Come & Go Vietnam Blog

Last week I took another trip to wonderful Cambodia to look at a couple of new business opportunities, and combined it with visits to a few less heralded spots on the alternative route from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. So after a warm welcome from my local partner in Phnom Penh, including a visit to his orphanage/school and a lot of cold beer (a new brand, Cambodia Beer, was being launched that very week so we tested its qualities most rigorously), and a night at my regular hotel, the Cardamom, we set off early the next morning (well, 7.30 – that’s early for me…)

Our first stop is Cambodia’s former capital Oudong, where we have a tasty breakfast of grilled chicken & rice, before heading to Phnom Preah Reach Throap, one of the most sacred Buddhist

sites in the country. After stopping at the foot of the hill to buy sunglasses (as usual, I’d lost my previous pair) and a new krama scarf (I think I left my last one in Laos) from an 88-yr old woman who cuts me a tailormade krama for $3, we trek up the 900-odd steps, passing sunbathing monkeys as we go, to reach the spectacular temple at the top. It’s very colourful and offers fantastic views of the surrounding countryside. Going down is easier than going up, and the icebox of cold beers that we filled up in Oudong is a welcome sight when we get back to the car.

We then move on to Kompong Chnang, a bustling market town with crumbling colonial facades lining the riverfront. We hire a Vietnamese boat pilot and embark on a rowing tour of

the floating village, and I have to say it turns out to be the nicest such village I have yet visited, a lot cosier & better maintained than those in Tonle Sap or Chau Doc, and with local inhabitants yet to be jaded by mass tourism – the locals smile, the kids wave & blow kisses as we pass. And noone asks us for money. The boat pilot asks us to help out with the rowing at one point; I agree on condition he gives us a $1 discount; he decides he can handle the rowing after all.

During the boat ride my partner gets a call from a friend who lives near Kompong Chnang inviting him to lunch, to celebrate his forthcoming wedding (his third!) So we pitch up at his friend’s house & are greeted with fresh fish, soup and the obligatory case of Angkor Beer, and a good time is had by all.

As usual I doze off in the car for an hour or so as we head along the flood-damaged road to

Battambang, waking up on the outskirts of what is Cambodia’s second biggest city. You wouldn’t know it; it’s a fairly sleepy place, a scenic riverfront lined with beautifully preserved French colonial buildings (which, I’m informed, are protected by the government – Vietnam, take note), and after visiting a couple of hotels, we check into the King Hotel to catch up on some work before heading out for dinner to Mohasal Restaurant.

Now, regular readers of this blog will know that eating, particularly trying out the kind of weird stuff that would make even Andrew Zimmern think twice, is one of my biggest pleasures when I’m on my travels, but tonight I encounter a dish that beats me hands down. We kick off with wild boar stir-fried with chilli & basil, a classic Cambodian dish and a very tasty one. Then it’s some kind of lizard – a waste of a dish really, as despite the very tasty Thai curry-style sauce it’s served with, it’s virtually all bone & gristle. And then it arrives at our table. Steamed turtle. Boiled whole, shell intact. I’ve never tried turtle before so am licking my lips in anticipation when the shell comes off, and I have to stop myself from retching as a mass of brown-grey internal organs & flesh spills out, along with several eggs. It’s the most disgusting thing I’ve seen on a table since biology classes at school. I dig in & give it a try (the eggs are OK), but the appearance & odour are too much for me and I have to hold my hands up & admit defeat. My partner tucks in undaunted & is clearly enjoying having the whole turtle to himself; I try to look elsewhere and settle on the waitresses, one of whom misunderstands my look and starts getting a bit too friendly. I’m relieved to get out of there & go to bed.

The next day begins with a very nice breakfast on the pleasant riverside terrace of the King Hotel, where we watch monks returning from their morning alms-gathering (not being a

remotely religious/spiritual person it continually amazes me that a country as poor as Cambodia can always find money to build temples & keep monks well fed). Then we drive across the river & have a wander around Battambang itself. Its riverside is lined with charming colonial buildings (including one wholly intact colonial street one block back from the river), and there’s also a busy and interesting market and the spectacular White Elephant temple. A very nice, under-explored town with a lot of tourism potential.

From Battambang we drive to Phnom Sampeau, another hill/temple combo but here the monks have built a road to the top meaning cars & motorbikes can drive up, which is a relief to my Cambodian partner who struggled with yesterday’s climb. Halfway up we stop at the grisly killing cave, where the Khmer Rouge would club victims over the head & then throw them into the cave below. The cave houses a large golden Buddha as well as hundreds of skeletons of Khmer Rouge victims, a real contrast with the flowers, trees & sunny weather outside.

On top of Phnom Sampeau we give a donation to an elderly monk to help with their road-building, and he performs a blessing for us by way of thanks, then we explore the  hilltop temple, accompanied by a couple of local kids – they don’t ask us for money, they just seem to want to be entertained for a while.

From Phnom Sampeau it’s a bumpy drive along a dirt track to Phnom Banan, an Angkor-era

hilltop temple consisting of five towers. It’s a hot, sweaty 500-step climb to the top, passing struggling elderly French tourists en route, but the summit is very quiet & peaceful, the crumbling old towers surrounded by flowers. I’ve finished my tour and am about to descend when my local partner finally makes it to the top.

A quick lunch of fried noodles and then we move onto a grape farm & winery. I wasn’t aware that wine was made in Cambodia, and whilst it won’t win any prizes it’s a lot more drinkable than Dalat wine, and their brandy is really very good indeed. Thence back to Battambang to pick up the road to Siem Reap. We stop a couple of times en route, once for more food, and again to shoot some men fishing off a bridge, drinking cold beers from our icebox as we go, before journey’s end – Sokhalay Resort in Siem Reap, where we are attending the opening party.

As for Battambang, it’s well worth a visit and at least a night’s stay, with plenty to do & see for a couple of days – definitely a good stopover on the drive to Siem Reap and a far less touristy insight into the real Cambodia.

Fancy following in my footsteps? Check out the image gallery below, then email tim@comeandgovietnam.com to arrange your trip!

One thing you notice very quickly when you first come to Vietnam is how patriotic its people are, which is no surprise given their lengthy struggles for independence. Vietnamese flags fly everywhere (especially during public holidays), and the Vietnamese will readily talk about how much they love their country and how proud they are to be Vietnamese.

It’s strange, then, that the Vietnamese have so few qualms about strewing litter around them everywhere they go. I’ve done a lot of road travelling of late and on countless occasions I’ve seen people throwing plastic bags full of rubbish out of minibus windows, leaving roadsides covered in garbage. Places frequented by tour buses – Hon Rom beach in Mui Ne for example – are usually covered in garbage, even when litter bins are supplied. Take a train in Vietnam and you will see litter lining the whole length of the track, as people simply throw their garbage out of the train windows.

Even more surprising is that this appalling disregard for the environment is extended to sacred sites. I recently visited Nui Sam mountain in Chau Doc (a popular pilgrimage site) for the first – and last – time, and was shocked at the sheer volume of rubbish that was strewn not just around the parking area at the foot of the mountain, but all over the mountain itself. I saw several people throwing their rubbish off the top of the mountain, leaving the mountainside looking like a garbage heap. And the parking area outside Vinh Trang pagoda in My Tho – one of the Delta’s most sacred Buddhist temples – was also covered in rubbish when I visited last Sunday, despite there being several rubbish bins provided. The bins themselves were practically empty.

Saying you love your country and then covering it in garbage just doesn’t make sense to me, and we regularly have comments from our clients about how beautiful Vietnam is, but how many places are spoiled by excessive littering. The “Hidden Charm” is often hidden by plastic bags and food cartons.

My advice to visitors? Put your rubbish in the bins provided, and if you see anyone, local or foreign, dropping their litter on the ground, feel free to point out the error of their ways. My advice to locals? Stop just saying how much you love your country, and start showing it! You have a stunningly beautiful country, and it would be even more beautiful if you disposed of your rubbish more responsibly.

A while back one of our best clients (for reasons of confidentiality I will refer to him only as J) informed me that, despite living and travelling extensively around SE Asia for several years, he had never actually been to the Mekong Delta. Ye gods I thought, we have to rectify this. And so after careful planning and the usual negotiation of complimentary accommodation, we finally set off last week for four days of exploration, enjoyment, and, as it turned out, truly bizarre food. Here’s the full story…

Day 1

We pick J up from a typically chaotic Tan Son Nhat Airport and then head directly to Ben Tre. Amazingly, the journey takes a mere 90 minutes, thanks to the new Truong Luong Highway and Rach Mieu bridge, which have conspired to shave a good 45-60 minutes off the old journey time.

As we’re starting our tour later than usual, and we’re hungry, we have a quick coffee by the river before boarding our boat and heading straight to Mr Phuoc’s wonderful riverside homestay for a very tasty lunch washed down with cold beers. Then we head off on the tried & trusted Come & Go Ben Tre tour, which I have previously blogged about on several occasions so no need to go into it again here. Suffice to say we see very few other tourists during the trip and feel like we’ve really got into the heart of the region – no “tourist villages” for us thank you very much. Highlight of the afternoon is a stop at a honey farm, where we eat honey (and live bee larvae) fresh from the hive – the first of many weird & wonderful food experiences!

We cycle back to our homestay, have a refreshing cold shower, and then take our place at the table

(with some Come & Go customers) for a communal cooking class, meal and booze-up. Phuoc’s friendly family show us how to cook various local dishes (thumbs up for the deep-fried tapioca with chilli – great beer snack food), while Phuoc’s father plies us with the contents of his drinks cabinet, including banana wine & snake wine. Sitting under the stars, by the river, eating great food and feeling contentedly drunk is a great way to round off the day and ensure we get a good night’s sleep before tomorrow’s early start.

Day 2

In typical fashion, I manage to sleep through the crowing cocks, barking dogs and the apparently noisy departure of our fellow guests, and don’t wake up until almost 7. J is surprised at my ability to sleep through all of this but after seeing me drop off at every available opportunity in the days to come, he soon gets used to it. We enjoy a wonderful al fresco breakfast of hot Vietnamese coffee, fried eggs, baguettes and cheese/jam, before getting back on our bikes to visit a local village market and a rice paper workshop, where the bawdy female staff try to marry us off to one of their single colleagues. As News of the World reporters often claim, we make our excuses and leave.

After packing our bags back at the homestay, we board a boat and head back into Ben Tre City (yes, it

has been a city since 2009, though it still has a laid-back small town ambience). Ben Tre’s riverside market is as bustling as ever, with the wet market section (selling live snakes, frogs & a huge range of fish & seafood) being the most interesting and photogenic. Then we visit Ben Tre’s museum, housed in the city’s finest remaining colonial building. It’s a typical propaganda museum, with heroic fairytales of brave country folk doing battle with evil French colonialists, US imperialists and local collaborators, and has little of interest for foreign visitors, but in the yard we spot a group of high school girls having their annual AK-47 maintenance lesson, which entertains J no end, although the instructor seems less than amused by our presence, especially our cameras.

Then we move onto the forest tracks around Tan Thach, a very quiet part of Ben Tre province near Rach Mieu bridge. It’s the most scenic part of any Ben Tre tour, as the quiet jungle roads are studded with temples and even a lovely Cao Dai church, whose monks are happy to show us around and pose (albeit rather formally) for photographs.

We then get back into the car and head into what is unknown territory even for me, as my explorations of the Delta have never previously taken me beyond Ben Tre. We’re heading for Cai Be, with Can Tho our ultimate destination. En route J is delighted to spot a big Cao Dai temple (he wanted to visit the temple at Tay Ninh before realising it wasn’t feasible on our itinerary) in the town of Cai Lay. Despite the small number of worshippers (a grand total of 3), the temple itself is every bit as colourful and bizarre as its more famous brother in Tay Ninh, and the red-robed priest is happy to chat to us and pose for photos outside. It is the first of many spectacular sights that, according to our guide, tourists never, ever visit. “Is not for tourist” as the local saying goes. Wake up guys – this is exactly the sort of stuff that visitors want to see. Why create fake, kitsch “tourist villages” when you have such amazing, real and authentic places of interest?

We arrive in the pretty riverside town of Cai Be in time for lunch, and after a short walk along the river, we arrive at Le Longanier restaurant. It’s a beautifully restored colonial villa, and seeing how lovingly maintained it is, it brings home just what an opportunity Vietnam has lost by carelessly bulldozing the vast majority of its colonial buildings. The food isn’t great – the standard Mekong Delta tourist menu

and not a patch on the food we had at our homestay – but the staff are lovely and the setting is absolutely idyllic.

The next leg of our tour is on the luxurious Cai Be Princess boat, a long sampan with a couple of very comfortable divans on it. The staff are on hand with cold towels, fresh fruit and drinks, and as usual, I doze off for half an hour or so. After a 2-hour trip, we arrive in Vinh Long, where we rejoin our car for the last short leg to the capital of the Delta, Can Tho. On arrival we check into the Victoria for a much-needed hot shower and the joys of free WiFi access.

That evening we head into town, to the bustling riverside area, in search of cold beer & good local food. We find it at Mekong Restaurant, where we enjoy, amongst other things, the local speciality of minced snake. On our way back to the hotel we happen across Cay Buoi 2, a big local riverside restaurant, so we sit outside & order more beers. We’ve got a taste for odd food now, so we order some roasted sparrow as an accompanying snack. They’re an acquired taste – you eat the whole bird, from the head to the feet – but hey, we’ve already eaten live bee larvae and minced snake, so sparrow should be easy, right? Well, yes & no. The top half is fine – the head & brains are soft & tender, the breast is very rich and the liver has a fine, intense flavour. But as you approach the naughty bits and head down to the feet, the experience becomes less pleasant. But we polish off 10 of the little fellas between us all the same. One last beer and we adjourn to the Victoria to get a good night’s sleep.

Day 3

To me, sunrises are like UFOs or Bigfoot – people claim to have seen them, some even have photographic evidence, but I’ve never actually seen them for myself. I have spurned some of the most

impressive experiences SE Asia has to offer – sunrise over the Mui Ne sand dunes, the monks’ alms collection in Luang Prabang – such is my horror of getting out of bed before 8am. But the main purpose of my visit to Can Tho is getting some good images of Cai Rang floating market, so I stagger blearily out of bed at 6am and onto our waiting boat to see the market as its busiest and avoid the tourist boats.

And I don’t regret it. The market is a spectacular sight – thousands of boats, big & small, selling every kind of fresh produce imaginable. Including hot, fresh coffee, which is sorely needed by both of us. Luckily we’re on a small boat so we can get right in amongst the action – some of the tourist boats are so big they can only skirt around the edges, which doesn’t give you the full Cai Rang experience. We get some great shots, and I get pineapple juice all over my camera after sampling fresh Phu Quoc pineapples on one of the boats. The boat owner arrived 3 days previously with 10,000 pineapples; she now has only 1,000 left. Nice work.

As we head back to our hotel at around 8am, we see hordes of tourist boats arriving, bearing out our decision to make an early start. A copious buffet breakfast awaits us at the Victoria, after which we do a quick hotel inspection before embarking for Chau Doc.

Just outside Can Tho, in the small town of O Mon, our first surprise awaits. Out of the corner of my eye I spot an impressive golden temple, so we ask our driver to stop & turn back so we can visit. It is

Pothisomron Khmer temple, and it’s a spectacular, Cambodian-style, golden-roofed temple, complete with orange-clad monks who are happy for us to photograph them as they eat lunch. This place isn’t in any guide books, and our local guide says he didn’t even know it was there, yet it is by far the most impressive temple I’ve seen anywhere in Vietnam. Definitely one to add to our Delta itineraries.

After a cold drink & chat with some local Khmer ladies (who seem as keen to marry us off as the rice paper girls in Ben Tre), we head onwards to Thot Not and its much-vaunted stork sanctuary. It’s only reachable by boat (along a dirty canal) or motorbike, and to be honest unless you’re crazy about storks, it’s not worth the detour.

So we move on to Long Xuyen for a lunch stop at a crocodile farm. The place is home to literally thousands of crocs, from babies up to full grown monsters, all kept in very clean conditions, I am glad to report. The on-site restaurant obviously serves fresh croc, so we have it grilled with salt & chilli. It’s delicious – a chewy, pork-like consistency and a gamey flavour.

Then it’s time for the last leg of our journey. As we approach Chau Doc, the surroundings become more & more Cambodian, with wooden stilthouses lining the road. Were it not for the typically garish Vietnamese shop signs, we could be in Cambodia itself. Upon arrival in Chau Doc we walk onto the car ferry to Chau Giang island, where we visit the Mubarak mosque, and the Cham village behind it. Unlike the Cham village I will visit tomorrow, this one doesn’t feature on tourist itineraries and so we attract a very curious but friendly welcome from the villagers, who invite us to join their card games. Very poor people but their friendliness is very heartening.

Upon our return to Chau Doc, the day takes a nosedive as we head over to Nui Sam mountain. This is real domestic tourist territory (the mountain is a sacred pilgrimage site) and as we approach the mountain, the amount of litter & garbage is simply astonishing. Plastic bags, cans & food cartons as far as the eye can see, with no one making any attempt to clean up. The drive up the mountain is just as bad – garbage littering the hillside, and Vietnamese tourists urinating in full view. The view from the top of the mountain isn’t bad – if you’d never been up a mountain before you might be impressed – but the behaviour of the local tourists (yelling, spitting, urinating, throwing garbage onto the mountainside) is so disgusting we move on pretty damn quick. It never ceases to amaze me that people who love their country as much as the Vietnamese claim to can have so few qualms about treating it as a giant rubbish dump/public convenience.

We check into the Victoria, where we find we have been upgraded to suite rooms, and then head into Chau Doc in search of cold beer & food. Things here aren’t much better than they were at Nui Sam. There is garbage everywhere, even around our feet as we sit & have a cold beer outside the market, watched by a pair of copulating dogs. Yes, it’s a classy place.

We’re both seasoned Asia travellers and have eaten in some pretty insalubrious places, but after wandering the streets trying to find a restaurant that doesn’t look like a one-way ticket to dysentery, we give up and return to our hotel for dinner. A shame as we were looking forward to some good local food.

After dinner I bid farewell to J who is taking the early speedboat to Phnom Penh the following morning – it will take him just 4 hours and drop him right in the middle of the Cambodian capital. The best – possibly the only – reason to visit Chau Doc.

Day 4

My al fresco riverside breakfast ruined by a group of local tourists blowing cigarette smoke over to my table, I check out of the hotel and jump on another boat, to visit the floating fishing village and nearby

Cham village. It’s a very enjoyable trip, every bit the equal of a Tonle Sap lake tour in Siem Reap. This particular Cham village is the one that gets most of the tourists, and as I get off the boat I’m greeted by local kids selling small cakes, 6 for a dollar. In the village is a sign – apparently erected by the local People’s Committee – warning tourists not to by these cakes for they risking catching “colic”. My guide assures me it’s bullshit aimed at stopping the kids pestering tourists (I don’t feel pestered at all), so I buy some cakes, eat half, and give half back to the kids which they eat themselves, and none of us get sick. Funny how it’s acceptable for tourists to be ripped off at Vietnam’s airports for $$$ by taxi drivers, but not for Cham kids to make the odd dollar here & there.

The Cham village is very interesting – beautiful wooden houses, flood markers (in the rainy season the water rises by several metres and you can only visit by sampan) and colourfully-dressed locals. I sit & chat to the kids for a while (they speak Vietnamese as well as Cham), then head back to shore.

I’m not sad to leave Chau Doc, and doze off in the car as we depart for our journey to Sa Dec. This small town barely gets a mention in the guidebooks and few tourists ever visit, yet it’s a charming little place.

If you arrive from the west you pass through fields full of flowers (Sa Dec’s nurseries cater to most of Saigon’s florists), and enter the town along a riverfront lined with small houses, churches and palm trees, with the occasional decaying colonial villa amongst them.

The town itself has several old pagodas, some lovely colonial shophouses, and some nice riverside coffeeshops. If the local authorites had any sort of clue whatsoever, this place could become a real tourist hub as it has the potential to be another Hoi An. It has yet to be assaulted with the kind of architectural hideousness that has ruined the vast majority of Vietnamese towns, and if action is taken to protect the town’s colonial architecture, it could be a real gem.

The jewel in its crown is the old house of Huynh Thuy Le, lover of French novelist Marguerite Duras, and subject of her novel, later made into a film, The Lover. (Sa Dec’s local authorities refused

permission for the film to be shot in the town, and so it was filmed in Can Tho. Another shot in the foot). It’s a beautifully maintained mix of Chinese and French styles, and staffed by friendly, knowledgeable guides. You can even spend the night in the house, though sadly no effort has been made to bring the décor of the bedroom into line with the rest of the property, yet another opportunity missed).

I’m sad to leave Sa Dec – I could easily spend the night here, and have visions of the drab riverside shophouses transformed into bars, restaurants & cafes, giving the Delta its own Hoi An-style marquee attraction. Will it ever happen, or will Sa Dec be allowed to become just another Vietnamese town?

This is where my trip ends, as I head back to Ben Tre to pick up my daughter and return to Saigon. But what a great trip it was – the friendliest people you’ll meet anywhere in Vietnam, some great food (even the weird stuff), some stunning and often unexpected sights, and 800 photographs to edit when I get back to my desk.

Fancy following in my footsteps? Email me on tim@comeandgovietnam.com and we’ll arrange a trip for you!

See image galleries from my trip below:

My latest travel article for The Word magazine…

With the recent opening of the Trung Luong Highway, the Mekong Delta is now a mere 90 minutes’ drive away from HCMC. Yet given its proximity to the metropolis, allied with its sleepy, laid-back ambience, its friendly people and its beautiful countryside, it’s amazing that so few HCMC expats bother to spend much time down there.

I suspect it’s because we all visit the Delta soon after arriving in Vietnam, usually on a rushed one-day tour being dragged from one fake ‘tourist village’ to another, and end up wondering what all the fuss is about. The fact that there is little in the way of decent accommodation in the region doesn’t help either.

And yet for a weekend break, the Delta has a lot more going for it than some of southern Vietnam’s more popular expat destinations. It’s a lot quicker to get to than Mui Ne for example, and it’s certainly a lot nicer and friendlier than Vung Tau.

Avoid the tourist traps of My Tho and Vinh Long, and you’re unlikely to bump into another tourist during your visit. Ben Tre province, for example, is within 2 hours’ drive thanks to the new highway and the stunning new Rach Mieu suspension bridge, and offers gorgeous scenery, quiet waterways and a pace of life barely comprehensible to HCMC dwellers.

Head a bit further down to Tra Vinh and you have the Delta’s Khmer heartland, a charming town dotted with Khmer temples, including spectacular Hang Pagoda with its hundreds of nesting storks.

Further west you have Sa Dec, former home of French novelist Marguerite Duras and still boasting some wonderful colonial architecture, as well as the famous flower village which supplies most of HCMC’s florists.

Regional capital Can Tho is famed for its bustling Cai Rang floating market, but it’s also a fascinating place to stay in its own right, with lively riverside restaurants and cafes and, in the Victoria Can Tho, one of only two luxury resorts in the whole region – the other being the Victoria Chau Doc, another must-see town close to the Cambodian border, and the departure point for speedboats to Phnom Penh should you wish to extend your trip into Cambodia.

Cambodia is also accessible via Ha Tien, the region’s westernmost point and arguably its most beautiful town – head across the border and you’re ideally placed for visiting southern Cambodia’s beaches and islands, or make the short trip along the coast to Rach Gia for hydrofoils onward to Phu Quoc Island.

So next time you’re planning a weekend away, don’t head to the same old beach resort – dive deep into the Delta and experience southern Vietnam at its friendliest, its most relaxed, and its most natural.