An Giang is a land of outstanding natural beauty, romantic cuisine, rich cuisine, and friendly people.
An Giang is a newly discovered land of more than 300 years, although An Giang does not has as “rich” history as many other regions, this place converges many different cultures, unique natural scenery along with interesting cuisine style. The difference is distinctive, making it a prominent feature that attracts tourists. If you are tired of the bustle of the city, let’s come to An Giang, where there are vast rice fields and airy atmosphere which will help you dispel the stress and depression in the heart.
There are two ways to reach An Giang: by motorcycles and by buses (passenger cars).
If you take the bus, you can choose the buses of companies such as Hung Cuong, Phuong Trang, Hue Nghia, the price is about VND 140,000 to VND 150,000 and it takes passengers about 5 to 6 hours to reach An Giang.
If you ride your motorbike, you take Tan An street to Trung Luong junction in Tien Giang district, then go straight another 60km to An Huu crossroads. If you turn right to Hong Ngu Tam Nong, you can go through Long Xuyen – An Giang with Bac Cao Lanh ferry; if you go straight, crossing My Thuan bridge, turning right, you will get to Sa Dec and you will come to Vinh Long if you turn left. Keep riding motorbikes towards the direction of Sa Dec, you will meet Vietnam – Denmark Friendship Bac Vam Cong Ferry. Passing the ferry, travelling another 50km, you will reach Long Xuyen city in An Giang province.
The first destination in the tour exploring An Giang is Long Xuyen, a city in An Giang, you can stop here to rest and visit some famous places as well as enjoy the delicious food featured in this city.
A place where you can come and visit is the memorial site of President Ton Duc Thang in My Hoa Hung Commune, Long Xuyen, An Giang on Ong Ho Island. There are temple, memorial house and a wooden house where President Ton Duc Thang lived during his childhood.
To get to the memorial site, you can go to O Moi ferry pier on Phan Huy Chu street, or if you take a car with capacity of over 10 people, you can go to Ong Ho island from Tra On ferry.
This memorial was built in 1997 and was erected in August, 1998 on the 110th birthday of President Ton Duc Thang on a 1,600-square-meter campus near his family’s old house. The temple has an ancient structure of three levels, the wooden details are made of precious wood. The central place is decorated with the half- length statue of Chairman Ton Duc Thang, above the statue, there is a plate with golden letters “Chu tich (President) Ton Duc Thang”, the two sides of the plate is carved with the shape of bamboo trees, the bottom is the image of a carp raising the plate. Around the temple is decorated with the symbols of Ngũ phúc, ie. Five Blessings (wealth, fortune, longevity, good health, security).
The old house was the place where the president lived during his childhood and was built by Mr. Ton Van De, his father, in 1887. The house has the architecture of letter Quoc (國 a Chinese character) with wooden pillars, tiled roof, the horizon of 12m and the length of 13m. Behind this house, there are 4 tombs of the father, mother and President’s brother and his wife. The house was recognized as a national relic in December 1989by the Ministry of Culture and Information.
Long Xuyen cuisine is extremely rich. And Cơm tấm (cooked well- kneaded broken rice) is one of the famous dishes here. Unlike the rice in Saigon with large slices of meat, Long Xuyen rice has fine grains, sliced barbecue meat added with pig’s skin and some slices of braised egg, and served with pickles made from vegetables such as morning glory, lotus stem or carrot, sliced turnip. This rice dish is served on Bui Thi Xuan Street, opposite An Giang Newspaper head office, the price of a serving is VND 17,000.
If you want to eat lunch, you can go to the pan cake stall located on Ly Thuong Kiet street, right at the corner of My Binh market, the price of a cake is 12,000. Banh Xeo cake is the typical dish of Western South area. The dish is made from extremely familiar ingredients such as flour, shrimp, meat, bean sprouts. Pan cake must be eaten when it is still hot, and served with sweet and sour sauce and vegetables such as lettuce, basil, shiso…
In the evening, you can enjoy crab porridge hot pot soup, this is a new dish which brings the typical flavor of Long Xuyen. This dish is best eaten while it is still hot with vegetables such as Malabar spinach, loofah … Crab porridge hot pot soup is often eaten with chicken eggs and balut. This dish is sold in Sao Mai residence, Binh Khanh ward, the price is quite cheap, about VND 70,000 – 80,000.
These are only some of many popular addresses to eat in Long Xuyen, you can find other places depending on personal preference. In addition, Long Xuyen City has just opened Vincom shopping center on Tran Hung Dao street, My Binh ward, where there are some famous restaurants like Gogi, King BBQ, Kichi Kichi … You should come here to eat if you feel Western Vietnam region food does not suit your taste.
If you want to rest, you can find hotels in the inner city such as Hoa Binh, Binh Dan, Long Xuyen, Cuu Long …, which provide rooms at affordable price, about 200,000 per night. If you would like to stay in more comfortable rooms, you can go to Dong Xuyen three-star hotel for VND 200,000 to 600,000 per night.
After you wander Long Xuyen, the next place you can not ignore is Chau Doc city, where can be reached by popular buses such as Phuong Trang, Hung Cuong, Kim Huong … with ticket price of about VND 40,000 to 50,000. You can also ride motorbikes along Highway 90 to Chau Doc.
There are many ways to move within Chau Doc city such as: buggy, bus, motorbike, taxi… The first place that we can visit is Chau Phu Family on Tran Hung Dao – Nguyen Van Thoai Street (Chau Phu A ward), where worships the feast of the Nguyen Huu Canh, he was the one who made many great achievements for the country and was awarded many titles by the Kings.
Then, you can visit Mount Sam, this mountain is not very high, at 284m with an asphalt road of about 5km long for the car running around to the top of the mountain. Mount Sam and other mountains of the Seven Mountains are the highlight of the natural landscape in the southwest. According to legend, the mountain is very sacred, so people from all over the country here to worship a lot. Since this is a sacred mountain, there are nearly 200 temples, pagodas, shrines scattered at the foot of mountains, mountainsides and even at the top. At the top of the mountain, there is a fort built in French Colonial period.
At the Sam Mountain crossroad, there is a temple called Tay An Ancient Temple. The pagoda was built at an altitude of 284m above sea level, in the form of letter “tam” (三, a Chinese character) which combines Indian architectural style with Islamic art and ancient Vietnamese temple architecture. Tay An Temple is not only a pilgrimage place, but also a famous tourist attraction in An Giang.
Coming to Sam Mountain, we can not forget Ba Chua Xu (The Local Goddess) Temple located at the foot of Mount Sam, Sam Mountain ward, Chau Doc. Ba Chu Xu Temple was built with the structure of a lotus-shaped tower with a three-storeyed roof and green tile, along with bold artistic patterns. Each year, from 23rd to 27th April in lunar calendar, people in the area in particular and tourists throughout the country in general, organize Via Ba festival to pray for peace and luck and commemorate the merits of the Goddess to help people overcome difficulties.
Next, you can go to Hang Pagoda, a famous place of An Giang Province and a national historical monument in Vietnam located on the slope of Sam Mountain. Situated in a secluded spot of Sam mountain, in a quiet place, Hang Pagoda is an ancient solemn place with many anecdotes, transmissions from one generation to another. The pagoda was built between 1840 and 1845. From the available beauty of nature, with human hands, Hang pagoda has become a tourist attraction for tourists.
In addition, you can also visit another site of Tra Su Cajuput forest. Going to Tinh Bien district, An Giang province, you will encounter a red dirt road leading to Tra Su mangrove forest, along the two sides of the road are vast rice paddies are and shady high palm trees in the brilliant sunset of the tropic area. Tra Su Melaleuca forest covered with green color and typical fauna system will be a great experience for you.
If there is still time, Cham village is a quite interesting place for those who want to explore different cultures, just passing the Chau Giang or Cau Tien ferry, you will set foot on Cham village, where there are 9 Cham villages with more than 2,000 families, over 13,000 people living in hamlets intermingled with Kinh people from the Cambodian border running along the Hau river and Khanh Binh river gathering in Tam Giang (Chau Doc) then flowing to Khanh Hoa commune, Chau Phu district.
Cham people are Muslims, so there are many cathedrals and small cathedrals here, in which, the most prominent one is Mubarak Cathedral which is recognized as a national heritage. From Chau Giang ferry, turning left, you can see the beauty of this project. Another famous cathedral here is Masjid Jamiul Azhar, located in Chau Phong commune. Built in 1959, the cathedral has undergone extensive restoration and is the largest of its kind in 2012. With its dome, the symbol of the crescent moon and Islamic architecture, this building is considered one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Vietnam.
Coming to Chau Doc, of course, you can not ignore the famous dish here: fish noodles with fried fish fillets, spring rolls, roasted meat served with sweet vegetables and the special sauce made of boiled sirup and chilli, creating very unique taste. You can enjoy this dish at Chau Doc market and some restaurants in the city.
The next specialty you can buy as a gift for friends is beef sausage. This dish is made from gut, fat, and beef. After deodorizing with alcohol and ginger, the beef mixture is mixed in proportion with the traditional spices of the Cham.
Finally, one specialty that we can not forget to mention is dried fish, Chau Doc dried fish is sold everywhere but most concentrated in Chau Doc market. There are many types of dried fish. Depending on the type of fish and way of processing, people can tear them into small pieces, sell the whole fish, take fillets or keep the bone. Some types of easy-to-eat fish that you can buy at the market are salted fish, dried anabas fish, dried snakehead fish, and especially, in Chau Doc, there are dried pangasius fish, which is dried carefully to keep the fatty taste and remove the fishy smell.
The final problem that tourists consider is to find a place to rest. In the center of Chau Doc city, there are many hotels with “good” prices such as Victoria, Asia, Hang Chau 2, Hoa Binh, Vinh Phuoc, Thuan Loi … the price is from VND 200,000 to 300,000 per night. If you want to stay in the area around Mount Sam, you can refer to the hotels such as Ben Da Sam Mountain, Hoang Mai, Ha Long…
You can go to An Giang at any time of the year because each period has its own beauty. However, coming to An Giang in April or August in lunar calendar, you will be immersed in two major festivals which are Ba Chua Xu and Ox Racing Festivals. The period of July – August often has rain, so you should bring raincoats or rain gears.
You should wear lightweight, compact, easy-to-move clothes. In addition, remember to bring light coat, hat, sunscreen, mosquito repellant, insect repellent, abdominal medicine (in case of getting stomachache because of eating strange food). What is more, you wear sports shoes or boots to climb mountains, and bring the needle, thread, buttons, pins in case of unexpected circumstances.
Also, if you plan to go picnic and spend the night on the Mountain, you have to equip tents, warm clothes, food…
Saigon – Cao Lanh – Tram Chim – An Giang – Cambodia
Saigon – Dong Thap – An Giang – Kien Giang – Phu Quoc – Cambodia.
But usually, visitors often come to An Giang in shorter tours such as An Giang – Dong Thap; An Giang – Kien Giang; An Giang – Cambodia.
Visiting only Long Xuyen and Chau Doc is not really enough to understand completely about An Giang. However, it can be said that the two cities are the most prominent features of An Giang. If you want to have new experiences about life in the countryside after the chaos of life, this is one of the ideal places to go. As a land of the harmony between modern and tradition, not too quiet but not noisy, An Giang as a miniature picture of the Southwest. The rustic, simplicity and friendly human have created the attractions of this land.
Tags: Vietnam travel, Ho Chi Minh city tours
Tags: An Giang, An Giang city
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