"My Tho Boat Tour" a My Tho Travel Page by Ewingjr98

While in HCMC, we took a day trip to My Tho along the Mekong River. My Tho makes a good day trip because it is just a few hours down Highway 1 from HCMC.

We arrived and negotiated for a private boat tour, just my friend Vince, me, our boat driver, and two English speaking tour guides. I think we paid too much at about US$60 for 8 hours on the water, but it was worth every penny.

We left My Tho around 1200 and went directly to Turtle Island. There, we went to a small shop where the locals make coconut candy and banana nut wine. There is also a little souvenir shop on the island.

Next we went to a tourist area down a small canal called something like Bung Tat. Being a week day, the village was utterly deserted except for us and our guides. We ordered elephant eared fish and fresh tropical fruit, along with a few beers. The fish was delicious and we napped for a few minutes on the comfortable hammocks.

We then took a few side trips down small canals and saw men fishing in the river and collecting mud from the river bottom.

Our last stop before dark was Unicorn Island. This long island has several tourist pavilions with food, drink, and live music. We decided to take a walk on the island just before dark. The small paths with bicycles reminded by of movies about the Ho Chi Minh Trail. School was just getting out when we walked past, and the children were thrilled to see Americans. The air was filled with shouts of "Hello!"

We walked back to the boat and our driver took us back to the docks near My Tho where we had started our Mekong River sightseeing journey.