Coast around the Mekong Delta for a day – on a converted rice barge, a local boat and a motor cart – and catch a glimpse of traditional Vietnamese life along the waterway. On this trip from Ho Chi Minh City, you’ll enjoy cultural highlights with your friendly guide, including visits to a rural village, a communal temple and a local farmer’s house. Your trip along broad canals and small creeks in the delta comes with a deluxe three-course lunch of Mekong specialties while you cruise!
Upon hotel pickup around 8am, travel by air-conditioned vehicle to Ben Tre, an approximate two-hour drive from Ho Chi Minh City. When you arrive with your guide, embark on a fascinating tour of Mekong Delta canals by local boat, stopping to visit some of the residents and their enterprises along the way.
Visit a home factory where bricks are made before you continue by boat to a coconut processing plant. Here, learn from your guide how this important fruit is treated by separating oil, flesh and husk – then used to make coconut oil, matting and delicious coconut candy.
Back aboard the small boat, head further along the winding channels for a brief journey to a creek-side village. Disembark and go on a short walking tour with your guide, heading to a farmer’s house to witness a traditional mat-weaving process first-hand. From here, hop on a xe loi (tuk tuk-style motor cart) and ride through the picturesque rice paddies of the Mekong countryside. Stop at a local pagoda to learn from your guide about the role of traditional communal temples in Vietnamese village culture.
Next, climb aboard Le Jarai, a converted rice barge, and cruise under the shadows of water-coconut palms growing along the banks. Relax as you coast along the pleasant waters of the delta and take in the sights. If you’d like, you can watch a Vietnamese cooking demonstration as the onboard chef prepares your lavish three-course lunch, including traditional Mekong specialties.
Enjoy your delicious lunch as you cruise back to Ben Tre, returning by vehicle around 4:30pm to Ho Chi Minh City, where your guide will drop you off at your hotel.
