangy sauce, a Vietnamese specialty. And then we were taken for a drink and a special performance of a traditional Vietnamese love song, a duet between a male and a female.

We were also taken to a place which makes hand-made sweets/lollies from coconut and other locally abundant fruits.

We were then driven back to bustling Saigon.
It was a wonderful day.

This is a long day tour.
You do not see many rice paddies, as housing stretches a long way out.

On arrival at Cai Be, a boat takes you to see the floating markets, this is why I did this tour. You arrive there so late, that it is all over, you don't see anything happening, what a disappointment!
If you want to see the markets in full swing, then I suggest an overnight stay, so you can be there early morning

We stepped ashore, and saw them making rice paper and coconut lollies, and the usual shop selling souvenirs.

Back on the boat, and across the Mekong river and up canals for our lunch on an island.
After lunch, at 2pm, we headed of again, this time being rowed in a local boat. It was very hot. A change of boats to a motorized one, across the river to our bus and back to Ho Chi Minh with a comfort stop at a nice garden.

The cost of this tour was $12, and it was a long day.
It was with Rainbow Adventure again, an excellent tour guide, and a bus with nice clean windows.

We initially wanted to do a two day tour in Mekong Delta but ended up taking a three day cruise on Emotion boat to Ben Tre, Vinh Long and Long Xuyen. It turned out to be our highlight in Vietnam: had immense view of majestic Mekong River for the first day, bike ride on tranquil village path, sampan ride through water coconut palm canal and fantastic ferry crossings for the second day. The third day ended well with visit to Long Xuyen floating market, which is small and little visited yet beautiful and more intimate than the Cai Rang in Can Tho. September is low season and almost saw no other tourists on our way.

Vietnam is a lovely country and Mekong Lodge just made it even more charming. Before coming to Vietnam, I've longed to visit places that not overrun with tourism. I thought it was virtually impossible yet it was here in Mekong Lodge. We travelled from village to village on rowing boats and took part in fruit & vegetables picking, catching fish in ponds by hand and preparing a Vietnamese meal. We had a three day tour filled with joys and awe. This is truly a hidden gem. Before coming to Vietnam I read many reviews about how Mekong Delta has changed a lot due to commercialization but my heart was delighted upon arriving at Mekong Lodge. Ofcourse, this area will be completely different in another 3 years, so see it now.

Mekong Delta was the biggest delight for us in Vietnam: immense water, beautiful sunset on the river, buzzing floating market , perfect escape from our hectic life. The Mekong waterway is definitely a must for those love being on the water, especially the mud brown creeks surrounded with water coconut in Ben Tre. Our first day in the rustic charm Mekong lodge was also a highlight, happily very few travellers staying there as it was in low season. If you have time, I would recommend a three day itinerary, otherwise two day is fine to capture essence of Mekong Delta. Just make sure you enquire for visiting the floating market in early morning and take with you conical hat as it is steamy hot late morning.

The Mekong River Delta is one of the powerhouse cultured fresh fish exporters in the world due to the abdundance of nutrients needed for fish aquaculture as many top soils from the upper mekong is carried away to the mekong delta where stays and with the nutrients that go with it. plus the area has many microorganic planxtons that fishes eat hence a proliferation of fish pens & cages here for fish breeding. a tour of the mekong delta will have their last stop along the fish pens & cages lining the mekong delta and visit the station and you can feed the fish with bread or fish meal.

Among the seafood exports that the mekong delta produces are the Tiger Prawn Shrimps, the Basa Fish (Big catfish also known as "River Cobbler") and the Big Head Carp (also known as "Cream Dory Fish").

This will be a general overview of a whole day mekong delta tour. I will have particular tips on each.

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

This is a continuation or part 2 of the pictures of Mekong Delta Tour that I wrote here.

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

Part of the Whole day mekong delta tour is having a set lunch at one of the Islands at the Mekong Delta Area at the nearby Ben The Province where there are big local restaurants catering both to tourists and locals alike. We had our lunch at the Hao Ai Restaurant and resort at the Phoenix Island. These restaurants feature the local mekong delta specialties here like the the famous elephant ear fish, the big head carp (cream dory fish to laymen hehehe), the insanely big Tiger Prawns grilled (Mekong Delta is a big producer of cultured tiger prawn shrimps hence the price of these jumbo shrimps are cheap in the area), other vietnamese specialties like assorted spring rolls and other meat dishes.

The restaurant has it's own fish ponds and also doubles as a resort.

if you are not in a package tour, the set meals costs 120,000 VND excluding drinks.

FINAL Part of my Fruit Farm and Bee Farm tips with more pictures.

After your big passeger boat docks at the station, you will walk along the palm trees and souvenir shops lining the island and after 10 minutes of walking, will be at a big reception area where you will be seated in wooden tables and chairs and be given hot tea then a really strong vietnamese rice wine as an aperitif then given assorted tropical fruits grown in the mekong delta to partake of (the fruits are the dragon fruit, watermelon, pineapple, bananas, mangoes and bread fruit. There will be Bees swarming around the area since it is also a bee farm but don't worry as they would not sting you. There will be a local band playing songs and you can tip them if you like. you can buy cold drinks at the store inside the complex if you want then the tour proceeds to the coconut candy making area.

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.

Part two of my Fruit Farm and Bee Farm tips with more pictures.

After your big passeger boat docks at the station, you will walk along the palm trees and souvenir shops lining the island and after 10 minutes of walking, will be at a big reception area where you will be seated in wooden tables and chairs and be given hot tea then a really strong vietnamese rice wine as an aperitif then given assorted tropical fruits grown in the mekong delta to partake of (the fruits are the dragon fruit, watermelon, pineapple, bananas, mangoes and bread fruit. There will be Bees swarming around the area since it is also a bee farm but don't worry as they would not sting you. There will be a local band playing songs and you can tip them if you like. you can buy cold drinks at the store inside the complex if you want then the tour proceeds to the coconut candy making area.

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.

After your big passeger boat docks at the station, you will walk along the palm trees and souvenir shops lining the island and after 10 minutes of walking, will be at a big reception area where you will be seated in wooden tables and chairs and be given hot tea then a really strong vietnamese rice wine as an aperitif then given assorted tropical fruits grown in the mekong delta to partake of (the fruits are the dragon fruit, watermelon, pineapple, bananas, mangoes and bread fruit. There will be Bees swarming around the area since it is also a bee farm but don't worry as they would not sting you. There will be a local band playing songs and you can tip them if you like. you can buy cold drinks at the store inside the complex if you want then the tour proceeds to the coconut candy making area.

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.

The start of a mekong delta tour is via riding one of the big boats lining the big pier of My Tho City, which is a 2 hour drive from Saigon. Upon arriving at My tho, you will be herded into one of the big boats at the pier and a boat cruise starts around the islets and tropical orchards through the canal of Vam Xep at the mekong delta and finally to a small islet where the fruit farm and bee farm and coconut candy tours will start. The boat tour will last for about 20 minutes until you reach the docks of the island where the fruit farm tour will start. you will se the muddy mekong river delta and other fish farms and other structures while on the big passenger boat going to the fruit farm in the small island.

if you have a whole day tour of the mekong delta, in one of the islands in mekong delta near my tho after the fruit and bee farm is a mini boat station where you will ride into small rowing boats as to get a glimpse of the typical life in the mekong delta. The boat ride will last for about 20 minutes along the mini tributaries of the mekong river with lots of mangrove swamps lining the small channels and other fruit bearing trees and with a single boatman rowing your boat. a maximum of 3 people per boat is allowed and the end of the boat trip is at the edge of the island where you transfer to a bigger boat for a cruise back to another island for a hearty lunch stop.

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.

During our trip to Ho Chi Minh city, we joined 2-day tour to Mekong Delta. It was very nice experience. We visited local coconut candy home-factory, watched live performance of folk songs, sat on the boat to go to floating market and a lot more. We spent a night at Can Tho city. The tour guide introduced to us to have dinner on Ninh Kieu boat. Thumb up! We loved all local Southern Vietnam food that we had chance to eat during the trip.
The 2-day tour costs about 20USD per pax, including 1 lunch, 1 hotel night and 1 breakfast which I thought is very worthy :).
You can opt for a choice of 3 to 5-day tour which will travel to Phnom Penh by boat from there as well. In my group, some of Americans joined Phnom Penh tour, so they spent a night elsewhere, in stead of Can Tho city.

The tour agency I joined is Sinh Cafe. Not sure if they are "real" Sinh Cafe, but the service is not bad.
Here is their address: 248 De Tham St, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City