Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [95]
Of the US bombing campaign on the provincial capital of BEN TRE, a US major was quoted as saying, “It became necessary to destroy the town in order to save it.” Today, Ben Tre is a pleasant and industrious town displaying none of the wounds of its past, and makes an agreeable contrast to the tourist bustle of nearby My Tho. Though rather short on sights, it’s still a relaxing and friendly place to hole up for a couple of days, with a buzzing town market and a new riverside promenade, which makes a pleasant place to stroll in the morning or evening. You might also be tempted to pass over the quaint bridge leading to the Ben Tre River’s more rustic south bank, where scores of cross-eyed boats moor in front of a jumble of simple houses. With a bicycle or motorbike, you can explore the maze of dirt tracks on this side of the river. Before striking off, though, duck into the riverside wine factory, 450m west of the bridge, where fermenting ruou trang (Vietnamese rice wine) fizzes away in vast earthenware jars. A mountain of rice husks indicates the factory’s location, though you’ll find it easily if you follow your nose.
For more of an adventure, head out of town on a boat trip along the Ben Tre coastline, where labyrinthine creeks afford marvellous scope for exploring, and sometimes include stops at apiaries, rice-wine and sugar-processing workshops. Such an outing can be organized through the Ben Tre Tourist Company (see "Practicalities"), or try the Thao Nhi Guest House(see "Practicalities"), which has a good reputation for cheap and enjoyable boat trips to watch a sunrise or sunset over the Mekong River.
The Mekong Delta | Ben Tre |
Practicalities
The opening of the new bridge to Ben Tre means that most visitors arrive by road: buses terminate on Doan Hoang Minh about a kilometre west of the town centre. Located at 65 Dong Khoi to the north of the centre, Ben Tre Tourist Company (daily 7–11am & 1–5pm; 075/382 9618) can organize car rental, bicycles and some tours; for motorbikes, contact the Hung Vuong Hotel. The Vietinbank on Nguyen Dinh Chieu exchanges dollars.
The riverside Hung Vuong Hotel (075/382 2408; US$31–50) at 166 Hung Vuong has easily the best location and facilities of Ben Tre’s hotels. Its large, well-equipped rooms all have air-conditioning and TVs, and some have bathtubs and river views. On the north bank of Truc Giang Lake, the state-run Dong Khoi (075/382250 1; US$10 and under–20) at 16 Hai Ba Trung has well-equipped rooms at very cheap rates, but it can get rowdy when they host a wedding, as they often do. Another cheap but adventurous option is the Thao Nhi Guest House (075/386 0009;thaonhitours@yahoo.com; US$10 and under–20), set in the grounds of a longan orchard. It has a range of rooms, including small ones with fans and larger ones with air-conditioning, and the staff are friendly and helpful. The atmosphere is very relaxing – the kind of place to settle in for a few days – and its restaurant has a good menu that features elephant-ear fish and huge prawns. It’s about 11km north of Ben Tre town, near the former ferry terminal: to get there, take the right turn just before the old ferry terminal and look for a sign after a few hundred metres pointing down a narrow lane to the right. From here it’s another 150m.
There’s not a great deal of choice for places to eat in Ben Tre; the restaurant at the Hung Vuong Hotel serves up decent food in an uninspiring environment, while the Ben Tre Floating Restaurant, moored on the riverbank about 3km west of the centre, is a fine venue for a sunset drink or dinner, with main courses costing around 60,000đ. Failing that, there are plenty of food stalls around the market.
The Mekong Delta |
Cao Lanh and around
West of My Tho, and Cai Be, Highway 1 crosses the My Thuan Bridge on its way to Vinh Long and Can Tho. Just before the bridge, however, at An Huu, Highway 30 branches north, rolling into modest CAO LANH