7 Days To Explore The Mekong Delta, What Should You Do?

Nga Do
In addition to the tropical climate found here, the Mekong Delta gives the area unique landscapes, particularly charming characteristics, and a special floating lifestyle of the people. Pay a visit to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam and it’ll be a unique experience.
Starting from Tibetan Plateau, the Mekong River runs through China’s Yunnan province, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam before it goes all the way to the South China Sea. The river brings life to any location it passes through, and it is such a favor from Mother Nature for Vietnam that by the time it reached our territory that it separated off into 9 smaller branches. In addition to the tropical climate found here, the Mekong Delta gives the area unique landscapes, particularly charming characteristics, and a special floating lifestyle of the people.

Take part in the Explore Mekong Delta in Vietnam 7 days tour, you will have the chance to discover deeply the bustling city in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, and learn more about the history of Vietnam in Cu Chi Tunnels. You will spend most of your time on the exploration of the immense Mekong Delta through its nine major waterways. You will visit vibrant and colourful markets, meet local people and admire beautiful landscapes of orchards, rice fields, waterways by sailing among the intricate waterways.

7 Days To Explore The Mekong Delta, What Should You Do?
Photo by Quangpraha
Experience the floating life

As what has been told, your trip to the Mekong Delta won’t be complete if you don’t sit yourself down on a narrow boat (called a ‘sampan’) and paddle your way down the river under fronds of palm trees lining both sides, while making numerous stops along the river at homes of those selling dried fruits or candy.

Life here is much lived on, by or near the water. Houses are built on stilts in order to withstand the floods that happen regularly, ferries can carry people, vehicles, and food, markets are not held on land but on boats and instead of walking from stall to stall, you will paddle your way through the river or walk on planks balanced between two boats to buy food. It is pretty easy to find a boat to help you explore the area once you arrive at one of the provinces in the region.

Floating markets are part of local’s life which explains why there are many of them here. These floating markets open early in the morning (3 – 4AM) and become busy around 5 – 6AM since people will work on farms or paddle fields during the day. Make sure you wake up early enough to catch these.

Eat Mekong Delta specialties

What should you eat in the Mekong Delta? It is so hard to answer that question because there re so many delicacies, but let me try. Providing 70% of the fruits consumed throughout Vietnam, where else in the country can satisfy your craving of fruits other than the Mekong Delta? There are a dozen different kinds of tropical fruits that are grown here that it’s impractical to list them all but here are a few: pomelo, orange, coconut, water coconut, mango, star apple, pineapple, longan fruit, rambutan, jackfruit, mangosteen, soursop, plum, banana, dragon fruit, and durian. Now I feel out of breath. By the way, you can even eat these fresh from the tree if you pay a visit to a local orchard.

The locals are also very resourceful – coming up with different ways of incorporating these delicious fruits into dishes. For example, banana can be eaten fresh, or grilled, or covered by sticky rice then grilled and draped over with coconut milk. Coconut can be had fresh, or blended as a smoothie, or processed to become dried coconut candy. If you think you can survive on fruits for the rest of your life, you should move and stay here.

Another highlight of the Western region is its cuisine. As mentioned above, people here are very good at inventing new dishes using their wide array of fruits available. Some of them are just unforgettably delightful, some of them will require a bit of time and bravery to get used to. Some of the famous dishes here that you can try: Mam hotpot, Fish noodle soup, Snakehead fish thick noodle soup, Sa Dec or My Tho noodle soup, Mud carp fish hotpot with common sesban flower, Coconut worm, ...

Swim in the swamps

Swamps are fun, more fun than pools. Swimming in a swamp has been one of the wildest and most fun experiences I have ever had. Even though I was born and grew up in the countryside with a river just a few steps beside my home, I had never done anything like this before.  Don’t feel shy or grossed out – it is a common thing to do in this area, from children to older people.

From September to December, the water from upstream of the river flows to the provinces located near the border (An Giang, Dong Thap, and Long An). This washes away all the dirt and garbage left from the harvest and covers the fields with water and this will be the perfect time for everyone to enjoy their afternoon swimming in the swamps. You can also take part in the fishing activities of locals here and of course, your catches will be your dinner. If you are a nature lover, then this is for you.

Tan Chau (An Giang), Tan Hong (Dong Tap) or Tan Hung (Long An) are the 3 most famous places for swamp swimming. You can easily find a local to guide you and show you how to do it properly. This is an activity that’s hard to put into a tour itinerary because the water level and streams change and you have to be lucky to find a time the stream is calm and clean enough.

Wonderful food, fascinating fruits, awesome landscapes and above than that, friendly and lovely people are the memories you will take home with after your trip to the Mekong Delta. If you are still looking at the computer screen and reading these lines, don’t think, just open another tab and begin planning your trip to the Mekong Delta.

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