Spring tours in Ben Tre

This year’s Tet, tourists who come to Ben Tre will have a chance to admire what the Vietnamese Tourism Bureau has chosen as the province’s best attractions, and the province is also chosen to be among the five best destinations in the Mekong Delta.

Ben Tre is an islandish province which is made up of 4 branches of the Mekong River that cleave it into 3 stretches of land - namely the Minh, Bao and An Hoa Island – that run toward the East Sea. Since the Rach Mieu and Ham Luong bridges were put into use at the end of the first decade of this century, the province has been unlocked. Chances have been opened up for Ben Tre’s eco-tourism to fly high. Its primitive look charms international tourists in particular at they first coming, as recently as possible.

Indeed, holiday makers from the Central coast line, the Central Highland, from the North of the country, as well as foreign tourists all are caught out of a surprise as they come to Ben Tre. Dubbed the coconut homeland, or the three green coconut islands, Ben Tre is wrapped over by the green blanket of coconut palm leaf. And, for many, to see coconut trees that is to see Ben Tre.

Shaped trees are prepared for tet decoration. (Photo by Le Luong)

For traveling in Ben Tre, you can choose to go by land or by waterway. Ben Tre has a cobweb of small rivers, natural as well as man-made water canals that are suitable for medium-sized boats. Such grid of waterways are a boon to Ben Tre eco-tourism. At the same time, the rural locals living among the coconut groves remind us of a true Southern identity. Then, there are 33,000 hectares of luxuriant fruit gardens that makes Ben Tre one of the largest fruit producing areas in the country.

Coconut palm is the typical tree in Ben Tre. It covers 63,000 hectares of land, that is one third of the country’s coconut area. In Ben Tre, coconut may be seen everywhere, along the national highway, by the sides of rural district roads to city parks or along riversides.

Ben Tre is also home to a variety of statues and monuments that mark historical sites and people in different fields. Nationally well-known characters include Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Phan Van Tri, both were excellent poets in late nineteen century, great educator Vo Truong Toan, beloved administrator Phan Thanh Gian, great scholar Truong Vinh Ky, military commanders such as Nguyen Ngoc Thang, Le Quang Quan, General Dong Van Cong, General Nguyen Thi Dinh. Memory sites attributed to the name and career of these people, interlaced with coconut groves and waterways, trade villages, off-time resorts,… all make up a tourist complex system characteristic of Ben Tre.

(to be continued)

(Translated by Truong Hung)