Dolta Festival of Vietnam's Mekong Delta

Most daily life activities of locals take place early in the morning. It's the opportinuty to see the real life of locals in surrounding areas; The parents prepare breakfast for their kids, kids going to schools by pushbike, the elderly takes farm products to markets by mopeds, and cargo sampan boats move up and down the rivers, youngman enjoy coffee at small cafe at some corrners while some wartering fruit trees and vegetable. Then go back to the homestay for breakfast.

We cycle from the homestay, wave locals working on farmland of vegetable and fruit orchards, then ride through the villages, to opened paths across rice paddy fields, and make many stops at local home business workshops. Experience the lifestyles and daily activities of Khmer and Vietnamese. on riverside trails, which make it possible to enjoy the greenery and fresh air through villages. Venture into Khmer hamlets, learn more about Theravada Buddhism, visit the beautiful Pagodas and encounter the Khmer monks. Enjoy amazing Mekong Delta scenery.

There will be many stops along the country roads; visit fruit orchards and vegetable farmlands with endless photos. Break for lunch at a local restaurant before continuing cycling to Tra On. Take a publish ferry, cross the river to Luc Si Island, see the farmers' life on the islands, taste seasonal fruit at local orchards, and take another ferry to the mainland where we ride on trails alongside the Mekong River the Can Tho suspension bridge. We hop on the van for a short transfer to Can Tho City.

Today's ride is a fantastic ride, with a lively floating market. The Cai Rang floating market offers bustling scenery wholesales boats, and retailed boats bargain over prices. Other tiny sampan vendors are selling noodle soup, coffee, and commodities through the floating market. Enjoy a boat cruise on Can Tho River to Cai Rang floating markets; take this opportunity to experience the largest floating market in the delta. Afterward, we quickly transfer to Binh Minh town for the day ride to Sadec and Cao Lanh city.

The rural villages from Binh Minh to Sadec are pretty different from previous days. We learn the culture of Vietnam and Chinses along the way, explore plenty of family farms of sweet potatoes, tapioca, sugar canes, meandering on country lanes, stop at a family workshop making rice and sticky powder. We stop in Sadec, enjoy lunch at Huynh Thuy Le House. The "Lover's house" in Vietnam's Mekong Delta town of Sa Dec, which well know in the film" The Lover". Marguerite Duras lived in Sa Dec between 1928 and 1932 when her mother ran a school there. In Sa Dec, Duras as a 15-year-old schoolgirl, met Huynh Thuy Le, 27, the son of a wealthy Chinese family. The two began a love affair that inspired Duras's 1984 Prix Goncourt-winning best-selling novel, The Lover (L'Amante) that has been translated into 43 languages and has sold 2.4 million copies.

Following lunch, take a leisurely walk to old Sadec market that sells fresh fruits and freshwater fish. Aftwards, we continue biking to a flower village in rural areas. A village is a great place for plant & flower lovers. The village offers a variety of different flowers, we bike through the town to a beautiful flower village, make some stops, admire the vast colorful flower fields, experience the way to take care of plants and flowers. Afterward, have a scenic transfer to local homestay.

Sadec was the major town before 1975. Cao Lanh became the new town when the country unified. Foreigners are rarely seen in this town because it is not any main tourist attraction in return for offering stunning countryside for bicycle explorers. We follow a small narrow lance from the hotel to a rustic area, explore the quiet rural back road passes mango gardens. Past many brick factories along rivers, cross water channels on the little wooden bridges, and ride on a dirt track along the Mekong River. Stop to visit a small workshop weaving dried water hyacinths to make hats, handbags, bins and indoor sandals and so on. Enjoy watching green vegetation fields, passing mudfish farm and mango orchard along the way before we have a ferry ride to a small town.

Break for a coffee in small towns, then carry on biking on country back roads, through the town takes concrete paths across the farmland and agricultural canals to Xeo Quyt forest. Enjoy lunch at a nice restaurant in the In Xeo Quyt Eco. Following lunch, to explore the Viet Cong base and Xeo Quyt forest. Stop at some Viet Cong bunkers, walk to communist leaders, and learn about the Vietnam War and the forest's wildlife. Finally, you will transfer to Saigon in the late afternoon.