Saigon to Mekong back to Saigon

 We pick you up at your place at 8.30am and goodbye the busy Saigon for Cu Chi tunnel and battlefield.  We ride along the beautiful countryside road to a pineapple farm and honey bee farm.  We then head to My Tho to visit the famous Vinh Trang Pagoda and tour My Tho 's local market.  

 We will leave about the Coconut Religion when we visit Phung islet .Then ride to beautiful and peaceful Thoi Son islet,  and visit the fruit plantation where you are welcomed by local farmers who allow us to pick and try  fruits by ourselves from their farm.

At night, we stay in a home stay in Ben Tre.  

 After breakfast,  we tour the Coconut Candy factory where you can see the whole process of turning coconut into Candy in 30 minutes. Next , we will visit the Dong Tam snake farm ( the biggest snake farm in the country- they keep a over thousand poisonous snakes to get venom for medical use) . We can also visit the unique snake museum here and see many animals unique to Mekong Delta.  

In the afternoon,  we will visit the well known Ap Bac battlefield to know more about the history of Mekong and tour the Hung Long tradition career village to understand the culture & the daily life of the locals. 

We arrive Cao Lanh around 5pm and stay in a comfortable hotel . 

We take 2 hours to tour Rung Tram forest by boating and trekking. The area is one vast swamp with a beautiful thick canopy of tall trees and vines.  It's one of the last natural forests left in Mekong Delta.  During the civil war,  the Viet Cong had a base here called Xeo Quyt, where top brass of VC lived underground bunkers.  But don't mistake this with  another Cu Chi tunnel.  It's very,  very different .

 Then we ride on the village roads to cross nearly a thousand rivers,  get on and off many ferries to see and experience the daily life of the locals,  including their rice paddies,  lotus farms,  fish farms,  frog farms,  floating villages and stilt houses along the rivers.  In the afternoon,  we will visit a Cham village to see how locals still make their clothes and keep their traditional culture alive.  

 We arrive Chau Doc around 2pm. Take  a walking tour to the downtown,  stop at the river side for a cool beer and have a dinner on the floating restaurant in Mekong River.  

We stay overnight in Chau Doc.  

 We start by touring the famous Sam mountain where you can see many cultural temples ,  historical sites and viewpoints.  It's especially beautiful when you get on top of the mountain where you can see an amazing view of Vietnam and Cambodia. We then ride along the border road to enjoy the beautiful nature of Mekong before we stop and visit the Ba Chuc skull and Crossbones Pagoda,  where 3157 were tortured and killed by Khmer Rouge in 1978.  

 We continue our trip by touring Bang Lang bird sanctuary where you can see a million of birds.  Check your balancing ability when you cross the monkey bridge- it's amazing to watch the locals travelse these narrow catwalks with bicycle and heavy load balance between their shoulders and bamboo pole.  We  will learn more about Cham architecture and Buddhist philosophy when we visit their colourful Pagoda.  We arrive Can Tho around 3pm,  enough time to relax in front of water and stay overnight there.

 We get up early,  take a boat ride through  the small canals to visit the famous Cai Rang floating Market.  The biggest floating Market in Mekong Delta.  Then we tour the colourful Cantonese Congregation temples and visit a local family to see how they make rice papers,  incense sticks and ceramic products.  No visit to the area is complete without seeing the Cao Dai temple to learn more about the special Religion of Mekong Delta.  

We will then tour the historical Huynh Thuc village and Rach Gam- Xoai Mit site to understand the history of Mekong and Vietnam.  

We arrive Saigon around 4pm and end our unforgettable trip at your hotel.