Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [119]
The Mekong Delta | Ha Tien and around |
Eating
The waterfront Hai Van, at 4 Tran Hau, is a good choice for eating: run by the hotel of the same name, it serves up decent breakfasts and an extensive menu of Vietnamese dishes. Further along the front at 20 Tran Hau, the Xuan Thanh serves cheap Vietnamese dishes in clean surroundings, and is often busy; try the stir-fried squid with pineapple or the fried fish with lemon. For something a bit classier, the Giang Thanh, in front of the Ha Tien Hotel, serves Vietnamese and Chinese dishes in a traditional, open-sided building. Conveniently located for people-watching, the Thuy Tien, a café right by the pontoon bridge, offers coffee, soft drinks and snacks. In the evening, a night market sets up along Tran Hau, some stalls selling souvenirs and others selling seafood, attracting crowds of locals and visitors alike.
The Mekong Delta | Ha Tien and around |
Around Ha Tien
A pleasant half or full day can be spent exploring the countryside around Ha Tien, with a convenient circular route northwest of town meaning you won’t need to backtrack. This makes an ideal bike ride and, though nowhere officially rents vehicles, most hotels can help out. Rates should be around $3 for a bike and $8 for a motorbike. Failing that, hire the services of a xe om (about 150,000đ for a half-day trip).
Strike off west along Lam Son. At the end of the road, turn left and continue straight at a small roundabout. Endless rice fields and coconut groves border the road as it kinks gently around low-lying hills towards the Cambodian border. A war cemetery serves as a landmark on the right 2.5km from town, and from here it’s another 1.5km to a left turn to Mui Nai – “Stag’s Head Peninsula” – though you’d be hard-pressed to see the silhouette of a stag’s head in of any of the surrounding hills. Take this turning, follow it to the coast and along a winding stretch of road with some beautiful views until you reach the entrance to the beach (2000đ).
A pleasant – if not idyllic – four-hundred-metre curve of sand, shaded by coconut palms and backed by lush green hills, Mui Nai beach offers reasonable swimming in clean, shallow waters. The beach is very popular among Vietnamese, and there’s even a small resort here, the Hai Dang (077/385 2878; US$11–20), with reasonable air-conditioned rooms and a restaurant too. There are a few other restaurants and beachside cafés, so you can kick back and crack open a few crabs while enjoying a fresh coconut juice or a refreshing slice of watermelon.
On leaving the beach, turn left and continue up the coast. You’ll see the 48-metre-high granite outcrop housing Thach Dong, or Stone Cave, long before you reach it; 3–4km past Mui Nai the road reaches a junction, where a left turn leads to the Cambodian border. Turn right at this junction and very shortly the road passes a cluster of food stalls that mark the entrance to the cave. A monument shaped like a defiant clenched fist stands as a memorial to 130 people killed by Khmer Rouge forces near here in 1978. Beyond this, steps lead up to a cave pagoda that’s home to a colony of bats. Its shrines to Quan Am and Buddha are unremarkable, but balconies hewn from the side of the rock afford great views over the hills, paddy fields and sea below. Look to your right and you’re peering into Cambodia. From here, continue along the circular road which brings you after a few kilometres back into Ha Tien.
The Mekong Delta |
Hon Chong Peninsula
Just 30km south of Ha Tien lies the Hon Chong Peninsula. A string of offshore isles has earned this region the moniker “mini-Ha Long”, but it’s as a coastal resort that it draws throngs of Vietnamese and a smattering of foreigners. The