TRA VINH

Two hours from Vinh Long: Khmer pagodas & storks

Worth It? If you have a day to spare in Vinh Long
What to Do Visit Khmer pagodas, see storks
Best Time to Go October to March, best for the boat races of Oc Om Bom festival (on 15th day of tenth lunar month; in November or December)
How Long? A day
Gateway Best by bus from Vinh Long, less than two hours west
Fact About a third of the people living in Tra Vinh province are Khmer and the area is home too 143 pagodas – easily recognizable by bright colors, sharp-edged architecture and Khmer script.

→ ACCOMMODATIONS
→ ATTRACTIONS
→ BASICS
→ RESTAURANTS
→ TRANSPORT

If your boat is bumping into too many tour group boats off Vinh Long, you can bus a couple hours to Tra Vinh – as you go, the scenery gets a little greener, the road more pock-marked, the trees taller, and pagodas Khmer-ized. There’s not oodles to do, but it’s an interesting and unusual Mekong town – it snubs the Mekong for one thing (the Co Chien branch is 8km north), Ho Chi Minh’s portrait stares down from the town market, the café total breaks 200 and new hotels are rising, but there are maybe two actual restaurants. Ask a local a question, and you sometimes get a shy, awkward, or silent response – so many seem unsure what to do with a foreigner. It’s like Vietnam 1996! A new car/truck ferry is in the works to connect the severed Highway 60 across the Co Chien River, which may increase the flow of traffic.

Read about my experience here during my research trip.