HOCHIMINH CITY – BINH TIEN FARMSTAY – MEKONG DELTA – CAI RANG FLOATING MARKET – HOCHIMINH CITY
DAY 1 – HOCHIMINH CITY (SAIGON)/ BINH TIEN FARMSTY (CYCLING)
Included meals: Lunch/ Dinner
Get picked up from hotel in Saigon and then transfer to the meeting point for meet local guide. Hop on your bike, we’ll begin pedaling for 7 km on quiet back-roads through peaceful villages, seeing sceneries changing from small canals to big river, from the sugar cane field to green paddies, etc. Pause en-route to visit a family-run incense making workshop where you can observe the making process. We continue cycling passing Vam Co Tay River – the largest & most important river system of Long An Province. Take a rest, enjoy some fruits & relax your leg at a local pagoda along the way.
Afterwards, you’ll enjoy a motorboat ride through a canal to a wide lotus field grown by local farmers for living. Chill out, enjoy fresh coconut water picked up on spot by the boat rower. You can even try to collect lotus flower, seeds and roots yourself. The roots you pick up will be used to prepare for a delicious Vietnamese salad.
Return to land, we continue cycling and there you’ll have a chance to challenge yourself up over a high bridge. Pass the bridge, we will stop to visit a local primary school (we encourage to view from outside only to avoid distracting the kids from their lesson in class). Finish cycling, we continue take a transfer straight to Binh Tien Farmstay. You’ll arrive the farm at around 11:30 where the Host family greets you with hospitality, lovely smiles and a homemade herbal drink! You are the only guests of honor today.
(Note 1: Cycling option can be replaced with motor-biking option.)
(Note 2: For cycling lovers, 25km cycling route straight to Binh Tien can be arranged)
After getting to know the Host Family, you can take a rest by the pond, watching ducks swinging and surfing over the water lily or go discover the luxuriant garden with many types of tropical fruit trees, vegetable and flowers before lunch. Your hostess will treat you with special dishes made of local fresh ingredients grew at the farm (you can even join the family preparing the food if you like.)
After meal, simply relax or take a nap on one of the hammocks that scattered around the farm or go fishing in peaceful atmosphere. Life couldn’t get much better!
Late this afternoon, we’ll cycle around the village. On the way, we’ll visit some vegetable farms to buy some fresh ingredients for dinner and a fish pole making workshop. We offer swimming in an international standard pool nearby. Return to the farm, we’ll help the hostess prepare for dinner. She will also show you how to cook the local dishes.
Dinner is the best opportunity you’ll have to sit down with local people and talk about their lives over cups of rice wine. Going to bed, relax and enjoy the night!
Overnight in Binh Tien Farmstay
DAY 2 – BINH TIEN FARMSTAY/ MEKONG DELTA/ CAN THO
Included meals: Breakfast/ Lunch
This morning, wake up early as a real local, you’ll join your hostess with her daily gardening & farming such as feed the duck with water lily, watering the orchids, etc. She will reveal you the family gardening techniques that passed on from generations. Finish the work, we take a rest, enjoy breakfast and a cup of Vietnamese coffee. Afterwards, you can either go fishing, collecting cassava, corn, grapefruit, guava, lotus seed and leaf or try planting/harvesting the rice crops (seasonal activities).
Check out the farmstay and then depart by private vehicle to the “rice basket” of Vietnam – the Mekong Delta. Today will be a full day of discovery as you explore the villages, farms, and intricate waterways that form the delta. Start the trip by a drive to Ben Tre, which on the way is green/yellow rice paddy fields stretching towards the horizon.
On arrival, you will embark on a motorized boat trip around the scenic Ben Tre River, viewing various local industries along the way. During the boat ride you will stop to visit the local workshops to see how bricks & sleeping mats are made. You also take a motor cart passing fruit and vegetable fields.
Continue going to Can Tho. Check in hotel and free time at your leisure. Accommodation in Can Tho
DAY 3 – CAI RANG FLOATING MARKET/ HOCHIMINH CITY
Included meals: Breakfast/ Lunch
This morning board our boat for a visit to the fascinating floating market at Cai Rang. See local farmers trading their produce on the water as they have done for centuries. Continue on to a fruit orchard where you can sample the tropical fruits grown in this region and try some local tea. Back to Hochiminh city and on the way, we stop to visit Cao Dai Temple and have lunch at local restaurant. Arrive in hotel in Hochiminh city in late afternoon.
****** HAVE A NICE TRIP *****
Included: Transportation, good and experience guide, 1 night at nice Farmstay and 1 night at hotel in Can Tho, entrance fees, boat trip in Mekong Delta, Bike in Binh Tien, meals as indicated with Vietnamese Set menus, water on car
Excluded: hotel accommodation in Hochiminh City, Banking/ Credit card fees (if any), Any other meals, drinks other than specified, Tip and personal expenses, and compulsory gala dinner at hotel on 24 Dec and 31 Dec.