...enjoy its beauty and landscape, as well as the cultural and historical sites," said businessman Duong Quang Thieu, 45, who has returned home from the United States.
Thieu started his trip by visiting fruit gardens in Cho Lach and Chau Thanh districts.
Tour guide Tran Thi Ha said visitors can satisfy their curiosity by taking an exploratory stroll through the gardens while enjoying the taste of fresh fruit hand-picked from the low branches.
"The fruit are sold by kilogramme, or by the ‘belly', a popular way to sell food in the Delta region similar to a buffet which allows you to eat until you are full for one price," garden owner Huynh Van Sam said.
Thieu said he saw coconut everywhere but he preferred to eat Cai Mon durian, rambutan and mangosteen because of their unique flavours and freshness.
"You could come here to enjoy fresh fruit year round," Sam said. Ha said eco-tourism excursions to fruit gardens are booming and drawing an increasing number of visitors, leading fruit garden owners in Cho Lach and Tan Phu to add special food services to their catering programmes.
Some of their special dishes include rice gruel, made with free-range chicken, ensuring the natural quality of meat, mussel rice gruel, and rice pancakes with mussels from Phu Da Islet in Cho Lach District.
"Visitors shouldn't miss these specialities on their tour to Ben Tre," said Ha.
Ben Tre also hosts three very interesting festivals, including the Nghinh Ong Festival, Nguyen Dinh Chieu Memorial Day (July 1) and Concerted Uprising Anniversary (January 17). Each has its own social and historical significance to the public life in the province, said Ha.
The Nghinh Ong (Whale Greeting) Festival, which takes place on the 15th and 16th days of the sixth lunar month in Binh Thang Commune, Binh Dai District, is the largest festival in the province. It is significant because it provides a forum for local fishermen to worship and celebrate the sacred merit of the Whale they regard as Ong – their saviour whenever they face mishaps and adversities on the high sea, fisherman Hoang Thuy told the guests.
During the festival, all fishing boats and fishermen, wherever they are at the moment, must completely stop their work and gather on the commune's seashore. There, hundreds of local fishing boats and others from neighbouring localities such as Tra Vinh, Tien Giang and Can Gio in HCM City get together for the annual ritual offering, said Thuy.
For the ritual, participating boats are brilliantly decorated with lanterns and flowers. A tray of offerings including fruit, steamed glutinous rice, a pair of boiled ducks, a pig head and some other ritual items are placed on the prow of each boat.
On the first festival day, locals and travellers get together at the Ong Temple to pray for peace. On the second day, the main ceremony of the festival is held early in the morning, drawing the attention of all fishermen and people who depend on fishing for their livelihoods.
From the Ong Temple, the crowd of worshippers follows bonzes carrying ritual items onto boats made ready for the offshore rites. A boat of unicorn performers follows the lead boat which is in turn followed by a flotilla of hundreds of boats, all of which sail out to the high sea to perform the formal rites. Then, the bonzes are silent while waiting for Ong (the Whale) to surface, said Thuy.
"People here believe that the village will be lucky and happy for an entire year if Ong surfaces during the ritual. Then fireworks are set off to begin a rollicking time that lasts until the entire flotilla returns to shore. Here, the chief ceremonial bonze will lead the final rites at the temple in... ➡️ Leer más ...
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