Mekong Delta cruise
Once a hostile swampland, the French drained this region, transforming it into lucrative plantations, paddy fields and mines. Most of the chemical herbicides sprayed during the Vietnam War fell over the Mekong Delta, denying the Viet Cong cover and in the process decimating agricultural lands and mangrove forests. Yet today, the Mekong Delta is Vietnam’s most productive agricultural area, producing nearly half of the nation’s annual food crop.
 |
| Travel guide to the Mekong Delta and Islands |
Nutrient-rich deposits carried by the Mekong River and its comprehensive network of waterways and nine tributaries (hence the local name, ‘River of Nine Dragons’) makes this region extraordinarily fertile for rice, bananas, coconuts, tropical fruit and sugar cane. It’s this very luscious, intensively cultivated landscape and rustic way of life that make this area so picturesque and appealing. Secluded waterways with overhanging foliage lined with stilt houses, mangrove swamps, paddy fields, fruit orchards and welcoming locals make up much of the scenario.
Independent travel can be frustrating – transport is basic, time-consuming and water-based – so for less hassle, inclusive tours are the best way to experience this area. Many tours incorporate visits by small boats to fruit orchards, cottage industries, Khmer temples, early-morning floating markets, or penetrate deep into a labyrinth of narrow waterways. Increasingly, some incorporate bicycle trips, home stays or one-way boat tours terminating in Phnom Penh (Cambodia).
Places to visit on the Mekong
My Tho y is the first stop out of HCMC; done to death by tourism over the years, westward hubs like Vinh Long, Ben Tre, Cai Be and Can Tho afford more authentic experiences, less rushed in multi-day tours. Further west, Chau Doc offers Khmer ethnic communities, floating fish farms and Sam Mountain, with sacred pagodas and sweeping views. Across the Cambodian border, Ca Mau National Park and Tram Chim National Park are important havens for water birds. The more remote west coast is far less touristy, with the sleepy fishing port of Ha Tien, plus Rach Gia, the launch pad for Phu Quoc Island, 62 nautical miles west.
Phu Quoc Island
Located in the Gulf of Thailand, a few kilometres from southern Cambodia, Vietnam’s largest island seems a world away. Despite being a natural tropical paradise, Phu Quoc’s tourism industry is still small, although there are several resorts already. It has a wild, frontier-like ambience, with basic infrastructure (roads are mainly dirt tracks). Offshore fishing, fermented fish sauce and pepper cultivation are the main activities; the island is around the size of Singapore (593 sq km/229 sq miles) and Duong Dong is the only settlement of any size. If you seek a more simplified, back-to-nature existence, this island is for you.
Formerly an island prison camp, today Phu Quoc’s main raison d’être is some of Vietnam’s most magnificent beaches – some of the whitest and most deserted. The main resort area runs down the southwest’s coconut palm tree-lined beach, but with many other beautiful beaches and coves, other more secluded boltholes are available. There is also superb scuba-diving and snorkelling, offering transparent turquoise waters with colourful reefs teeming with fish, many native to Vietnamese waters. Boat trips for diving, snorkelling and fishing are easily arranged.
The mountainous interiors are mostly forested, and much of this is protected as a national park, where hiking possibilities abound. And as Vietnam’s most western point, this is the only place you can watch the sun set all the way.
