An enjoyable trip to An Giang in the flood season

When mentioning An Giang , people immediately think of Chau Doc, famous for its spiritual tourism, and everybody knows about Ba Chua Xu Temple. But An Giang has more than that.

I have visited An Giang several times and always had beautiful and new feelings. Coming in the flood season, An Giang has a different beauty.

Driving on the road, looking at both sides of the fields, there is only water. On the banks of the fields are fruit trees or sometimes trees that people plant to provide shade for those who come to rest during lunch time in the fields... All the trees stand in the water, reflecting themselves under the water's surface.

People in the Mekong delta region always find joy in the flood. They row boats to catch fish, pick water lilies, water hyacinths, and sesbania flowers... specialties of the flood season. In the afternoon, couples take their children with life jackets, and friends, neighbors, students... everyone meets at a place to bathe in the fields.

People in the Mekong delta say that flood season is the rainy season, starting from the 5th to the 10th lunar month.

However, tourists usually wait for the end of September to the end of November to go to the southern provinces, especially An Giang. This is the most beautiful time of the flood season. Fish and shrimp are abundant and delicious, the season of Linh fish and Dien Dien flowers is great to enjoy. The weather is also cool at this time, although it is the rainy season, the rain stops quickly and usually starts to rain in the afternoon and evening.

This time we chose to go to Tri Ton - Tan Chau route to admire the beautiful scenery and have the opportunity to interact with Khmer culture.

In Tan Chau, we chose to stay at Mai La Farm, with Linh as our tour guide, who is not a professional but is knowledgeable about the culture, people, architecture, cuisine, and beautiful scenery in An Giang. He is also the tour designer and guide during our days in An Giang.

About 1km from Mai La Farm, at the foot of Chau Phong bridge, is Ms. Rofiah's grilled rice cake stall. She is a famous Cham rice cake maker who has participated in folk cake festivals.

Wooden houses, ancient temples and mosques
There are many beautiful old wooden houses of the Cham people around this area. There is also a mosque. Spending part of the morning wandering around here is quite pleasant.

Around noon, we headed towards Tri Ton and came across a large field dotted with tall palm trees.

Coming to An Hoa hamlet, Chau Lang commune, on road 955B, there is Krang Kroch pagoda (locally known as Hang Cong pagoda). This place is especially impressive because the path leading to the pagoda is two rows of ancient Cong trees that were planted in 1965. Since then, whenever there is an old and rotten tree, people cut it down and replace it with a young one.

The ancient trees and pagoda have become the destination of many visitors who love to learn and explore. Coming here at noon, walking under the shady trees, the wind blowing from the fields made me feel like I was lost in a fairy garden.

Krang is a Southern Buddhist temple, the main hall is painted bright pink combined with decorative reliefs painted in gold. On the left is a large lake, behind is the living and practicing area of the monks. The temple grounds are quiet, tidy and have many trees, the temple gate is always open so that people can freely come and go, the main hall is also always slightly open.

Grilled chicken specialty by O Thum lake
Leaving the temple, it was time for lunch. We continued about 25km to O Thum Lake to enjoy grilled chicken.

The secret to this dish is that the chicken is naturally raised, processed and marinated with spices and betel leaves. When grilled, the chicken skin is crispy, the chicken meat is juicy and soaked in spices, fragrant, sweet, soft and has the right amount of chewiness.

Grilled chicken with sweet and sour green chili sauce served with cabbage salad is simple but very delicious. A friend in the group exclaimed: I have never had such delicious chicken in my life! It was definitely worth the effort of running dozens of kilometers.

Around O Thum Lake, there are many restaurants selling grilled chicken with similar quality. You should choose restaurants with lake views to have a clear seat and wide view.

Ta Pa field
In the afternoon, according to the plan, we would go up the mountain to watch the sunset over Ta Pa field. But it was raining and cloudy, so we changed the plan to drive towards Ta Pa field, through the field.

The road to Ta Pa field is not far, with few vehicles passing by. There are only trees on both sides of the road. When passing through the field, I felt like I was lost in a strange land with low mountains on one side, rice fields on the other side and rows of palm trees stretching out in many layers. Right at this section, there is a small and quite special homestay called Th'not homestay - Khmer Food.

Following Linh's guide, we arrived at Ta Pa field after a winding road. We had seen photos of the field taken from above, but when the car drove on the small road, with green rice on both sides, we couldn't help but rejoice at the peacefulness.

The interesting thing is that in this field, besides rice, there are many tall trees growing wild or planted on the edge of the field to provide shade. The trees are mainly mango and myrtle. The trees are tall but the branches are low and wide. The road in the middle of the field is quite narrow, just enough for one car to pass through, but the road is very beautiful, winding and curving. Sitting in the car driving slowly, opening the window to welcome the field breeze feels like floating in a dream.

After going all the way through Ta Pa field, we reached the main road and headed towards Chau Doc center for dinner, took a rickshaw and drank palm juice in front of Chau Doc market, ending a day with many emotions in the attractive land of An Giang.

Tips for visiting An Giang
- Th'not homestay: Stay 79,000 VND (3.5 USD)/night with unlimited check-in and check-out time. Khmer 5-course dinner costs 150,000 VND (6 USD)/person. Homestay also arranges tours around the area.
- O Thum Chicken: O Thum Lake area has many restaurants, the restaurant with good quality and lake view can be chosen as Thao Nguyen Chicken. The dish to order is: chicken, mixed vegetables, chopped papaya, a big chicken costs 350,000 VND (15 USD).
- Local gifts: Along the way to Tri Ton, people sell palm sugar, mango, rattan, myrtle, wild grapes, bamboo shoots and other wild fruits, you can buy them as gifts.
- Mai La Farm: Provide accommodation, arrange guided tours according to guests' needs. The owner is knowledgeable, cheerful, enthusiastic and cooks well. However, traveling is just a hobby, not his main job. You should contact him about 2 weeks before arriving.
- Palm chopsticks: When coming to An Giang, in addition to buying fish sauce, you should buy palm chopsticks at tourist attractions or Chau Doc market, the price is about 60,000 VND (2.5 USD) for 10 pairs.

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