Deeper into the Mekong River Delta

Deeper into the Mekong River Delta

Is there anywhere on planet Earth that so teems with life and industry as the Mekong Delta? Anywhere where agriculture and fish farming are so intensively practiced? In thinking that one day I'll come back here and find multi-storey rice paddies stretching to the horizon, I suspect I'm only partially dreaming.

Not for nothing has the delta of the Mekong River been termed the "rice bowl of the Universe". Six countries and well over fifty million people depend upon the Mekong for their very livelihood. And in no country is this dependence so profound as in Vietnam.

Flying into Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) gives as good an introduction as any to the wonders of the Mekong. From the air the landscape resembles an intricate anatomical chart, only in shades of green and brown rather than white and red. Every tributary of the Mekong River bifurcates, then trifurcates and multifurcates into thousands of veins, arteries and capillaries. Then, linking this vast drainage network are hundreds of manmade canals, giving the countryside the appearance of an Eastern Venice.

"Getting out into the Delta" makes for a popular day trip from Saigon. Some visitors go further afield, to the provincial capital of Can Tho - and fewer still to the city of Chau Doc, near the Cambodia-Vietnam border. But until very recently (early 2001) it was impossible for foreigners to go by river across the Cambodian border.

Now, all this has changed. The Victoria Sprite and her larger sister vessel the Victoria Princess, for the very first time, offer a river service from Saigon all the way to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. No doubt whatsoever, this trip is destined to become one of the world's great river journeys.

As with any new venture, the Victoria boat service is still getting its scheduling in order. So on this occasion I get to travel by road from Saigon, to join the boat at Chau Doc. The road trip provides another take on Mekong life, which from any perspective is fascinating in its ever-changing variety.

O mai – a dilicious nosh

“O mai” – a dilicious nosh

“O mai” is salted dry apricot or sugared dry apricot that is a favourite nosh for many people in Hanoi and other provinces.





“O mai” is produced for traditional method, since chosing material, the company also send staff to gardens in Hung Yen, Hai Hung, Hoa Binh, Lai Chau in order to gather all crop of kinds of sour fresh fruit like plum, apricot, dracontomelum, star, tamarind, kumquat, pineaple,

Human chess in Vietnam

Human chess in Vietnam

Whenever taking part in Vietnamese village and temple festivals, you will have a chance to watch a traditional game - human chess (“cờ người”), which is the favourite to a great deal of Viet people .

Human chess is a variant of chess, often played by people who take on the roles of the various chess pieces (king, knight, bishop and so on). This is typically done on an outdoor field, with the squares of the board marked out on the grass. A move resulting in a piece being taken from the board will cause a choreographed fight to be played out to determine whether the piece is actually taken.

Halong Bay

Halong Bay

Recognized by Unesco as a World Heritage Site since 1994 for it thousands of natural islands, Ha Long Bay is a legendary world,, and one of the most magnificent scenic spots in Vietnam as well.

Situated in North-East of Vietnam (150km from Hanoi), the Bay is in the Gulf of Tonkin which comprised of regions of Halong City, the township of Cam Pha, and a part of the island district of Van Don. It abuts Cat Ba Island in the southwest. Toward the west is the coastline 120km long. The site is 1553 sq.km with 1969 islands of various sizes, of which 989 have been named.

My Khe Beach, a beautiful beach in Da Nang

My Khe Beach, a beautiful beach in Da Nang

My Khe Beach is recognised as one of the most ideal beach of Da Nang City, international tourists came here for convalescence and relaxation...

Hoa Lo Prison

Hoa Lo Prison

Just 5 minutes away from the Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel, Hoa Lo Prison is well worth a visit.

The name Hoa Lo, commonly translated as "fiery furnace" or even "Hell's hole", also means "stove". The name originated from the street name "Pho Hoa Lo", due to the concentration of stores selling wood stoves and coal-fire stoves along the street from pre-colonial times.

Travelling to Mui Ke Ga, unforgettable experience...

Travelling to Mui Ke Ga, unforgettable experience...

Clean and primitive, Mui Ke Ga (Ke Ga Cape) is the most favourite destination for visitors to Binh Thuan Province. From the top of the lighthouse built on the island, visitors can enjoy a fabulous view of the open sea...

  Clean sand beach

From the beach...

Twenty-five kilometers from the city of Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan Province, tourists can travel by bus or motorbike along the coastline to Ke Ga Island. At Ke Ga Cape, visitors are able to wander around and clamber over cliffs and boulders piled up all over the place.

There are many international and domestic ships and fishing boats coming and going in the area. As there are reefs in the area, French and local people decided to erect Ke Ga lighthouse to warn ships of the danger.

Mekong Delta Adventure

Mekong Delta Adventure

Sai Gon - My Tho - Ben Tre - Can Tho - Long Xuyen - Chau Doc - Vinh Suong
By: boat, bus, mini-bus, xich lo, xe om, xe may loi, xe dap loi, etc.

I returned to Viet Nam for the second time in late April 2005 to attend a veteran's, photojournalist's and war correspondent's reunion to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the end of the war; April 30th. I had already decided to tour the Mekong Delta, where I had never traveled, so, after a week in Sai Gon attending events, photographing the sights and visiting with friends I set out. Delta Adventure Tours offers a 3-day package tour continuing on into Cambodia on the morning of the fourth day but as I wanted to spend more than one night in each town I made arrangements to pick up the trip every other day.
Day One, Friday, 5/6: Sai Gon to My Tho. At 8:00 AM myself and about 14 others board a boat at the wharf on Ton Duc Thang Blvd. for the trip to My Tho. Cruising down the Sai Gon River we pass a large variety of commercial craft heading both up & down-river; merchant ships, heavily-laden cargo boats, small sampans and fishing vessels. As we get further away from the city we pick up speed and the banks change from buildings to lush green foliage. At 11:30 we arrive at My Tho. My hotel, the Chuong Duong, is right on the river. After lunch I explore My Tho, a pleasant little town on the banks of the Tien Giang branch of the Mekong. I visit the Cao Dai temple, the ferry landing, the Central Market and then just wander the streets until dark.

Quang noodle, so good speciality!

Quang noodle, so good speciality!

Knowing Vietnamese noodles can be extremely helpful, as “pho” is to Hanoi and beef rice noodles is to Hue, Quang noodles is very popular in Quang Nam and Da Nang.

Quang noodle soups differ than most normal noodle soups in that the soups have just enough broth to barely cover the noodles. Unlike other Vietnamese noodle soup bowls whose broth will cover the noodles almost completely, Quang noodle broth is barely enough to slurp during the meal. If you do not eat a Quang noodle bowl fast enough, the broth will generally quickly be soaked up by the noodles. Quang noodle

Rice cooking competition

Rice cooking competition

One of the meaningful acitivity in Vietnamese Tet festivals is rice cooking competition. A rice cooking competition is held to encourage women to take more responsibility in their traditional work.

During Tet holiday, a number of villages in northern and central Vietnam hold rice cooking contests that may sound simple, but follow strict and complex rules. Contestants cook in the open air while in a bamboo boat floating on the village pond. Charcoal, the usual fuel, is prohibited. Instead, each competitor receives some dried sugar cane, which burns only with difficulty.

Hoi An ancient town

Hoi An ancient town

From the moment you enter the city, the mystique of an secluded ancient town isolated from the modern world will take your feeling back to old countryside society of Vietnam.

Lying on the banks of the Thu Bon River, Quảng Nam province ( in the South Central Coast of Vietnam), Hoi An Ancient Town is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century.

Over the last few years, Hoi An has become a very popular tourist destination in Vietnam. Its buildings and its street plan reflect the influences, both indigenous and foreign, that have combined to produce this unique heritage site. In 1999, the old town was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO under the criteria C (II) and criteria C (V):

Criterion (II): Hoi An is an outstanding material manifestation of the fusion of cultures over time in an international commercial port.

Criterion (V): Hoi An is an exceptionally well preserved example of a traditional Asian trading port.

Occupied by early western traders, Hoi An was one of the major trading centers of Southeast Asia in the 16th century and 17^th centuries, where Chinese from various provinces as well as Japanese, Dutch and Indians settled down.

Light Bright

No fluorescent lights, no motorcycles, no television, on the 15^th day of each lunar month, the riverside town of Hoi An gives modern life the night off.

Pristine Phu Quy Island

Pristine Phu Quy Island

Phu Quy Island is a tropical paradise set in a volcanic crater, rising from the sea off Binh Thuan Province.

Phu Quy Island, whose name means "rich and precious," lies about 100 km to the east of Phan Thiet City; close to the international maritime route and on the continental shelf. The Island is an important stop between the mainland and Truong Sa (Spratley Island) archipelago; 20 km further away. Its a “floating base;” providing services to ships fishing offshore via its seaport on Trieu Duong Beach.

Enjoy beauty scenery from Ngu Hanh Son

Enjoy beauty scenery from Ngu Hanh Son

An interesting journey to Ngu Hanh Son will bring out most relaxing time for visitors. The mountain is a fairy land with a dreamlike scenery, pagodas, grottoes...

Ngu Hanh Son (The Marble Mountains) is about 8km southeast of Da Nang City. This is a cluster of five marble mountains lying close to the sea. That is why, it is dubbed Hon Non Nuoc, which means Mountain and Water in Vietnamese.

Nhi Thanh Grotto

Nhi Thanh Grotto

Visitors from far always regard Lang Son as home to some grotesque grottoes, of which Nhi Thanh is one of the most beautiful grottoes...

Lang Son has for long had national repute as a year round entertainment centre. Attractions such as Dong Dang Town, Ky Lua Market, Vong Phu Mountain, Tam Thanh Grotto, Nhi Thanh Grotto are said to be very attractive to visitors who are seeking scenic beauty...

Situated in Nhi Thanh Street, approximately 1km from the Lang Son City, Nhi Thanh Grotto houses the Pagoda of Triple Regions (Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism). The grotto was closely related to the celebrity Ngo Thi Si when he was the chief of province between 1777 and 1780. He gave, in a short span of time, a new look to Lang Son in term of politics, economy and national defense. Especially in the domain of culture, he had the merit to discover 8 beautiful landscapes of Lang country including Nhi Thanh Grotto. He hired workers to start the renovation of this grotto in 1779. The right side area, being on a relatively more elevated land and the configuration of terrain better, was chosen to be the place for the building of the Pagoda of Triple Regions (in honour of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism).

Being a natural cave, Nhi Thanh Grotto lies beneath the Pagoda of Triple Regions, with the depth of 600 meters. On the cliffs at the entrance are 20 inscriptions that are precious historical and literary documents, including autographs of famous scholars. The statue of scholar Ngo Thi Sy on the cliff engraved in 1779 is a precious work of art. The length of a corridor from front entrance to back entrance is over 500 metres with many beautiful and picturesque landscapes. Inscriptions can be seen today on grotto, which were engraved by famous personalities and poets over different epochs.

Ghenh Da Dia

Ghenh Da Dia

With natural stones, strangely structured rocks, columns or obliques of frozen mineral flows, Ghenh Da Dia (Rapids of Stone Plates) is considered as a masterpiece of stone gifted by the nature.

Located in An Ninh Dong Commune , Tuy An District, Phu Yen Province, Ghenh Da Dia is strangely structured rocks include large upright stones equally arranged in a star pattern. Being a riddle of nature, like a giant jigsaw, the rapids is irritatingly made of the same shaped pieces, and forms a solidified structure that has proved more than just a curiosity for thousands.

Vietnam Map – the need for any tourist!

Vietnam Map – the need for any tourist!

Currently, many people, both foreign visitors and the Vietnamese oversea, wish to see Vietnam and learn more about the country and people. Places and geographical regions are located on the map showing where it is all about. We would like to mention the map of Vietnam in order to help tourists learn better of places in Vietnam.

A panorama...

  Vietnam Map

Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the East Sea to the east. With a population of over 86 million, Vietnam is the 13th most populous country in the world.

Emerging from a long and bitter war, the war-ravaged nation was politically isolated. The government’s centrally-planned economic decisions hindered post-war reconstruction and its treatment of the losing side engendered more resentment than reconciliation. In 1986, it instituted economic and political reforms and began a path towards international reintegration. By 2000, it had established diplomatic relations with most nations. Its economic growth had been among the highest in the world in the past decade. These efforts culminated in Vietnam joining the World Trade Organization in 2007 and its successful bid to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in 2008.

Vietnam is divided into 58 provinces as you can view on the Vietnam Map. There are 5 centrally-controlled municipalities existing at the same level as provinces, including Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho.

People's Council

Vietnam Overview

General Information

Official name: The Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Capital: Hanoi

Population: 87 million people (2011)

Total Area: 331.212 square kilometers

Major religion: Buddhism

Major language: Vietnamese

Monetary unit: Vietnam dong

Internet domain: .vn

International dialing code: +84

Time Zone - Standard time zone: UTC/GMT +7 hours