what’s to see in the Mekong Delta? (part two)
what if you do not want a group tour?
well if you want to do the things yourself like I did, you will have to arrange all the transport to the towns yourself. that usually mean finding the central bus station in each town (which are almost never in town but more like several kilometers outside the center), then when you are at your destination you just pay a visit to the various tours offices and see what are the local tours available. it is always a good idea to ask your hotel if they have any contact for tours and stuff because even though you’ll always find a proper tourist offices. don’t forget that they are as well some locals doing the same tours for cheaper. the only difference is that they use small boats and carry only a few people at a time. the good thing with this, is that is does give you a sense of privacy and you won’t be confronted with hordes of tourist at all time. note that the only thing that has to go trough bigger offices are the homestays.
is the experience worth it?
well when it comes to decide if it is really worth it to do the delta on your own, it actually really depends on how prepare are you to rough it up. it is true that Vietnam is not yet the place where you can wander around and expect things to go smoothly and doing things yourself can be quite tiring and exhausting at times. on the other hands the good thing as always when you are doing the things yourself is that you can manage your own time and do as much or as little as you want with the added bonus of exploring each of the locals towns to bring back some extra nice pictures of the daily life during day and night.my overall experience of the delta is that you get little back out from the effort you give. what I mean is:
- It is always a struggle to haggle for transportation (especially since people do not speak English) and price wise most of the in between transport from ferry or bus station to town can be quite costly on the overall cost of things.
- there is never a moment where people will not try to make you pay extra for buses and there is no way to know what is the actual real price.
- the transport you’ll take are always local buses or minivan that are packed with people and always lack comfort and air con.
- the hotel always have to be booked in advance otherwise you will might be running the town at night with your back pack to find available rooms in an hotel.
- the local tours you are doing are most of the time similar to the one organized tour are taking.
what’s the reward?
Away from the extra pictures and the time you can spend in each spot, I cannot see any real reward for all the effort given.
even the extra towns you can visit are mostly not ready at all to accommodate tourist and have nothing charming. even the extra little tours have you see more of the same stuff over and over. and it is not the first time i have this feeling during my stay in Vietnam. in a lot of places its feel like that: you saw one town you’ve seen them all.
In my opinion:
For me I think that Vietnam is not a country that is developed enough for tourism yet and the interaction with the local communities is always hard and make thing slow and difficult.the language is also a big big weakness throughout Vietnam there are so few people speaking decent English that the most simple of information you’ll try to get can end up in 30 mn struggle. as an example: most of the restaurants in the small town outside the tourist area did not have any English whatsoever on their menu and the waiters also will not understand English. so imagine when you are hungry and ready for a quick meal :O) in this case do like me, just point out randomly on the menu at two or three things you might just get lucky.
that said, I did not get any genuine good feelings about the locals being in hotels, restaurant, transport, tourist offices etc… don’t get me wrong it is not that people hate tourists but I think that as a a whole, the Vietnamese do not have that welcoming thing you’ll find in other countries. let’s say that they will do the minimum and nothing more. In some rare cases you”ll have hotels where people will go the extra mile but its quite rare.(unless again you are in a 4 stars hotel).
Finally I would say if you want to do things on your own, it is better for now to stay in the tourist areas and solely go to the best town. you’ll have a much better time and won’t spend the extra money for other things that not really worth it. otherwise just take a tour see things you want and move on.
The critical Frenchman
Tags: coconut candy, homestays, mekong delta, prices, river, tours, transport, Travel, Vietnam, Tag Index