Sailing Down the Mekong River Delta

Traffic in the Mekong River

Visiting the Mekong River was at the top of my list while I was in Vietnam. When I arrived at my hostel I had booked a tour with them to visit. The company the promoted was called Youth Tourist Company (YTC), click here for their website, and I paid 220.000 VND ($13). YES, ONLY $13! Included in the price was roundtrip bus ride from the YTC office (about 5 min walk from the hostel), tour guide, boat trips to the different islands, lunch and a fresh fruit snack. Meeting time at the YTC office was at 7:45am. The bus ride was about 2 hours long and was on a nice tour bus. We got to My Tho around 10:30 am and started off with a boat ride to Dragon Island. ​

Once we got to Dragon Island we actually switched onto a smaller boat so that we could navigate through the Mekong River.

Arriving on Dragon Island

After arriving on Dragon Island we split into groups of 4 to take a tour of the river. It was so beautiful, I mean the water was murky but the experience was amazing. I wish we could've gone further into the river. The boat ride was about 20 mins long. All you could see was water, palm trees and other boats.

Paddling through the Mekong River

Oh you know, just a selfie on the Mekong River.

After the boat ride we went back to Dragon Island. We had to take another boat which was smaller to head to the next location, Unicorn Island. ​

Smaller boats headed to Unicorn Island

On Unicorn Island we visited a bee keeping farm. We saw bees making honey and were also able to taste the natural honey mixed with hot water as a tea. Our guide also explained the process of keeping bees and how much honey they produce and other stuff. They also had snakes which people took pictures with. Others took pictures holding the bees as well. If you know me then you know I LOATHE BEES! I run and scream when they come near me, so this is a zoomed in picture.

It was definitely the best honey I ever tasted. We didn't stay on this island very long, I think about 30 mins. After trying the tea some people bought some to take home.

Getting ready for tea and snacks

After the 30 mins we got back onto the boat and headed to  another island, Ben Tre. Here we watched the locals make coconut candy. The processed of making coconut candy looked very tedious and tiring but tasted delicious. We watched them for about 15 mins and then we had 30 mins to wander around and "shop" if we wanted to. I didn't buy anything but others did. This felt like a tourist trap! I didn't even take pictures because at this point I was getting "hangry". I was honestly getting annoyed being there.

​Finally, it was time for us to have lunch. We had to get back in the boat to go to Phoenix island to eat at a local Vietnamese Restaurant for lunch. Lunch was rice, chicken, soup and salad. It wasn't very filling so a few of us ordered fried fish to share. The fish came with rice paper, lettuce and noodles. We had a waitress roll fish meat, lettuce and noodles together and then we could dip it into a sauce. It was so good!

After lunch we had free time to wander around the island. There was a small temple, Coconut Monk Temple, which was one of the most beautiful ones I've ever seen.

They even had some pet alligators. I kinda wish they were in the river during our boat ride.

We stayed on this island for about 90 mins. After walking around for awhile I headed back to the dock to wait for the boat. Once on the boat we headed to our last destination, Unicorn Island again but a different part of the island.

We went back to Unicorn Island to have fresh fruit, tea and watch the locals perform traditional Vietnamese Songs while playing instruments. Some of these fruits I have never tried before. Have you tried any of these? I can't even remember all of the fruits, I see pineapple, papaya, dragon fruit, jack fruit and i'm not sure what the lighter orange one is.

Tropical fruit snacks

We stayed on this island for about an hour then headed back to My Tho. Overall, I really enjoyed this trip. There were a lot of activities and nothing was rushed, I actually felt we had too much time at some places. If you are planning on doing a Mekong River trip I would advise booking a tour instead of going there by yourself. Hostels usually have better deals then walking into a tour company.