Saigontourist Travel has two new excursions, one to Nam Cat Tien and Madagui in the Central Highland province of Lam Dong and the other to Dong Thap Muoi (plain of reeds) in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap. The first is for two days and includes a visit to a long-dormant volcano, a sojourn amid the abundant flora and fauna of Nam Cat Tien National Forest, and a wander through the tropical forest of Madagui and the pristine caves of Doi (bat), Thay (master) and Me Cung (labyrinth) within. For entertainment there will be a display of flying model airplanes, a balloon, and folk games like bit mat dap nieu, which involves being blindfolded and trying to bash or smash an earthen pot, and leo cot mo (climbing the standard greasy pole). At night, you can gather around a campfire and dine on the sort of food they ate several hundred years ago when the swampy lands of the southern deltas were being reclaimed. The package costs VND215,000.
The other tour, named “Traveling to Dong Thap Muoi in the Flood Season”, includes visiting cajuput forests, taking a boat up the Vam Co Tay River to the Remedia Center to learn about herbal plants and extracting and distilling attar, and spending some time at a market on the Cambodian border.
Fiditourist, which has two new package tours to the seaside, is giving away carpetbags and metal-covered ballpoint pens to buyers of its summer tours between August 18 and October 30. Incidentally, this year the travel company has experienced a considerable increase in the number of people booking its tours to Phan Thiet and Nha Trang on the central coast, Phu Quoc Island of the southwest coast, and Dalat, Ba Na and Sapa in the high country.
Anyway, Fiditourist’s three-day trip to the central coast includes flying there and back and takes in Tu Van Pagoda, Cam Ranh Bay, Hon Tre Tourist Park and Dam Bay Park on Tre Island off Nha Trang.
In Nha Trang Bay you can view the underwater world from the comfort of a glass-bottomed boat, go diving and venture across the surface in a kayak. Both nights are spent at the fancy resort called Vinpearl on Tre Island. The package costs VND3.2 million.
The other new tour from Fiditourist is a four-day excursion to Halong Bay on the far north coast (again flying there and back). Besides Tuan Chau and the town of Halong itself, the itinerary includes the beautiful caves of Giau Go, Thien Cung, Ga Choi and Dinh Huong, taking a kayak to Luon and Trinh Nu caves, and bathing at Titop Beach.
The nights are spent on a big, comfortable yacht that also takes the tour party around Halong Bay. Price: VND7,212,000.
Book at:
Saigontourist travel Service, 49 Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1
Tel: (08) 829 8914. Email: info@saigontourist.net
Website: www.saigontourist.net
Fiditourist, 129 Nguyen Hue Boulevard, District 1
Tel: (08) 914 1414. Email: fiditour@hcm.vnn.vn
Website: www.fiditour.com
