IN FOCUS

PEOPLE IN FOCUS - Marisa Costa

Marisa brings her background in business and tremendous smile to our retail team at Travel Indochina. One of her favorite aspects of Asia is the café culture that is such a part of life in Vietnam and Laos. “The coffee is delicious,” she says. “There’s nothing better than relaxing over a ca fe su da (Vietnamese iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk) after a day of exploring.” She also enjoys a bit of five-star pampering and the Westin Shanghai comes up as her favorite deluxe hotel.

The Mekong River is the lifeblood of southern Vietnam. Nowhere is its influence as apparent as in the lush landscapes and expansive waterways of the Mekong Delta. The region is dominated by water, with a maze of waterways running from the Mekong's main tributaries to create islands where farmers and fishermen live and work. On a journey into the Mekong Delta you will experience a side of Vietnam few travellers witness.

The Mekong Delta's environment is simultaneously unique and beautiful. Travel by sampan along narrow canals to tropical fruit orchards and bonsai gardens; sample freshly-picked fruits and the local delicacy, fried elephant ear fish; and navigate though the waterborne bustle of the area's famed floating markets.

Many of our Vietnam Handmade Holidays incorporate a day trip from Saigon to the province of My Tho, gateway to the Mekong, about 2 hours drive away. We take a boat ride to one of the islands located in the middle of the Mekong River. On the island we visit a fruit orchard and sample some delicious fresh local produce. We take the opportunity to visit a local family's house, enjoy their hospitality and share with them some tea or rice wine.

On our Deep in the Mekong and Saigon to Phnom Penh Handmade Original Holidays, you will leave the bright lights of Saigon behind, and travel further into the heart of the Delta. On both these tours you will travel to the scenic border town of Chau Doc.

Chau Doc is a bustling market town on the banks of the Hau Giang or lower Mekong River, a colourful and lively place populated by sizable minorities of Khmer, Chinese and Cham people as well as Vietnamese. Chau Doc area oozes cultural richness and beauty - from the mystic Sam Mountain to the array of colourful Buddhist pagodas.

In Chau Doc, we visit floating houses with amazing fish farms suspended underneath, before watching the sunset from Sam Mountain over the vast rice fields stretching over the border and on into Cambodia. The Mekong - one of Asia's most picturesque regions offers travellers the opportunity to experience rural Vietnam and a way of life little changed over centuries. A stop at Chau Doc's frenetic market is a must - though the old colonial covered market has been replaced with a metal and red-tiled version, colonial remnants remain. The narrow alleys of the market lead down to the river where you'll find myriad bobbing boats and people going about their daily riverside commercial activity.

Chau Doc is also the embarkation point for travelling up the river into Cambodia. On an exciting 4-hour speedboat journey you will travel from Chau Doc to Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital.