Private Tour - Mekong Delta

Overview

Until the 16th Century, the Mekong Delta was an area of marshland and forest. Gradually the marshland was reclaimed and a canal network built so that today, people can make a reasonable living from rice, fish, soybeans, maize, peanuts, tobacco, melons etc. The My Tho area is famous for its coconut palms and fruit orchards (mangoes, longans, bananas and citrus fruits).

The three hour drive (with photo stops) out of Ho Chi Minh City to My Tho takes you through miles of flate rice fields, along a bustling highway busy with bicycles and oxcarts heading to and from market. Passing through small villages, you will see firsthand country life - rice threshing and milling, vegetables drying on the flat hot roadside, children caring for their water buffalo.

Upon arrival in the quaint provincial town, board a boat for the highlight of the day - a trip on the Mekong River. You will see all manner of boats - from dug out canoes to barges and houseboats to passenger ferries. Many of the wooden boats have an unusual eye painted on their bows to frighten off evil underwater spirits.

Your boat trip will take you through a maze of small canals where you will witness the everyday lives of the river dwellers, and on to one of the many islands in the Delta, where you will see the traditional homes of fruit farmers and fishermen. Lunch will be at a local restaurant, where the specialty is fried fish and vegetables wrapped in rice paper with spicy sauce, followed by a variety of exotic locally-grown tropical fruit.