Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [100]
For around $20 a head, you are transported by boat to your host’s (usually isolated) abode, shown around the gardens, given a tasty dinner (most likely including the delicious elephant-ear fish – a delta speciality) and lodgings for the night, either in a bed or hammock in a spare room. Bathroom facilities are basic, with squat toilets and bucket baths, but generally clean. If you book your home-stay with a tour operator like Sinhbalo Adventures (see "Tour agents"), you can also spend the day kayaking between water palms along narrow canals, or cycling along narrow lanes between coconut, mango and papaya trees.
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The Mekong Delta | Tra Vinh and around |
Practicalities
Buses from Vinh Long and beyond hit the southwest corner of Tra Vinh, terminating about 800m from the centre of town at the bus station on Nguyen Dang, off Dien Bien Phu. The extremely helpful Tra Vinh Tourist Company at 64–66 Le Loi (074/385 8556, 074/385 8768) can provide local information, while the Agribank, one block west of the market at 70–72 Le Loi, will change US dollars, and has an ATM. The post office is located on Hung Vuong, just opposite the Thanh Tra Hotel.
The Cuu Long Hotel (074/386 2615, 074/386 6027; US$11–50), at 999 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai (on the main road just before entering town), is one of the best places to stay, and brings an aura of prosperity to the small town with its surprisingly well-equipped rooms that have a touch of elegance. Almost opposite, the mini-hotel Hoan My (074/386 2211, 074/386 6600; US$11–30), at 105a Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, has tastefully furnished rooms, some with massage showers. The smartest places in the town centre are the Palace (074/386 4999; US$11–20), at 3 Le Thanh Ton, with fancy furnishings and all facilities, and the recently refurbished Thanh Tra (074/385 3626, 074/625 0658; US$11–30) at 1 Pham Thai Buo, which is more of a business-style hotel. For a decent budget choice, the Duy Tung (074/385 8567; US$10 and under–20), just opposite the market at 6 Dien Bien Phu, has clean and functional rooms with cable TV.
Eating options include the popular Ben Co, which serves up huge bowls of delicious banh canh – a noodle soup with pork; it’s located about 5km from the town centre, on the right-hand side of Highway 53 (the road to Vinh Long) about half a kilometre after the turning for Ba Om. Other reliable places are the thatched bar-restaurant behind the Cuu Long Hotel, on the same road heading out of town, and the top-floor restaurant of the Thanh Tra Hotel. For a little more ambience, try the Tuy Huong, opposite the front of the market, whose friendly owners offer a range of Chinese and Vietnamese dishes, or the Viet Hoa, at 80 Tran Phu, which specializes in seafood; to get there walk south of the front of the market along Dien Bien Phu and turn right on to Tran Phu. Be warned that some places, including Viet Hoa close around 8pm. Finally, stalls around the western edge of the market hawk pho and com throughout the evening.
The Mekong Delta | Tra Vinh and around |
Ba Om Pond
Five kilometres southwest of town, a signposted road on the left runs down to Ba Om Pond, beloved of Tra Vinh picnickers and courting couples. Buses to and from Vinh Long pass the short approach road here, or a xe om from the centre of Tra Vinh costs around 20,000đ. Around the pond, drinks and snack vendors lie in wait for visitors. Though it can get crowded at weekends, on weekdays it is usually restful. Bordered by grassy banks, and shaded by towering, aged trees whose roots clutch at the ground, Ba Om is cloaked with plants that attract flocks of birds in the late afternoon.
The area across the far side of the pond has been a Khmer place of worship since the eleventh century, and today it’s occupied by