Flowers in a garden & Arts in a shop on way back to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam

Along the National Highway, we took a afternoon restroom break on the way back to Ho Chi Minh City. We found Vietnamese gardeners in their well-known hats doing weeding under the hot sun. What a fantastic shot? Don't you think so?

Flower

Orchid


Orchid


Colourful flowers

Flower

A beautiful art piece for sale in the shop


Vases for sale

A hand-made vase for sale in the shop

We have half-an-hour to explore the restaurant cum shop and its surrounding garden. More on the garden coming in the next posting.

Rowing Boat Ride along canal in Mekong Delta, Vietnam

After exploring the villages to see how the inhabitants live and work, we return to the water for a relaxing rowing boat ride along a small canal, cruising in the shade of the water coconut trees.


You can also make use of the pair of rows available to try your hands on rowing.


Tourists enjoying the rowing boat ride.



Fish trap in the canal

Fisherman casting his nets in the canal.

The rowing boat ride was enjoyable as it was relaxing and carefree in the quiet canal. If you try your hands on the rowing, it will be more enjoyable, participating in the slow movement of the boat in the canal. After the rowing boat ride, we returned to the ferry boat waiting to take us back to My Tho.

Experience the beautiful scenery of the fertile MEKONG DELTA in Vietnam

Our exploration of the Mekong Delta continues with visit to the small islands where tropical fruits could be found and tasted.

The beautiful scenery of the fertile Mekong River.

The swamp land at the river side

The approach to narrow strip along the river.


The sea coconut palm trees in the swamp land


Along the river where you can experience the stillness of the air and the beautiful scenery of the Delta area.


Reaching the land, you can find jack fruit trees along the way to the village.


The Jack Fruit trees


We were treated to tropical fruits like papaya, jack fruits, pineapples and dragon fruits. There was a cultural folk song troupe to entertain us during the tea session.

More cultural folk songs

We were taken on a horse ride through the village road to another village to experience the life of its inhabitants.

Be prepared to get sun burn provided you bring along sun lotion, hat and umbrella.
The carriage of the horse ride is in the open.


The typical village with bicycles and motor-cycles as modes of transport. The horse ride is meant for tourists.


Some tourist trying their hand in handling the Python.


A Japanese tourist enjoying herself with the Python. See how big and long is the python.

The bees are kept in the housing box to obtain honey in the village. We were given some honey to try during our visit to the village.

There are many interesting aspects of the village life of the inhabitants in the Mekong Delta area for you to experience. The cultural folk songs were beautifully sung by the troupe that entertained us.

Visit to a LONGAN orchard in Mekong Delta, Ho CHi Minh City, Vietnam

Arriving at a Longan Orchard from the Coconut Candy Factory using the ferry boat that guides through the Mekong River.


This is the "Longan" fruit that appears in commercial can of the fruit with syrup.


The Longan Orchard that we walk through to the village where we have our lunch.


The Longan Orchard

The flowering and some young fruits appearing on the trees.

The Longan fruits on the tree waiting for picking when ripe.

More branches of Longan fruits.

The Longan fruits

The Longan fruits

More close-up of the Longan fruits.


The farmers normally harvest the ripe Longan fruits and de-seed the fruits. They put the seedless Longan on a smoke house to dry the fruits into dried Longan for export.

The dried Longan fetch better price overseas especially in Taiwan according to the farmers.

Visit to a Coconut Candy Cottage Factory in Ben Tre, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Our ferry boat took us through the Mekong River to Ben Tre to visit a Coconut Candy Cottage Factory.


Welcome to Ben Tre. The Mekong Delta area is so beautiful.

A tropical coconut tree

Approaching the village where the Coconut Candy cottage factory is located.

The Village where you can learn about the daily life of its inhabitants.


The coconut is grated and then cooked in a wok using charcoal oven on a slow fire.
It is stirred until it turns brown.

The brown coconut candy in raw form.

The final product is rolled into tubes ready for cutting into shape.


The candy roll is then manually cut into small cubes.

They are manually wrapped individually and then the final product is packed into packets ready for sale.

It is an educational visit for many visitors. The scenery of the river and village makes one feel so relaxed in such surroundings.