A One-day Cai Be Cai Lay Tour: To understand somewhat the landscape and people’s life in the Mekong Delta, we chose one-day Cai Be-Cai Lay tour. We were picked up at our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City at 7:00 and then headed towards Cai Be District.
Reaching Cai Be at 9:30, we firstly visited the Cai Be Cao Dai Temple with the Caodaism, a unique religion in this region; and the Cai Be Catholic Church. Then, we got on the boat and transferred to visit both of Cai Be land market and floating market to observe the locals’ life as well as to distinguish the land market from the floating one. Leaving the two markets, we continued our discovery tour to explore the river life of Mekong people by using their daily vehicle, hand-rowing boat. The boat cruised among the meandering rivers and criss-crossed canals and led us to the “mysterious” Mekong lush orchards.
A One-day Cai Be Cai Lay Tour
We returned to the boat and shifting to Tan Phong Island, where had the opportunity to cycle around the village roads of the island, one side of the road is a green coconut garden, the other side is a green paddy field, sometimes, there are idyllic leaf house. On the way, we got to visit the traditional handicraft workshops of handbags, rice papers along with wooden tables and chairs. There, we got to witness the workers working in a hurry, skillfully, got to hear them talk about the stages they were doing, understood the value of the products they made, admired and loved the workers more. We also got to make friends with local cute and gentle pupils in a village school.
A One-day Cai Be Cai Lay Tour
We stopped at a local farmer’s house to taste a cup of tea and local specialties of banana candies. The host took us to visit his orchard. The garden has kinds of trees such as rambutan, longan, pomelo, orange, plum, strawberry. We got to pick up fruit with our own hands and enjoying them at the garden. We also got to talk to the host to understand how local farmers take care of their gardens. After saying goodbye to the hospitable host, we kept on cycling to the bang conical hat workshop. After that, we cycled back to Tan Phong Restaurant to enjoy local food.
At around 15:00, we embarked the boat to leave Tan Phong Island for the pier to come back Ho Chi Minh City. The trip has been over, but I still remember about the peaceful river scene, the industrious, rustic and hospitable people in the Mekong Delta. I hope to one day get to travel to many places in this land to understand it well.
