Many of you have asked why we have dedicated so much time to exploring the relatively untouristy and seemingly less interesting Mekong Delta, than perhaps the other, more well-known parts of Vietnam. The reason for that is simple: that was exactly what we wanted! The Mekong Delta is of course far from untouched, but it gave us time and space to soak up a lot of Vietnam’s rural life shortly before we move on to the two largest cities: HCMC and Hà Nội, and also the very commercially popular Sa Pa in northern Vietnam. The Mekong Delta didn’t feel polished for visitors, and we think that’s what made it interesting to us. It felt like a place just getting on with its day, while we followed along and tried to keep up with its slow-paced and peaceful life.
This is also our second time in Vietnam, and we already explored places like Hội An, Huế, Hạ Long Bay, Ninh Bình and many more during our last visit. This time, we wanted to take time to explore new places and places we truly loved during our last time in Vietnam. Erika had unfortunately missed the Mekong Delta last time, but Alex absolutely loved it!
In Vietnamese, the Mekong River is often called Sông Cửu Long, meaning “Nine Dragons”, and referring to the river’s nine major branches as it spreads toward the sea.
The Mekong is the longest river in Southeast Asia and Vietnam’s most famous. It splits into many smaller rivers and canals that run through many settlements, where life revolves around the waterways. Colorful, buzzing, floating markets, like for instance the Cái Răng Floating Market in Cần Thơ, are a powerful reminder of the kind of life that happens on the river to this very day.
The soil of the Mekong Delta is so rich that more than half of Vietnam’s agricultural output comes from this area, giving it its nickname “Vietnam’s rice bowl”.
When you see it, you understand that the beautiful name “Nine Dragons River” is also quite practical: this whole region really is a web of waterways, canals, river arms, ferry crossings, and muddy brown movement.
When leaving Phú Quốc, it was raining cats and dogs, but we couldn’t miss out on one last coffee at Kim’s! Luckily, her place was only a few steps away from our hotel, so we put on flip-flops and half ran, half swam through the wet, dirty road. Two coffees later, we had to leave. We were a bit reluctant to hop on a ferry for a 3-hour ride in this weather, but we had already bought our tickets and quite honestly, we were kinda done with the island!
We said heartfelt farewells to Kim and her husband, printed a picture from our Instax that we took together, and off we went. A 30 minute Grab ride later, we were half swimming through another set of puddles, this time at the Phu Quoc Express port waiting on the ferry to Rạch Giá, where we are starting our two weeks through the Mekong Delta.
We arrived right on time, just enough to look around, find our terminal and brace ourselves for the 5-minute walk to reach it in a proper storm. With wet feet and tired arms from holding our umbrellas, we arrived at the ferry and confidently showed our tickets, ready to board.
The men both looked at the tickets, at us, back at the tickets, and with a confused expression told us to go to the other terminal and wait for another ferry. What…? Did we get the time wrong? No, the tickets say 12:30!
As it turned out, Alex had bought tickets for the wrong direction! Not from Phú Quốc to Rạch Giá, but from Rạch Giá to Phú Quốc! Fortunately, in most of Southeast Asia, problems like this can usually be solved and companies are very understanding and flexible. So, two phone calls with the Phu Quoc Express customer support, some Google-translated WhatsApp messages, one coffee and a salted preserved lemon tea (first time we had that) and one hour later, we were boarding the correct ferry.
One funny thing you’ll notice in Vietnam is that the scooters always have the right of way, and the ferry boarding, offboarding, pick-ups, drop-offs, are no exception, with scooter squeezing between the masses of people. It’ssomething so typically Vietnamese that it always makes us smile when we see this perfectly organized chaos.
The journey took about 3 hours and the ride was pretty smooth, despite the storm (at least nobody threw up, which, as we would soon learn, is not always a given). Our cute little boutique hotel was fortunately located just a few minutes away from the ferry terminal, so we didn’t have to worry about transportation. We got to see some flying dragons in the air from our balcony, find some unidentifiable insects in our room and got ready and set off right on time for dinner.
Erika had few expectations of the little port city. Alex, on the other hand, had the last trip’s picture in mind as a reference, and one very real photo of a restaurant’s menu page that he had kept since his last trip and could not wait to have the item on the menu again: braised eggplant with peanuts and scallion oil.
He couldn’t recall which restaurant it was, but ever since we came to Vietnam, he had carefully scanned the menus and searched for that dish. Now we finally arrived in the city of origin of this picture, so the excitement was real. Not that we planned to search for and find the same exact restaurant, but finding the same dish on a menu would have been excellent.
We strolled around downtown, entered a few hidden alleys, searching for a place that would look inviting. There was a nice family style restaurant that looked very lively and cozy along the promenade. The food also looked great, but sadly they were completely full that night. We continued until we spotted a super busy, airy place filled with loud locals, tiny stools and an amazing smell of freshly grilled food. Looks like our kind of place! We sat down, ordered two beers (first things first) and opened the menu. A few minutes of carefully studying the menu and a few unhelpful Google Translate attempts later, Alex suddenly screamed “NO WAY!”
Somehow we had stumbled upon the exact same restaurant he took the picture at in 2022! The menu was exactly the same as last time, and the item was still on the menu and even at the same price of ₫48,000! An evening of fulfilled gastronomical dreams! To celebrate, we ordered one more beer before the food arrived, and not too long after, when Erika saw this culinary marvel, she understood the obsession. This time, we saved the place on Google Maps, so we can find it again next time we are in this part of the world: Quán Ốc Ngọc 78Family restaurantA8 3 Tháng 2, P, Rạch Giá.
We ended up having a really good time in Rạch Giá, walking around and soaking up the daily life that was happening around us. It looks busy and functional at first, as port cities often do, but it has been sitting on this coast for more than three centuries collecting layers, and it’s fun to peel them one by one. What surprised us was the cleanliness and modern vibe to the town, with quite a polished downtown, sophisticated little cafes where locals enjoy their brunches, and a lovely paved promenade along the coast that makes for cute views. We spent hours on our feet.
A funny part of the town we explored completely randomly was Phú Cường, where we found ourselves when buying bus tickets to Sa Đéc. The area is interesting because it is so oddly specific: a polished, planned seaside neighborhood on reclaimed land, with an Khu Vui Chơi Giải Trí Đảo Phú GiaPlaygroundRạch Giá sitting inside it. Very un-ancient-Delta! Nevertheless, we had some good street food there and couldn’t resist the Ferris wheel ride.
A place you can’t miss when visiting Rạch Giá is the Đình Nguyễn Trung TrựcPlace of worshipĐường Nguyễn Công Trứ, Rạch Giá, dedicated to the Vietnamese war hero and resistance fighter who fought against the French colonial forces in the 1860s. The temple complex includes a main hall, a courtyard, and a small museum that tells the story of Nguyễn Trung Trực’s life and his role in the resistance against the French. It’s a beautifully decorated temple and a great place to learn about Vietnamese history and culture.
Another interesting place we stumbled across was the Memorial Temple for Kiên Giang’s martyrs. We first thought it was another temple we didn’t find on the map, but it turned out to be something a bit more official: a memorial complex for Kiên Giang’s local war heroes, built on a site tied to Rạch Giá’s revolutionary history. The place is huge!.
After two days, it was time to go.
Rạch Giá was a really nice surprise. It’s not a place that’s at the top of the list for most visitors to Vietnam, but it has a lot to offer in terms of culture, history, and local life. We felt like we got a real taste of the Mekong Delta’s coastal life, got time to shake off our Phú Quốc resentment, and we are really looking forward to exploring more of the region in the coming days. Time to hop on the sleeper bus to Sa Đéc!
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