The bus passed by many fertile paddy fields on the way to My Tho town. Luckily, the bus stopped halfway at the rest-stop for a toilet break and I quickly ran down the road into the paddy field trying to snap some refreshing green scenery.
On the way to the restroom, passing by the green pond, this was an open lotus flower. Isn’t this beautiful?
I saw few liquor bottles where snakes were soaked into it as a traditional medicine at the local souvenir shop. Vietnamese said it has aphrodisiac effect. However, these claims should not all be taken literally as many are likely exaggerated to attract buyers. I did not ask about the price. Do you think I really need this stuff?!!! LOL.
Our local tour guide plucked a type of flower and when he plucked the entire petal it will show a rabbit shape. How interesting.
We reached at the Mekong river bank before the blue boat departed at 10.30am. The boat ride to Thoi Son Island took around 40 minutes.
When we boarded the 20-30 seated tour boat, we saw this kid with his parent.
My Tho town along the Mekong River
Fishing boats along Mekong River
Few tour boats cruising along the Mekong River
At the island, we could observe the way of making coconut candy at the workshop ad enjoyed the coconut candy. There were souvenirs made of coconut trees for sale. However, I would suggest you buy it at HCMC supermarkets as the prices are much cheaper. It cost 20,000 VND for a 200 gram pack of coconut candy there (if you buy 5 pack, you get 1 pack free) while in HCMC supermarkets, a 450 gram pack costs around 12,000 VND!
A pair of pomeloes. Yeah, you do not need to have that size for me to love you…haha
Then we visited the bee farm nearby and enjoyed the honey tea with added bee pollen. A pack of bee pollen cost 100,000 VND and a 500ml bottle of honey cost 70,000 VND. If you buy 5 items, you will get one free but it also depends on your bartering skills if you want cheaper price. Bee pollen is a natural food and have many medical benefits like improve overall strength, muscle mass, endurance and sexual potency.
From the bee farm, we walked for another 5 minutes to the fruit orchards to taste an enormous platter of assorted fresh tropical fruits like papaya, pineapples, watermelon, longan, dragon fruit, pomelo and jackfruit at the garden house. We were also served with a cup tea and listening to Vietnam folk music. It’s a great experience if you can enjoy all these luxury while you are on the hammock.
On the other side, there were many sampans that transport us through the mangrove swamps up to the main part of Mekong Delta or to our tour boat.
Two elderly (front and back) men steered their paddles gliding almost silently through the brown water. The scenery throughout our sampan ride was beautiful, with lush greenery all around us.
The sampan reached to the Mekong Delta
This elderly man was all sweat when he stopped at our tour boat. Without any hesitation, I gave him a 10,000 VND tips. Hope that’s not too little apart the sampan fare was paid by our tour guide.
Once we were back to the pier, there were few stalls selling souvenirs like handicrafts, t-shirts, famous Vietnam hat and etc.
Our tour guide rushed us back to the bus, else we will have less time at our next tourist spot, Vinh Trang Pagoda.
Hey. Which tour company did you use for the mekong Delta day tour.
ReplyDeleteIt's guided tour from my home country. You can always get the tour from the booklet and any hotels. My recommendation is go to Hanh or Sinh Cafe in De Tham. Price is reasonable.
ReplyDelete