Lady’s Guide to Two Days in the Mekong Delta

As I step onto my flat-bottomed sampan boat in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, I can tell I’m in for a treat. The open front has comfortable chairs arranged under a woven canopy, offering expansive views of the riverbanks and insights into daily life.

If Halong Bay has some of the most stunning waterfront scenery in the north of Vietnam, the Mekong Delta has some of the most inspiring in the south.

A few hours’ drive from Ho Chi Minh City, the delta’s network of rivers and streams extends all the way from the coast to the Cambodian border.

I’m exploring the region for two days with Flight Centre, who sent me here on one of their tailor-made Journeys.

Much of the country’s impressively fertile rice growing land is here, and the river serves as a conduit for the finished product to move from farms to tables in the country and abroad.

Barges laden with heavy bags of rice ply the route, transporting the harvest down the rivers and providing a colorful scene from the deck of the sampan.

Between the rice warehouses are residential homes, most of which sit on stilts above the water.

They’re home to people that reside in this part of the country, one of whom shows me her basket-weaving skills as my guide from Buffalo Tours takes me on a village visit.

The guide also brings me to a convent where a Buddhist nun shows me how soy sauce and other soy-based products are made.

Eventually my sampan pulls over to a pier and I alight for a two-hour luxury coach ride to Chau Doc, a riverside city near the Cambodian border.

My base for two days in the Mekong Delta is the hilltop Victoria Nui Sam Lodge. It has great views of the rice fields below, although the rooms aren’t as nice as the others I’ve stayed in on the trip.

With Chau Doc as my starting point, I go off with a guide to explore more of the region. She takes me on a private day tour that covers a lot of the area’s highlights, from temples to nature reserves and important local landmarks.

First I take a rowboat ride through a narrow mangrove-lined river blanketed with green blossoms, watching for birds along the way. At the end I climb up a tower that has views of lush fields and bright orange flowers below.

I also visit Tuc Dup Hill, where Viet Cong soldiers hid in stone tunnels during the American war in the 1960s and ’70s.

I make myself as small as I can to squeeze through narrow gaps between the rocks, imagining what life was like here while my guide leads me through the labyrinth.

At the end of my two days in the Mekong Delta, I face a nine-hour drive back to Ho Chi Minh City. The luxurious van has WiFi, which helps pass the time.

I also stop at the lovely Victoria Can Tho Resort for lunch on the way, where I have some of the best food I’ve tasted on my whole trip to Vietnam.

I spend my final night in the country in Ho Chi Minh City, one of my favorite urban centers in Asia.

I stay at the five-star Pullman Saigon Centre hotel, which is in a great location for lively restaurants and nightlife and has an outdoor rooftop bar with views across the city.

Ho Chi Minh City’s busy streets and honking horns contrast with the tranquility of the river, but both represent Vietnam in their own ways.

Looking down at the city below, I can appreciate the variety of experiences I’ve had while traveling, from the buzzing streets of Hanoi to the quiet coast of Halong Bay and the bucolic countryside of the Mekong Delta.

Now the only thing left to experience is leaving, and I can tell it’s going to be my least favorite part of the trip.

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