Travelogue: Ho Chin Minh Day 2 ( Mekong Delta River)
In case you have missed the previous posts;
As mentioned that my family have signed up for the full day tour trip to Mekong Delta River, we have to assembly at the hall at 7.30am to wait for our tour guide to lead us to the agency bus. Having to station early means we have to rush our breakfast in order to be on time for the trip.
The tour guide came at 8am sharp to bring us to our bus. Aside our family, there are 4 other families + 1 big group of Caucasian students ( I believed they came here for a bagpack trip) with us. The bus which was seated just nice for all of us.
A 2-hour drive through Saigon leads to My Tho, Mekong Delta which all of us slept throughout the whole journey! Journey was a bumpy ride and all of us had a hard time to rest well.
A little introduction of the Mekong River, which was known as The Mighty Dragon or The River of the Nine Dragons in Vietnam, is the life-line of six countries in Asia (Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and China).
On the way there, it passes through temple cities whereby the tour guide allowed us to alight and venture around.
We were given 20 mins to explore around and we visited one of the temple to offer some prayers. One of the high-light would be the laughing Buddha which we took with. Laughing Buddha is commonly used as a Feng shui cure for good luck, abundance, happiness, success, good health (well, let's just say for everything good!) So taking picture with him literally make one happy! I pray for a smooth journey too.
Guan Ying Ma goddess was caught red-handed sleeping along the street. HAHA. Anyone knows what is the stories behind the sleeping goddess?
Continued to board the bus and after 5 minutes, we reached our destination.
The weather was so perfect for us ride on the boat. I have a tendency to get seasick whenever I am on a moving vehicles. However, without any heavy waves, I do not feel any boat sick throughout the whole ride.
Our guide Luk gave us a short geographical lesson before we boarded a small boat that took us to Unicorn Island. This boat trip passes past quiet villages and rural scenes that seem right out of a picture book. The locals work silently along the banks as you sail towards a fisherman's port, complete with tall stilt houses.
A 10 minutes boat ride and we finally made our first stop, a coconut candy factory. Luk demonstrated on how each coconut candies were made. From a big shell coconut, it requires alot of strength and effort to break the whole coconut apart. With the aid of machine, the coconut has to go through a grinding process and lastly, the shredding coconut were melted from a high temperature. In order for the candies to be harden, they have to leave open for many hours.
After cooling down the mass is shaped, cut and wrapped in rice paper first, to avoid sticking to the outer paper wrap. At the end they are look like green toffees. They are produced mostly in small famously owned factories on the Mekong Delta.
We bought back some coconut candies and coconut cakes home for our friends and relatives. On the way to the horse carriage, I got myself a Potong ice cream which costs 20 cents only!! HAHA Ate coconut ice-cream while riding on a horse-drawn carriage to another boat which took us back to the mainland to visit an amazing turtle island.
Upon arriving to the turtle island, we settled our lunch at their eatery shop. Pathetic lunch with spring rolls, long beans and a piece of chicken meat. We were given a choice to order their elephant fish which costs only USD8. Never regret ordering their fish!
After all of this traveling, it's time to stop and relax a bit at a local bee farm, where you can sip tasty tea with local honey. The local people will push their sales to buy their honey! Honey was sold at an affordable price so one could consider to purchase it.
Fear factor of me holding on to a python. I was forced by Luk to do so. He said "come here must try everything, never try you will go home and cry!''. He concluded that if I go over to carry the python, he will get a gift for me. LOL, I accepted my challenge because of the gift! Just kidding.
Row row row your boat, gently down the street... We abandoned the big boat and set off to tour around on a small boat to enjoy the scenery.
Idiotically, we were asked to give tips to the rower after they dropped us to another island. I handed them over a few cents and walked away in case they chased after me for more tips. Our last station would be here whereby there is traditional music playing that is typical only in Southern Vietnam.
Leaving Mekong river at 3pm and we headed back to our hotel room. Yet another 2 hours ride back! All of us straight KO on the bus.
Dinner was at Quan An Ngon 138, one of Saigon's most famous restaurant, a variety of specialties and street food from three regions of Vietnam are served such as shrimp-mince pork grilled on the sugar cane, rice steam rolls, fried crab spring rolls, clams, shrimp, beef pho, fresh spring rolls.
The restaurant occupies a large area and there are many stalls on the way round so that the food can be ready to serve.
Here is our menu for that night:
1. Nem Cua Be Hai phong ( fried spring rolls with minced sea crab meat and pork) - 98000 dong
2. Banh eo ( Vietnamese pancake folded in half with shrimps and pork) - 5200 dong
3. Cai Thia ao Toi ( Stir fried chinese cabbage with beef)- 65000 dong
4. Mi Xao Hai San ( Stir Fried Yellow Noodles with Seafood and Vegetables) - 110000 dong
5. Com Chien Cua Xe ( Fried rice with Crab meat)- 105000 dong
6. Canh Ga Chien Nuoc Mam ( fried chicken wings in fish sauce)- 98000 dong
This is a MUST VISIT for all new and old visitors to Vietnam. And we were surprised to see that most of the diners are actually the Vietnamese people, so the food here should be just as authentic as those served along the roadside or restaurants.
Quan An 138 is located opposite Reunification Palace, one of Ho Chi Minh City's biggest tourist sites.
138 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, District 1, Vietnam | +84 8 3827 9666 | Ngon138@saigonkhanhnguyen.vn | http://ngon138.com/
Ended off my day 2 with the selfieeeeee (:
