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Vietnam Open Tour News & EventsFRIDAY 12 JUNE, 2009 |
 Exotic adventure in Mekong Delta
A bustling ambiance in Phung Hiep Floating Markey in Hau Giang province. Nga Bay Floating Market, also called Phung Hiep Floating Market, is in the heart of Phung Hiep District’s Phung Hiep Town, 30 kilometers south of Can Tho. The market was built in 1915 and was called “Phung Hiep Star” by the French. Operations at this market begin early in the morning with hundreds of boats arriving with farm produce from every direction. Catching a boat bobbing on the waves in the early morning, visitors can witness the bustling ambiance and animated sounds and shop for diverse fresh fruit and produce. From seven branches of the Mekong River, hundreds of boats come to sell fruits, fried fish, salt, honey, potatoes and rice. The Phung Hiep Snake Market is well-known to foreign tourists. Visitors from around the world come to taste the snake liquor. Phuong Binh commune’s Lung Ngoc Hoang Nature Reserve, also in Phung Hiep district, has over 500 species of plants and animals, many of them rare. Covering nearly 300,000 hectares and extending from the western bank of the Hau River to U Minh National Park in Kien Giang province, the reserve is considered the “green lung” of the Mekong Delta. The reserve includes mangrove forest and 315 hectares of ponds and lagoons with diverse marine creatures. Tourists can explore the forest by boat, climb a “watch tower” to watch birds and animals or sit in the shade of trees to fish. Endless lotus lagoons decorate the immense forest which is home to teal and white egrets. Local authorities are developing the reserve’s s ecotourism potential. Tourists should not miss the 20 hectare Tay Do Ecotourist Park which offers accommodation, entertainment and restaurants. There are live shows of traditional southern music in the shade of fruit trees, fishing and a bonsai garden. Other places of interest in the province include Vi Thuy Cajuput Forest Ecotourism Park, and Tam Vu Ecotourist Park. VietNamNet/SGT Si Ma Cai Heaven Gate Si Ma Cai is not as frequented as Bac Ha or Sa Pa, also located in the mountainous province, since it is nestled at the far end of a road near the border with China. Travelling there requires visitors to hold onto their hats and their seats either in a car or on a motorcycle for nearly 40 kilometres of bumpy, winding road from Bac Ha.
In recent years, the charms of Si Ma Cai have been awakened and have become attractive to travellers due to the flower-coloured clothes of the Mong and Red Dao ethnic peoples, by the greenery of mountains and hills, and by the legends.
Local people explain that Si Ma Cai means horse market or a place where horses are tied. However, Mong people like to talk about Si Ma Cai as a place for legendary horses whose steps resound on the hills and mountains of the region.
Of course, there are no legendary horses in Si Ma Cai now, but visitors can hear the steps of horses pleasantly mingling with the footsteps of ethnic peoples on a long trip from the hills and mountains to the village’s central market, particularly on Sunday.
The quiet Si Ma Cai bustles on Sunday as Mong, Dao and other ethnic peoples arrive from different directions for a hill-tribe market. There, they buy and sell meat, vegetables, fruit, clothes and other necessities of life as well as swap fun stories after a week of hard work.
The Si Ma Cai market remains distinct to its origins since locals sell what they harvest from the forest and business is just a matter for locals, no traders bring items from Hanoi or elsewhere.
At this moment, ethnic people are planting the major crop of the year.
H’mong girl puts fertiliser on the field.
H’mong people in Me village gather in the field.
Si Ma Cai’s landscape.
The smiles of Si Ma Cai’s people.
A new town is growing.
VietNamNet/SGT/VNE
News for Tuesday 09 June, 2009
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