Mekong Deta Tour Unexpected Place of Picturesque - Linda. One of the best tour guide ever she never left my side coz i was alone she let me experience the opportunities to have a better experience and photo she is caring.

You'll have nothing but good weather with Sunny as your guide! - We knew we wanted to visit the Mekong Delta on our 3 week(ish) long trip to Viet Nam. Sabrina had visited 20 years ago, 16 years ago she and I ran out of time to visit, and this was Kathy's first visit to Viet Nam. We wanted to visit the Vinh Trang Pagoda, do a boat ride on the Mekong River, check out some local industry and take a small boat ride through the canals surrounded by sea coconuts. We had thought about doing a day trip until we saw a couple of YouTube vlogs about the 2-day, 1 night tour with Vietnam Adventure Tours. By taking this tour, we would also get to visit the Cai Rang Floating Market, which, while a scaled back version from its heyday, has a long history. We were collected from outside our hotel and welcomed to our wonderful guide Sunny. Sunny's young, bright, and vibrant - she's friendly, enthusiastic and a lot of fun. Sunny maintained high energy throughout the two-day tour, sharing history and stories about our stops along the way. She knew when to let the group rest (on sometimes long drives, waking people with a gentle 'it's time to wake up Sunny's family), and kept the group energy high. Sunny was very good at letting us know when tipping would be expected (boat captains, rowers on the small boats, traditional singers) and what was a reasonable tip (making sure we weren't pressured in to paying too much). When Sabrina gave feedback that the rowers on her boat (for the small boat ride through sea coconut tree lined canals) was pushy about tips, Sunny gave feedback (as apparently the rowers have been told not to do this). We had the chance to chat with Sunny out of ‘tour guide’ mode during down time, and when we inadvertently met up with her during our free time in Can Tho. She’s honestly a really nice person, naturally friendly, and very easy to talk to. We enjoyed that the tour was a combination of guided sightseeing, with some free exploration. For example, at the Vinh Trang Pagoda Sunny gave us a brief history of the temple, then allowed us time to explore on our own (we had a great group with everyone returning to the gathering point on time). We visited various industries on the Mekong Delta islands at My Tho. At the honey production place, the honey tea was excellent, and while we and the hosts would have liked us to buy some, they understood that coming from Western Australia that wasn't possible. The same location also included hand crafted chocolate - we got to see how cacao grows, smell the beans prior to production and taste the chocolate - it was delicious. As with all boutique chocolate, it wasn't cheap, but I felt it was worth the price for the quality and unique flavours. The coconut candy place offered more than just coconut candy (the peanut, banana and ginger candies were delicious, some of those came home with us) - much of which was delicious. It was so impressive watching the factory staff wrapping the coconut candies by hand - they were SO fast. We were also fed on the tour. We were served delicious fresh fruit at one stop, accompanied by some traditional music. The music was pleasant and the fruit lovely - such a variety too (dragon-fruit, pineapple, jackfruit, watermelon, and pomelo served with a spicy salt which goes surprisingly well with sweet fruit). Lunch was more than sufficient. We had spring rolls, deep fried fish, a delicious braised pork dish, banh xeo, rice and a tasty soup. We rolled away from that meal. After lunch we had free time to just relax or stroll around the small island. We wandered the raised walkways for around 20 minutes before heading back to the boat, to return to main pier and our bus for the longish drive to Can Tho (about 4 hours, which went by comfortably). For our accommodation we chose not to take the upgrade to 5-star, staring at the 3-star Senior Hotel 2. The hotel was metres from the waterfront and a short stroll to the Can Tho Market and night market. We had contacted the tour provider ahead of the trip to request twin beds (for Sabrina aka Mum and I), while Kathy paid the US$20 single supplement for her own room. Sabrina and I were given a triple room with a double bed and single bed - others on the tour hadn't requested specific bedding ahead, which meant some friends were stuck sharing a king bed as there were no twin rooms available – it’s worthwhile getting in touch early if you need certain accommodations as we found Vietnam Adventure Tours were happy to assist where they could. The hotel lobby and the hotel rooms were very prettily presented. The beds, linens and towels were very clean while the rest of the room was surface clean (no dust, but the walls and floors needed a wash, as did the bathroom – soap scum in the shower and a bit of mould in the corners). Our room had a fridge (not super cold), and a TV (though we couldn’t get it to connect to channels). A/C was OK. Our bathroom had both a free-standing shower plus a bath with shower over tub; and was enormous. Unfortunately, at best we had luke-cold showers (cooler than luke-warm) - even checking the water temp late at night or early morning and running it for a long time. As noted above, we had free time in Can Tho - after our arrival and check-in at the hotel. We wandered along the waterfront and visited the night market which spread across two city blocks between widely spaced roads. We also stopped by Can Tho's market - many stalls were still open into the evening. We found that souvenir prices here were much cheaper here than in Sai Gon (really, anywhere else on our Viet Nam visit). The stall holders were not aggressive, and didn't hike up the prices simply so customers would have to haggle back down. Many items were fixed price, with prices clearly displayed. Many of the popular or well rated restaurants in Can Tho were very busy – the waterfront area is bustling (there are even some very brightly lit, kind of gaudy, floating restaurants where you can get a buffet meal while cruising the river). We found a quiet little local place a block or so back from the waterfront selling Bun Cha Ha Noi which was simple and delicious! Day two started with a very early wakeup call (4:30am for a 5am start), as the Cai Rang floating market is said to be at its busiest and best before dawn. We had read reviews of some tours that started later and, in all cases, reviews complained that the market was sparse, just filled with tour boats - not a problem in our case as we arrived at the Cai Rang floating market before the sun was up. While the size of the Cai Rang floating market has dwindled over the years (road transport has become more prevalent, cheaper and more reliable, which puts the market at risk of disappearing entirely), it's still very interesting to see the large barges selling fruits and vegetables in bulk – I’ve never seen so many pumpkins piled up in my life. Our floating market tour included fresh juice or coffee from a small boat vendor, and the option to buy hot noodles from another (balancing in their small boat with two very large puts of boiling broth). Sabrina and I enjoyed the delicious pork noodles as an early pre-breakfast. As well as cruising among the big boats, you also stop at a rice noodle factory. It was interesting to see them making fresh noodles, and of course there are noodles for sale - what made them different is they came in a range of colours, orange, blue, purple, green; all using natural colours such as taro and pea flower. After the floating market we visited a local wet market, with many small stall vendors, lots of locals doing their morning shop, and plenty of vibrant colours - perfect for anyone who loves taking photos, a nice and unexpected stop. Back to the hotel to eat breakfast, pack, and hop on the bus to make our way back to Ho Chi Minh City. Breakfast was included in the hotel stay, served at rooftop cafe space. Breakfast comprised one choice from an a-la-carte menu with western egg options and Vietnamese noodle options. Tea, coffee, and fruit were set out for all guests to self-serve (unfortunately one couple in our group took ALL of the fruit and it was not refilled). It was certainly sufficient to start the day. After breakfast we reboarded the bus to make our way back to Ho Chi Minh City. To break up the roughly 4 hour drive we stopped enroute at 10 Vo Ancient House which is where we would enjoy our lunch and a mini cooking class. First, though, anyone who wanted had the opportunity to take a bike ride along the narrow pathways through the village. Sabrina and Kathy sat this out, but I decided to give it a go even though I haven’t been on a bicycle in over two decades. It was fun riding through the village, though I think I spent more time focussing on the path than the sights – a long time off bikes, and also an unfamiliar bike with no option to adjust properly for my height meant I was more unstable than I probably want to admit. Back at the Ancient House we were broken up into two groups, so we could each take our spot in front of a wok and learn to make Banh Xeo, a kind of egg-pancake-omelette dish filled with bean sprouts, chicken, and shrimp. This wasn’t the only food served for lunch – we were also served spring rolls, deep fried and stuffed zucchini flowers, fish, a vegetable soup, rice, braised pork, and quail egg dish, bok choy, and fresh jackfruit. It was all delicious. We really enjoyed this tour. It was well organised, there were a variety of activities, plenty of good food, comfortable transport, some options to shop if you wanted (but really no pressure to buy), beautiful scenery, a comfortable hotel, some free time to explore, and a great guide! It’s not the cheapest thing you’ll do but we felt it was value for money and would happily do it all over again.

Nice trip The tour guide was excellent. - Tradition Wonderful sunsett Traditional boats The market on the river is unique The tour guide was excellent. She was informative, cheerful, and always by our side whenever we needed anything

A very enjoyable way to spend a couple of days. - We really enjoyed this tour. Our guide Phu was very knowledgeable, kind and ensured we were all looked after. He was very attentive and approachable and really added to our experience. The activities on the itinerary were exactly as described and were engaging and enjoyable, and whilst the places we visited were obviously set up for tourists, there wasn’t a heavy push to buy things as there has been on previous tours. I particularly enjoyed the Coconut Island activities. The floating market wasn’t as vast as I had expected but still enjoyable and I found the fish and meat market particularly interesting. We were most impressed by the hotel we were put up in. The tour advertises a 3 star hotel and had read some previous reviews about the accommodation not being that great so our expectations weren’t very high. But the Wink Hôtel right near the city centre was amazing. Spotlessly clean, modern and very comfortable. The rooftop pool and breakfast were both great. I’m guessing the hotel tour groups get allocated to comes down to availability so it may not always be this hotel but if you happen to get the Wink hotel- you won’t be disappointed. The transport was comfy and well air conditioned. We only had 6 in our group so we had plenty of space. One tip, pack light- there is not a lot of room in the back of the bus for luggage so if you are travelling with all of your luggage you may need to store it somewhere as it may not fit on the bus. Overall a lovely way to spend a couple of days outside of HCMC.

We didn't go to see the... - We didn't see the opening of the floating market because we would have to start about 4:30am and the floating market is mostly for buyers of large quantities. We went there later after being taken to the local morning street market in Can Tho where the local people go. It was much more colorful with live seafood, fruits, vegetables and flowers. We then went to the floating market, which was interesting but not a lot of activity (perhaps because we weren't there when they first open) other than other tourist boats and some smaller boats approaching to sell us their few fruits and drinks. Visiting the islands, Pagoda and seeing how some foods were made were interesting. It was an enjoyable 2 day trip overall.

Very, very good - Very good and more, we loved it. Guide Nicole ’and crue’ were perfect, thank You. Can Tho was lovely, the hotel there was great.

Very enjoyable! - This was a very good tour, our tour guide was Pham and she was very friendly, helpful and charming. The places we visited were very interesting, especially the fish market and the floating market, the hotel we stayed in was clean and comfortable with a very good rooftop pool and bar and excellent breakfast.

Great tour - Our guide Sunny was just as her name suggests. A warm, friendly guide who kept us organised and informed during our trip and was lots of fun too! The boat ride through the canals of the delta and floating market were highlights. Seeing village life and making Banh Xeo was fantastic. One issue though was the coconuts given to us on a boat on day one. They might not have been stored properly as they were not fresh.

Whatever can be eaten is traded. - Boats and barges going everywhere. Offloading watermelons, pineapples and vegetables and much, much more. Impressive how the boat glide seamlessly in and out.

Normal - We found it sometimes too touristic at certain times. Otherwise normal. To spend 2 days it is okay......