Cù Lao Tân Vinh

On my last day in HCMC, I booked a day tour to explore and see what life is like on the Mekong Delta. As it turned out, I had the exact same amazing tour guide that I did for the Cu Chi Tunnels - her name is My but her English name is Karl (people in Asia often have their real name and then an English version).

Anyway, we set off at 8am in the morning for a 1.5h drive into the delta. The delta is of course huge and the section we went to, called My Tho, had four islands, of which we visited a few, starting with Unicorn Island.

The highlights of the tour for me were sitting low in a small boat while paddling through small waterways and after lunch taking some bikes and cycling around another island for a little bit.

Next to a few other 'activities', we had a little fun and impromptu Karaoke session on the boat back to the mainland before finishing the tour with a visit to the impressive Vinh Trang pagoda in Mekong City.

It was a fun little trip out of Ho Chi Minh City and I really enjoyed the day. However, I did not really experience or get an idea of what life in the Mekong Delta looks like. The tour felt pretty 'off-the-shelf' and had quite a few stops with the main aim of selling things to us (i.e. various honey-based products, coconut candy, rice wine, etc). The products may all be organically made in the Mekong Delta, but it felt a bit strange and not like the Mekong Delta tour that I imagined.

So would I do the tour again or recommend it? Not really. While I had a great time with the group and especially My was awesome, it felt very touristy and I am none the wiser of what life on the Mekong looks like. It is probably much better to do an overnight homestay in the Mekong to really get a good and valuable insight.Read more