Day trip to My Tho and Ben Tre

Ho Chi Minh City - After the projects are over, my customer and I took a day tour costing SGD 12 per person from Shinh Tourist Travel near Pham Ngu Lao.

My journey begins early in the morning as we had to be at Shin Tourist office at 8am because the tour begins at 8:30am. It was good that the tour guide speaks English too. The journey from HCMC to My Tho takes around 1hr 40 minutes along the National Highway bordered by green rice fields. The weather was hot and humid but I had no comfort the air-con struggles to cool the coach.

My Tho is located in the Mekong Delta region of South Vietnam and important enreport years ago. On arrival at My Tho, we took a leisure boat to Tortoise island to see rice paper making.

ferry terminal

Bridge that we just crossed

that's the ferry boat

Along the wide river, there are many fish farms.

Fish farms

Rice Paper Making

I always wonder how it was made and it was amazing to see the simplicity of rice paper making.

Stage 1: Grinding the rice

The grinder will grind the rice into a fine water base which will be mixed with tapioca flour to be laid out on a steamer.

Stage 2: steam

Stage 3: dry in the sun

Distinct Rice Paper pattern

That is how the rice paper has the distinct pattern naturally.

Bee cultivation

Bee Hive

I tried their cultivated bee pollen and natural honey - nice.

Horse drawn carriage

that's my transportation

It is very different from the calesa in Philippines; it was a rough mode of transportation. You can feel the bumps when crossing over a pot hole.

The tour provided lunch but it was not appetising but I ate to fill my hunger.

Coconut Candy

Melted candy simmering over a hot stove

soften candy paste

Candy production line

Then we went to another location to taste local fruits and listen to Vietnamese traditonal folk music. Afterwhich, we proceeded on a boat ride steered by women down a narrow Tan Thach natural cannal in Ben Tre. The cruise was under the shade of the water coconut trees, in Singapore we called it 'attap chee' (scientific Nipa Palm). This is the only palm adapted to the mangrove and grows along the coastline.

We reach back to Ho Chi Minh City at around 3pm. A tiring but eventful and educational day.

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