Nam Du Islands - Kien Giang (Part 1)

Hello Hivers!
Did your first day of the week work well? Hope the best will come to you in a new week!

Today, I will share with you a wonderfully beautiful archipelago and leave the deepest impression among the islands that I have ever visited, and that is also the 3rd day of the trip to discover the Southwest of Vietnam, Nam Du archipelago. In the previous post of this journey of discovery, I took you to visit Tra Su Melaleuca Forest, in Tinh Bien district, An Giang province. After leaving the sightseeing area, our team continued to move more than 80km south to Rach Gia city of Kien Giang province. On the way, we visited the jaggery field. Since it is only about 10km from Tra Su Melaleuca Forest and is located right on the main road of the route to Rach Gia city, it didn't take too long when we stopped by.

Since ancient times, palm trees have been associated with the daily life of the An Giang people. The leaves of this tree are used for roofing and fuel. The trunk is used to get wood, can make house columns, tables, and chairs... Palm fruit is a fruit that makes into a very healthy beverage, especially its rice is very fragrant and crispy, very strange and delicious, is the raw material for making rustic dishes, especially sugar and cake jaggery, these two dishes are also specialties of An Giang. Standing under the tall palm trees, the human feeling is very small. We took the opportunity to take pictures with the vast palm tree fields stretching to the foot of the mountain.

We continue our journey to the coastal city of Rach Gia under the direction of Google Map. The road is quite easy, is paved, and does not have to take time to move through any ferry like on the first day. The two sides of the road are very beautiful, there are large trees interspersed between the vast fields, there are rows of melaleuca trees on both sides shady, and then the water canal runs the road, creating a scene strangely peaceful. We arrived around 5:30 PM and found a small motel to stop near the pier so that it would be convenient for the next morning to leave early to the island.

Before this trip, we made a schedule and inquired about train tickets and travel times in advance. And when you come here, tickets here are sold everywhere near the pier, so for those of you who haven't found out, it's no big deal, and there are many shipping lines for you to choose from. After walking around to visit and rest in Rach Gia city, early the next morning we went straight to the pier to buy tickets. We choose the train Highway Superdong because according to research, this carrier is the best and runs the quietest to avoid seasickness. The ticket price for each turn is 210,000 VND/person. From Rach Gia pier, we depart at 7:20 AM and it takes about 2 hours on the boat to move to Nam Du Island pier.

Nam Du Archipelago has located about 120km (65 nautical miles) from the coast of Rach Gia, belonging to Kien Hai district, Kien Giang province. This archipelago consists of 21 large and small islands, the most famous of which are Nam Du Island (also known as Hon Lon, the largest island of this archipelago), Hon Hai Bo Dap, Hon Mau, and Hon Ngang.

While moving on the boat, we were allowed by the captain to go up to the deck to take pictures and admire the surrounding scenery for about 15-20 minutes. The feeling of standing on the deck of the ship, breathing in the sea breeze, and seeing the immense sea around you is very exciting and refreshing. In the midst of the vast sea and sky, human beings are truly infinitely small.

After more than 2 hours of traveling, we also reached Nam Du Island. As soon as we set foot on the harbor, we were really surprised by how crowded this place was. Because this is the largest island, the population is also crowded, especially on both sides of the harbor. The seawater is reflected by the sky to create a blue but clear color, the ships and boats docked on the water surface, creating an extremely beautiful picture right in front of the 4 of us filled with excitement, just looking forward to quickly exploring the archipelago. This island has a road that runs around it, so make sure you won't be able to skip exploring around here by motorbike. And we chose to ride around the island the next day, before leaving the island. As we packed our bags and walked inside the harbor gate, we were recommended the property by the locals. You will have a lot to choose from according to the referral offers of these service business people here. If you have not booked a motel, hotel, or resort, you do not need to worry too much, because here is very developed, there will be no shortage of places for you to choose from!

After consulting through the recommendation of a middle-aged uncle, and with a reasonable price of 300,000 VND/a day and night for a room with two beds, we were transported to his house. The concrete road zigzags, small and along the coast. After 15 minutes by motorbike, we also reached the accommodation. We chose a room on the 2nd floor, with a balcony to be able to see the sea in the most perfect way. Here the motel also creates concepts to serve the photography interests of visitors. Most of the tourists coming here are young people, so beautiful photo angles are always the best choice. But actually, every place here gives us great pictures because every place here is beautiful.

After checking in, we were introduced by the hostess to visiting famous places here. The tour includes a passenger boat to Hon Mau to visit and swim, then the boat will take you to the coral reef to snorkel, and eat porridge cooked by the chef on the boat, and finally bring you back. coup. Because we had little time here, we chose to go on a tour, to easily explore the most beautiful places here in that little time and be led by her, for 200,000 VND/person.

In the past, when tourism was not developed, the people here were very sparse and poor, all of them were seafaring, fishing, and then traders would go here by big ships to buy and bring to the mainland to supply the city Rach Gia and neighboring provinces. Later, when large ships began to come out, leading to discovery tourism also developed. Because this place is still quite wild, it attracts many young people who like to explore wild nature like us. Gradually, people come here to travel more and more, so people no longer go to the sea to fish but instead build more spacious houses for tourism business. Since then, everyone's life has been getting better and better, because the profession of fishing has to be at sea, a few days, even a few weeks to return home once, rain, shine, wind, and dew are very difficult and arduous. As tourism develops, people's lives also improve markedly over the years. And people also learn how to raise aquatic products, sell them to traders as the main source of income, and serve the food and drink needs of tourists.

While waiting for the boat to take us to Hon Mau, the first point of the tour, we heard her interesting stories, she introduced the most beautiful places here so we could take advantage of the tour. She was very enthusiastic and also talked about the times she led young people like us to explore this archipelago. In her eyes and in the stories she tells, we can see how happy she was to have chosen this job, along with the beautiful photos she showed us of other tourists. The beauties of genuine, gentle, and kind workers are what we see in the people here through aunt and uncle of the host, and hope that tourism here can develop further so that people can have a warmer, less arduous, more difficult life.

Stay tuned for the next part in the following article to discover about the beautiful Nam Du archipelago with the natural, honest, and extremely kind people here.
Thank you for reading my post today.
Wishing you all a very happy and energetic new week.
And see you again！