22-year-old Nguyen Thanh Tinh suggests check-in spots if you only have one day to visit An Giang.
Remind An Giang, you should definitely pocket the address of Tra Su Melaleuca forest, where there is a vast Melaleuca forest, diverse ecosystems and countless birds nest.
From Nha Bang town in Tinh Bien district, take provincial road 948 to Bung Tien bridge at km 6 then turn left and continue about 4 km to reach Tra Su Melaleuca forest.
Currently, Tra Su tourist area is investing more in scale to attract tourists from all over the world. The entrance fee for each person is 100,000 VND, and 50,000 VND for canoe service or to take visitors to the ecological zone.
On the way to Tra Su Melaleuca forest, Tinh met a car selling shaved ice syrup. Seeing the small children standing and watching, wanting to buy without having money, so Count to buy each child a glass. Seeing that, a family nearby invited Tinh to rest and gave a bottle of green tea to drink.
“A glass of shaved ice costs 5,000 VND only syrup and milk, but is the childhood sky of the country children”, shared feelings.
Heaven Gate or “Gate of Time” is the way that tourists set the gate of Koh Kas Pagoda in An Hoa hamlet, Chau Lang commune, Tri Ton district.
There is no specific address, so if you want to go to Koh Kas, you have to follow the road to Hang Cong Pagoda (Kran Krok Pagoda). Koh Kas is located behind the Hang Cong pagoda. According to Tinh’s experience, the best time to take pictures is in the early morning or in the cool afternoon to avoid harsh sunlight in the field. If you come here during the ripe rice season, there will be more beautiful photos.
From Chau Doc, you find the way to Ba Chuc. At Ba Chuc intersection, turn right, continue running straight, you will meet the gate on the right.
Ta Pa Lake is known as the “absolute cup” of the West. When you come here, you will feel the tranquility and poetic beauty of the majestic mountains and beautiful emerald green lake.
The lake is located on a hill in To Mountain, Tri Ton district. In addition to the pagoda of the same name located nearby, this place is empty of people. However, every day, many people come to take pictures to check-in and visit. Around the lake, there is a small water bar, serving the refreshment needs of guests. Tinh said he appreciated the sincerity of Western people, especially the aunts who sold drinking water nearby. Whoever asked to take pictures is ready immediately.
If traveling by motorbike, from Chau Doc, you run towards Tri Ton. Arriving at Tri Ton market, running straight Nguyen Trai street will reach Ta Pa pagoda, and then ask people how to go to the lake.
The road to Ba Chuc town, towards the grave house, has a rough tree trunk, becoming a “roundabout” of this place. Legend has it that this is a 300-year-old oil plant. The nearly dead body is held by the intense vitality of the bodhi tree outside, forming a special check-in point. In addition, the people here also have a lot of thrills related to trees.
In places where Tinh goes to, Ba Chuc tomb evokes both creepy and painful feelings because it is the place to store 1,159 remains of innocent people, slaughtered by the Khmer Rouge. Newly built in the shape of a white lotus rising to the sky. Each lotus wing represents a group of remains classified by age and sex based on the results of the skull assessment. “Having studied and heard about it, but I believe that those who come here like me will feel the grief that the people here have to suffer,” said Tinh.
Under the sweltering sun, jaggery is not a shade tree to resort to as they have an average height of 10-20 m. However, the image of rice fields intercropped with palm trees is an indispensable part of the life of An Giang people. In addition to creating a unique landscape that only An Giang has, palm trees also produce fruits that make many products such as jaggery beef cake, palm sugar, or soft drinks …
Stopping on the side of a field, Tinh caught a farmer running a harrowing machine after he had gone through the plowing process. The mud in the field becomes softer. Counting that you are also happy to invite the farmer to drink water.
On the way from Tinh Bien to Tri Ton, Tinh saw the image of women carrying two bundles of firewood on their shoulders. “They seem miserable, but they always find happiness in the simplest things. This remote, sunny and windy land does not diminish their will to survive,” he thought.
Thanh Tinh played with the children before breaking up to return to Can Tho for the next trip. The children are very attached, do not want to leave the Saigon boy.
Tinh’s day trip to An Giang has a total cost of 500,000 VND. If departing from Saigon to Chau Doc, the distance is 207 km. You can ride a bus or ride a bed for about 155,000 VND. Move between the points in the trip about 20-30 minutes apart, you can draw the schedule and determine which point to go to first.
Coming to An Giang, you should try some specialties such as rice or beef porridge, vermicelli fish sauce, snakehead fish vermicelli … cost 30,000 – 35,000 VND a part.
vnexpress/Photo: Nguyen Thanh Tinh