Ivan About Town

I went on a day tour of the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. From my hotel, a van picked me up for a one and a half hour ride to Mỹ Tho City. From there, we boarded a small motorized boat that took us to Bến Tre Province. We entered river tributaries that sliced the area into small islands.

The banks were covered with nipa plants. We first visited a coconut candy factory where we got to sample some of the goodies made from coconut milk; took a bicycle ride around the place (we have better rural sceneries in the Philippines but don't take advantage of them the way other countries do); after lunch, stopped by a honey and snake wine producer to sample the various products (yes, I drank snake wine and played with their pet python); and tried out the local tropical fruits while being serenaded with Vietnamese folk songs. This was all for the price of US$7, lunch included!