1. Where is the Mekong Delta and why visit?
The Mekong delta is a huge area in the south of Vietnam, where the Mekong, one of the largest rivers of Asia flows into the South China sea. Here, there are innumerable branches that the Mekong distributes its water into, before flowing into the open sea. This means on the one hand, that the people living in this area live from, and indeed on, the water. Fishing villages are not hard to find, and floating markets are abundant. On the other hand, this also means that the area is home to an incredible variety of wildlife and plants.
2. How to organise your trip to the Mekong Delta?
The easiest and most popular way of visiting the Mekong Delta is by joining one of the zillions of day tours organised by travel agencies that you can find just about everywhere and anywhere in central Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city).
This means that there is quite a bit of competition between them. You will find day tours for a little as 5 (yes, five!) euros. And this would include the return transportation from HCMC, two hours both ways, a boat ride on the river, a guide and even some food.
However, if you check how previous travellers were satisfied, you will get very mixed reviews. I selected one randomly, which charged a little more than the minimum, hoping that it would mean the level of service was also higher. I walked into their office, and somehow I had the feeling that they would be a more reliable service provider, and it turned out to be true.
I suggest that you should check the following before you buy a tour from one of the agencies:
- What does the programme include (sights and activities)?
- Do they have a comfortable, air-conditioned bus?
- Do they offer a professional guide?
- Is lunch included?
- What is NOT included and how much do they cost?
- Timing: what time does it start, what time do you return? How much time do you have at each sight?
- Do they offer hotel pickup and drop off?
Besides, you should of course check the price. I would not be very comfortable with an agency who charges incredibly little for a trip like this. Because it is true that Vietnam is not an expensive country, but things do have a price there, too. If the agency can afford to lower the price very much, maybe that is because they saved money on the quality of the bus or the guide or the programmes included.
3. Things to do and see
Most tours follow very similar routes, although some (very few though) may include sights or stops that others don’t. Here are the most usual stops and activities included in a typical day tour:
3.1 The Buddhist temple in My Tho
The first stop is generally My Tho, a town on the Mekong. You will stop to have a look around the Vinh Trang Pagoda, a very nice buddhist temple with several interesting large Buddha statues.
3.2 Boat ride
For many, one of the highlights of this trip is the boat ride along the small canals among lush tropical forests. This is really an enjoyable and spectacular adventure, although really what happens is that you get into a small boat together with a few other people and a local rowing woman, and roll along a little. To make the experience even more fun, everyone gets a Vietnamese cone hat.
3.3 Workshops
This will be advertised as “discover how the locals live their everyday lives”, but in fact, you will be taken to some workshops, where they make/prepare/produce something that is possibly interesting for most tourists. This could be rice paper, coconut oil, brandy or some other things. This, I am sure, depends on which workshop the given tour agency has a contract with. Because this of course means business for the tour organisers: they deliver you as a possible customer to the workshop, obviously for a commission or some other form of payment. I never liked this idea very much, because it is obvious that they are only doing it for tourists, so I never felt that I was witnessing “how local people live their lives”.
3.4 Honey tasting
All the tours seem to offer a stop at a beekeeper workshop, where you can see, and eve touch, some of the bees that will not sting you. Then you can taste some tea with the honey these nice little creatures produced and that was confiscated from them by the beekeepers.
3.5 Fruit tasting
Most if not all tours will have a stop at a place where you’ll be offered some local fruit and some drinks. You’ll also be able to see quite a few fruit trees with fruits.
Yo will surely be entertained by a group of local people playing music and singing while you eat your fruit. They obviously expect some donations for their efforts. It is basically a good idea to prepare for this all along the Mekong Delta tour, and stock up on cash, possibly not the largest denominations.
3.6 Lunch
In most cases, lunch will be included in the price of the tour. We had lunch in a very nice garden near one of the many canals. The food was OK, but don’t expect too much. If you are a “healthy eater”, it is best to prepare with some extra snacks, especially because you will only return to Saigon late in the evening.
4. Things that you are NOT likely to do and see
As I noted above, the Mekong Delta is a wonderful treasure trove of wildlife and other natural wonders. Unfortunately, you are not likely to see much of it during a day trip. Expect to have an interesting experience, but nothing that I would call unforgettable.
Add to that the commercialized nature of these day trips, too. Even with more expensive tours, you are very likely to be used as a product yourself: you will stop at places for fruit tasting, where the fruit is free (included in the price you paid), but you will have musicians and singers performing for you, who will expect tips for their performance. You will ride a boat, where you will again be expected to pay the “boat ladies”, even though the boat ride is advertised to be included in the price. You will “accidentally” pass by people who are trying to sell you every kind of sh… You will be shown a “workshop” of some kind, where they hope you will buy some of their products.
The workshops, the honey tasting and all of the activities mentioned above could be interesting, of course. Tasting the tea with honey is also a good thing. But: this is very far from what the Mekong Delta is actually famous for.
You should prepare for this, and if you are happy with this, you will hopefully not be disappointed. If you are interested in the real Mekong Delta, the wildlife, the plants, the authentic way of life, uncommercialized villages etc, you will have to do a very intensive research to find possibilities for that. To date, I have no recommendations, but I am planning to return, and want to discover what options there are. So check back every now and then, I will let you know here if and when I have some tips for you.
