Visitors can visit 3 famous Khmer temples, check in the coastal wind power fields and enjoy noodle soup.
About 125 km from Ho Chi Minh City, Tra Vinh is a suitable destination for those who have a short trip, to discover the peaceful features, Khmer architecture, cuisine, and unique landscapes and festivals… Duong Nhut Long, born in 1994, from An Giang, has just had a trip to Tra Vinh at the weekend. Departing from Ho Chi Minh City at 6pm and arriving in Tra Vinh after 3 hours of travel, he stayed at a hotel in the city.
The next morning, Long and his friends woke up early to welcome the dawn and visit famous landmarks such as: Vam Ray pagoda, KomPong Ksan pagoda, Ong pagoda, Ang pagoda, Ba Om pond, Uncle Ho temple, Dong Hai wind power 1 …
Morning: Vam Ray Pagoda, Dong Hai wind power 1
The first destination of Long in the journey to discover Tra Vinh is Vam Ray pagoda, a temple about 35 km from Tra Vinh city, in Vam Ray hamlet, Ham Tan commune, Tra Cu district. This place is full of Khmer culture. The pagoda is like a golden palace from the dome, walls, columns, pillars to the reliefs. In particular, the pagoda has a 54m long statue of Buddha entering Nirvana, the height of a 2-storey building.
Leaving Vam Ray pagoda, Long continued to move to Dong Hai 1 wind power plant in Duyen Hai district. On the way, he stopped for breakfast with broken rice. Around 10am, Long arrived at the wind power area. Dong Hai 1 is the largest offshore wind power project in Tra Vinh province with 25 turbines with a total capacity of 100 MW. Standing from the shore, visitors can see dozens of turbine blades spinning in the wind, the project was inaugurated in mid-January and is attracting young people’s attention because of many unique photography angles.
Noon and afternoon: KomPong Ksan Pagoda – Ong Pagoda – Ba Om pond – Ang Pagoda – Uncle Ho’s temple
After taking pictures at the wind power area, Long returned to Tra Vinh city. With a system of more than 140 Khmer temples across the province, visitors can still visit two other beautiful and ancient temples, KomPong Ksan and Ang pagoda located in the center.
If you want to change the atmosphere, Ong Pagoda (also known as Phuoc Minh Cung) located on Dien Bien Phu Street, Ward 3, Tra Vinh City is a destination not to be missed. The Chinese religious art architecture was built in the early 20th century and has undergone many restorations, and still retains its dignified and sacred beauty.
Ba Om pond is a famous scenic spot located in Ta Cu hamlet, Nguyet Hoa commune, Chau Thanh district. This place is likened by Tra Vinh people as “the second Da Lat” because of its cool year-round climate. Around the pond are star trees, ancient oil hundreds of years old. People also call this place Square Pond because its shape is almost square, depending on the season, the pond will have pink lotus flowers, red water lilies blooming beautifully, creating poetic and romantic features.
After visiting the destinations, Long tried vermicelli noodle soup for lunch. In addition to vermicelli, Ben Co soup, and Tra Vinh noodle soup are also quite special, although not as famous as in Soc Trang. Dung Chuong noodle soup is an attractive destination, but Nhut Long is not impressed with this dish.
“My experience was not as expected, probably because it didn’t suit my taste. The taste of vermicelli is quite strange like vermicelli, but thinner, the water for blanching the vermicelli is not hot when brought out a bit cold, the vermicelli is large and in the bowl, there are quite a lot of prices, shaved bananas, mushrooms,” Long shared, guests can choose other toppings to eat such as: roasted pork, spring rolls, blood.
Before leaving Tra Vinh, Long also visited Uncle Ho’s temple in Vinh Hoi hamlet, Long Duc commune, Tra Vinh city. This place has a model of Uncle Ho’s stilt house which was designed, copied and installed scientifically with the rate of 97% according to the original Uncle Ho’s stilt house at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi.
Nhut Long shared, this trip is mainly for check-in to go back and forth during the day, the travel distance between each destination is quite far. To optimize time, he chooses to eat quickly such as broken rice, vermicelli soup, not having much time to try all the local specialties. “If I have the opportunity to come back, I will discover many other delicious dishes,” Long said.
Total cost for a 2-person motorbike trip from Ho Chi Minh City to Tra Vinh, including hotel (300,000 VND), gasoline (250,000 VND), meals (300,000 VND, with broken rice, noodle soup and satay noodle soup) ) and some other sundry expenses. Each person is about 500,000 VND. There are no entrance fees to the destinations in the itinerary.