Compass Travel Vietnam
Coconut Market on the Thom River in Ben Tre
The exchange of goods taking place right on the boat is an activity experienced by many tourists at Ben Tre coconut market.
In Khmer language, Thom means big, Thom river means big river, and some people call it “Tho” river. This is a large canal crossing Minh Isle (the third largest island in Ben Tre). Thom River has a length of about 15 km, formed in 1905 connecting Ham Luong and Co Chien rivers, and is the shortest waterway from Ben Tre to Tra Vinh.
Thu Trang, born in 1985, in Ho Chi Minh City had a visit to Ben Tre in early January. It was the fourth time she came here, but every time she was impressed by the bustling exchange and trade of coconut products in a river.
Trang said that if Can Tho has Cai Rang floating market, Tien Giang has Cai Be floating market, Hau Giang previously had Nga Bay floating market, An Giang has Long Xuyen floating market, then Ben Tre is associated with the coconut floating market on Thom river. . This is a pride of the people of Mo Cay Nam in particular and of Ben Tre in general.
From a small canal, the Thom River today changes its appearance with the bustling trade of coconut products on the river. On both sides is a coconut mining village stretching over 3 km. Since then, the coconut floating market on the Thom River has become a province’s own brand, unlike the floating market in other Mekong Delta provinces. The operation of the coconut floating market helps to develop the region’s economy and tourism.
According to the Ben Tre web portal, during the French colonial period, the French dug the Thom canal in the territory of the Mo Cay district to connect from Ham Luong river to the Co Chien river. During the two resistance wars for national liberation, the Thom River marked the feats of the army and people, and the river was also associated with the childhood of many generations of coconut children.
The exchange of goods often takes place on boats and boats, which is an activity experienced by many tourists. The coconut floating market takes place all day, regardless of the early evening, rain or shine. This depends on the progress of the orders, or the arrival time of the shipments. The main products of exchange and sale here are coconuts: coconuts, coconut fiber, only coconuts, coco peat.
On both banks of the Thom River, there are many establishments operating overnight to supply goods for businesses to make many products from coconut such as: desiccated coconut, coconut fiber, coconut shell charcoal, clean soil from acne. coconut, coconut oil, coconut candy, coconut fiber carpet, coconut handicraft products. In particular, craft villages along Thom river in An Thanh commune, Mo Cay Nam district, Khanh Thanh Tan commune, Mo Cay Bac district have created jobs for thousands of workers. A person working every day can peel about 2,000 coconuts, with a salary of about 400,000 VND. Those who do little are also thousands of fruits, earning several hundred thousand dong a day.
Thu Trang suggested that, in a one-day itinerary, visitors should visit craft villages, learning activities such as scraping coconuts, prying copra, make coconut candies, then move to Thanh Long dune to visit Mr. Thuy General’s mausoleum. , and have lunch at local people’s houses with many rustic dishes such as snakehead fish sour soup, roasted coconut shrimp, and chicken porridge we have released in the garden.
In addition, visitors should also go to Dong Khoi’s “Special National Monument” area to return to the resistance years of the Dong Khoi movement in the 1960s in Mo Cay Nam district, and find the origin of the nation’s history.
From Ben Tre city, visitors can go by road to Mo Cay Nam town on Highway 60 and then get off tourist boats running along the Thom River or go by water from the pier in the center of Ben Tre city. Ham Luong River to enter the Thom River. Currently, Ben Tre has many eco-tours for visitors to explore this special market.
Photo: JP Klovstad
Coconut Market on the Thom River in Ben Tre
vinlove.
Source: vinlove
