The thirst for Authentic Experiences - the unseen beauty of the Mekong Delta

Blog written by Linh - Mekong Zig Zag's designer.

When we travel ourselves, we always look for the authenticity of a destination. The Mekong Delta is a beautiful region in many ways: nature, weather, food, culture, and people. After living here for four years, I’ve come to truly appreciate the beauty of a slow-paced life shaped by the Mekong’s nature and its people—and it is a beautiful thing to embrace.

Linh and a Mekong gardener working together to design her homestay's garden

Mekong River - a slow-paced lifestyle

Choosing and designing boats

As people working in tourism, my husband Dzung and I are deeply passionate about designing tours that truly touch the Mekong’s authenticity, while still guaranteeing comfortable and relaxing experiences for our guests.

Dzung is very good at finding routes to explore—sometimes even routes that local people here don’t know ^^. He is also good at organizing time, schedules, and places, so he is the one who creates the tour itineraries. I’m the one who takes care of the details.

We designed the boat ourselves with a big help from the boat wood carpenter in the North Vietnam. They carved the sailboat for us and delivered all the way to the South to us.

This is the process of making our sailboats and delivering them all the way from North to South Vietnam.

You might see many sampan boat tours in the Mekong Delta. They are traditional, and we love them. However, we feel they are often too small, and it can be uncomfortable for guests to sit on hard wooden chairs for over an hour while enjoying the river scenery. So we asked ourselves: why don’t we design a larger—but not too big—boat, with comfortable beanbag chairs, so guests can sit, lie down, relax, and still see other local traditional sampan boats carrying coconuts, fishing nets, or other goods passing by along the way?

Our boat doesn’t have a roof. You can lie down and watch the sky, then see palm leaves gliding above your head. For us, it is always a healing moment.

Worried about rain? We understand. We are very sensitive to weather changes and try to avoid boat trips when it looks like it’s going to rain. Our tours are flexible, and activity schedules can be adjusted based on the weather and overall feasibility.

Local, Authentic, Fresh food

Secondly, food. We are so lucky to be friends with Ba Danh Homestay, a place where our friends cook amazingly delicious Mekong meals—not too greasy, not too sweet, always fresh and local. This is where our guests will have lunch. Even better, they make coconut candy on-site, handmade organically, with so much passion. She puts a lot of heart into her coconut candy products, and the result is a more authentic, healthier, and incredibly delicious version of coconut candy.

Ba Danh Homestay is a beautiful, traditional hidden place, lying quietly by a small natural canal. The homestay is surrounded by hammocks (how amazing is that?). A short nap—a little la siesta—on the hammocks after lunch and coconut candy is simply perfect, so yes, we include this in our full-day tour itinerary (and our guests are always very thankful for it!).

Still about food: if you book a full-day trip in Ben Tre, before the tour ends, we will take you to Ben Tre city center to try some delicious street food. It’s clean, locally recommended, and there’s a high chance you wouldn’t be able to find these places by yourself ^^ :D.

Our Unique Approach Towards vehicles

Thirdly, wandering around the countryside by scooter and spontaneously visiting local spots along the way. Scooters are the main form of transportation in Vietnam. They are convenient, fun, and intimate (especially when you sit behind a driver). You can feel the cool breeze, see the scenery around you almost 180 degrees, and truly experience local life. If you are confident with driving scooters, you can even try riding by yourself. The countryside roads in the Mekong are small with very little traffic—compared to Saigon, it’s probably a 3 out of 10.

Sometimes we organize tuk-tuks instead of scooters. Tuk-tuks are three-wheeled vehicles that local people mostly use to transport goods like coconuts, durian, furniture, or construction materials—and yes, they can carry people too :D. It’s a fun, bumpy, and very breezy experience.

Homestay

Next, about homestays. Dzung manages the tour company, and I manage our homestay, called Innerzen Riverside Homestay. We live here ourselves and personally welcome our guests. It’s a small house with only two guest rooms, but we do our best to make the experience relaxing, intimate, respectful of privacy, and as authentic as possible.

Honestly, we simply live our lives here and share our space with people from all over the world who are fond of coming to stay and enjoy what we enjoy. We might chat with you about our lives, your lives, life in the Mekong, or other parts of Vietnam.

Based on guests’ experiences while staying here, here are some things they often mention: delicious meals, thoughtful design, beautiful river views, comfort and cleanliness, and warm, intimate hospitality.

Speaking of meals again, I have to say how lucky I am to have Mrs. Hai and Mrs. Huyen—two incredible local chefs in the Mekong Delta. They cook authentic Mekong dishes using fresh local ingredients, with flavors suitable for travelers and for Northern Vietnamese like us ^^. Don’t worry—they won’t use too much sugar or oil. Coconut, though? Probably yes—that’s our “secret” ingredient (well, not so secret anymore ^^).

Mrs Hai and Mrs. Huyen on the right, our tour guide Tracy and her cooking class tour guest on the left

For breakfast, we try our best to come up with different selections: bread with not just eggs but also bacon and homemade fruit jam; hủ tiếu noodle soup (the good one); yogurt with tropical fruit and granola; mango sticky rice with fresh Ben Tre coconut milk; authentic Vietnamese coffee; fresh fruit juice; or Vietnamese organic leaf tea. Every option has to be good quality—otherwise, we wouldn’t feel comfortable serving it to our guests.

What else? Bicycles—you can use them anytime. Laundry—free upon request. Yoga mats, beanbag chairs, and natural mosquito repellent are always available. And yes, if you’d like, you might even hear some of my guzheng practice—I’ve been learning recently, haha.

Conclusion

So, in a nutshell, what we want to share on this website is the authentic, comfortable, and deeply relaxing Mekong experience that we offer. Everywhere we go in the Mekong Delta, we look for places rich in nature, culture, and good local food, gather those experiences, and share them with you here.

I truly wish that every one of you could see and feel the beauty of the Mekong Delta in an authentic way. This region is sadly underrated compared to other famous destinations in Vietnam and is sometimes labeled as “too touristic,” which we believe is unfair.

Sometimes, Dzung and I feel that we don’t actually do that much. The Mekong’s nature, people, and food are already authentic as they are—we don’t need to make them authentic. We simply recognize their real beauty and feel it is worth sharing with you, not as customers, but as friends.

Come hang out with us on a tour, or stay with us overnight at our home. Live like a local, eat what we eat, enjoy what we enjoy, and connect with one another.

Isn’t that joyful? ^^