Cruising the Mekong by sampan

Visitors enjoy the river’s charm on traditional wooden boats(Shipshape: Sampans are the vehicle of choice for tourists on the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta River in Tien Giang Province.)

For travellers who want to explore the sprawling Cuu Long (Mekong Delta) by boat, Cai Be Town in Tien Giang Province, some 100km south of HCM City, is one of the best launching points - and here you can also travel the delta’s seemingly endless waterways on a sampan.
Earlier this year, Hanoi-based Luxury Travel Company started tours of the delta on large sampan boats – a much more charming option to explore the delta than the usual metal tour boats used by most tour operators in the area.

Traditional sampans are small Asian flat-bottomed boats, propelled by oars or a rear-mounted oar. The sampans used for the new Mekong tours are larger, luxury versions of the smaller traditional vessels. These 22m-long and 4m-wide wooden boats, with two bedrooms and a living room, offer a relaxing way to cruise the waters.
Sampans used to be the vehicle of choice for locals on the Mekong Delta, which is filled with wide waterways and meandering rivers and canals. Now the sampan has proved to be suitable for tourists, with many visitors from Europe taking the sampan tours since they were launched in June.
Pham Manh Ha, director of Luxury Travel Company, says the tours let visitors see local life on the water and land. The tour lasts two days, and takes visitors through the provinces of Tien Giang, Dong Thap and to Can Tho City.
"Visitors can join locals on the banks of the river, feast on local cuisine in lush tropical gardens, visit handicraft villages and travel down the tributaries of the Mekong Delta," says Ha.
Nguyen Cuu Hung, a sales manager at Luxury Travel, says the company’s sampan tours start at around 10am, setting off on the Tien River in Cai Be Town.
Each boat carries a maximum of four tourists along with the crew. The sampan also tows a smaller junk, which is used to penetrate deep into the delta’s many narrow canals.

Coconut candy

The first stop is at a coconut-candy maker in Cai Be Town.
"The town is famous for its coconut products and visitors will see how they are made - it’s something that foreign tourists have never seen in their homeland," says Hung.
"The town is surrounded by the greenery of coconut trees."
Banana boat: Local people trade their goods on a floating market in Cai Be Town in Tien Giang Province. The market has attracted many Vietnamese and foreign tourists.After a bellyful of coconut treats, the boat heads for Cai Be floating market, cruising among local barges that are stocked with fruit and vegetables, before cruising upstream on the Tien River and heading to Vinh Long and Sa Dec.
Sa Dec Town in Dong Thap Province has a long history.
"The village has changed a lot during the last decade," says Hung. "House with roofs made from coconut fronds now increasingly have roofs made from sheet metal. But the local people still keep their lifestyle and tradition of hospitality. People are so friendly here that visitors can feel free to stop at any house they like, where hosts often offer tiny cups of rice wine."
Lunch is served at an old house dating from 1890 in Sa Dec, with the spread of food including dishes made from fresh vegetables and fish caught in the river by local fishermen.
With the sampan anchored nearby, tourists have two hours to walk around and explore the pagodas and houses in the area.
Sa Dec is like a small, Asian-style Venice, with numerous narrow canals criss-crossing the land. There’s a local market, which is a lively centre of town. The town’s narrow streets still have many beautiful French houses and Chinese temples, built in the 19th century.
After exploring the town on foot, dinner is served late in the evening at a local house. Then, it’s time to get back on board the sampan to cruise down to Can Tho City.
At night, the crew anchor the vessel in a peaceful part of the river.
"As usual, the crew find a wharf where tourists can get an insight into the life of local people," says Hung.
Most families in the Mekong Delta make their living by catching fish. "It’s not unusual to see entire families living on small boats in the delta," says Hung.
But for those on the sampan tours, there’s plenty of room to stretch your legs. The boat’s bedrooms, with their timber furnishings, are cosy and romantic. Blankets are provided to keep travellers warm, as the Mekong’s breezes can make the night-time quite cool. But with the boat gently rocking on the water, a good night’s sleep is almost guaranteed.
The second day starts early in the morning. Breakfast is served on board while approaching Cai Rang floating market – the largest in the Mekong Delta.
The sampan will cruise through the large cluster of boats selling everything from sand and rice to fruits, vegetable, fish and flowers.
"Visitors can bargain with the locals, but they will not overcharge you as most trading here is wholesale," says the director of Luxury Travel.
The cruise ends around 10am in the morning, when the boat stops at Ninh Kieu Wharf. Tourists will hit the road to have lunch in Can Tho, before cycling around the large town.
With their journey almost complete, visitors can make a four-hour bus trip to HCM City in the afternoon or stay for the night in Can Tho City.

(Source: Viet Nam News)