Travel: NAM DU ISLAND - THE ROMANTIC ISLAND IN THE SOUTH OF VIETNAM

If you want to go far away from the cold of the north in spring or the hot weather in the south, you should go to visit this wild island.

Nam Du is the archipelago of Kien Hai district (Kien Giang), it has the distance from Rach Gia is 83 km. Nam Du is very untouched, has twenty-one large and small islands, it is created cleverly arranged. Each of the large, small blocks of islands are interwoven together, forming a solid joint between the ocean looks very beautiful. The islands are under the management of An Son and Nam Du communes.

In Nam Du, Cu Tron is the widest island with 9 km2, the smallest is Hon Lo (200 m2), the residents live in Cu Tron, Hon Mau and Hon Bo. Each of the islands, yards, slopes here have anecdotes of it. Standing on the checkpoint at the top of Hon Lon with a height of over 300 m can see each small island such as Hon Mộc piercing the Nai Nai, Do Nai turn to the Embankment; The dam is filled with Hon Lo; Loom to Hon Ngang; Hon Ngang crossing to Hon Dung; Hon Duck to Hon Dau; Hon Dau located in Austria; Remove the jacket off Hon Ong; Hon Ong to Hon Tam; Hon Tam straight pier Hon Tre; Hon Tre to Hon Doc; Hon Mark to Hon Nhan; Hon Nhan flooded directly Hon Han; Korean Hon are three Hon Nun; Hon Nom to Hon Hon; Hon Kho is in Chom beach; Bai Ched to Hon Lon ... ".

The ideal time

Travel to Nam Du in the dry season from December to March every year. The most beautiful weather is from January to 3 because the sea is quite calm, the seasickness will also reduce the discomfort when moving by boat.
The sea areas of Kien Giang are not much affected by the storm but the rainfall caused by the storm accounted for a large proportion. The rainy season starts from April to November every year.

Move

From Saigon (or other provinces), it is possible to take high quality vehicles directly to Rach Gia. From here you continue the journey on the train to the Nam Du. To reach Nam Du the only means of transportation is the vessel, depending on the time of each person you can choose for yourself the appropriate carrier.
Shipping lines to Nam Du Island:

Ngoc Thanh (high speed train)

Departure time: Rach Gia at 8:15 and Nam Du at 12:15
Travel time: 2 hours

Red River (Helen, Goffrey)

Departure time: Rach Gia at 8h10 and Nam Du at 12h10
Travel time: 2 hours

Hohai (regular train)

Departure time: Rach Gia at 9h and Nam Du at 14h
Travel time: 5 hours
Phone: 077 3863019.

To explore the islands around Hon Lon and visit some beautiful places, you should hire boats to move. On the island there are some individuals renting a boat (if you can not rent you can go straight to the pier, find any fishing boats of the people, unify the price and places to go).

Motorbike to Nam Du and Ben Ngu lighthouses:

Bike: a lot on the island, the price of the weekend, the holiday is 80,000 / round return to the lighthouse; VND 50,000 per round to Ben Ngu. If only one lighthouse, the price is 50,000.

Motorbike rental: You can rent a car from your house or xe om for a car with the price of 150,000 - 200,000 VND / day, both at the lighthouse and Ben Ngu, and at the beach again. Note that the road through Cay Mon beach is very difficult to run.

Rested: On Hon Lon there are now some guesthouses open to serve tourists, before the island you can contact before booking. In case all of them are out of the room, you are free to go out and contact some of the people for help. Accommodation prices range from 200,000 to 350,000 VND / room / night. Accommodation with meals, boat rental around the island. Especially air-conditioned, guests do not have to worry about hot days.

Tourist destinations

Bai Men: Cay Man beach is a bay, blue sea water area of 600m2 in the Gulf of Thailand. Mr. Vo Van Phuong, who owns the area of coconut plantation and beach, said his great-grandfather had lived and owned the land. The total area of about 7 hectares is he tried to grow coconut. There are trees aged 70 to 80 years. At first, coconut sparse. When the trees give the fruit to dry fall to the ground and the coconut grows. Thus, coconut trees become more and more green coconut forest, located adjacent to the bay. Grandfather, grandmother died to leave his grandfather, grandmother and his mother and his brother. At this time, Phuong's mother gave him half the land and a portion of the bay for him.

Bai Ngu: Bai Ngu is located in the west of Tron. Legend has it that the road through Siam, King Gia Long has stopped here, this area is called Ngu. Dry season, this beach is full of fresh water while other areas lack water. Here, m still a well filled with water. Local people said that the well was dug when the king arrived here should be named the well of the King.

Bai Chom : According to popular folk traditions in the 16th century on the way to Phu Quoc to trade, between the Dutch and Chinese train has happened a battle, a few days later there are hundreds of Chinese bodies pulled into the beach, from that people called Bai Chet

Nam Du lighthouse: Nam Du lighthouse is located on the top of Hon Lon (Cu Tron) in An Son commune. This is considered the highest lighthouse in Vietnam thanks to the hill located 300 meters above sea level.

Hon Nom : Being one of the 11 islands inhabited by people, Hon Nen is currently the only large family living in Duong Van Sau. The island was built by Mr. Vuong Van Kieu, his father in 1960. The island covers an area of 10 hectares but only 3 hectares can be planted, the remaining area is completely rocky. .

Hon Mau: Hon Mab is about 200 hectares with more than 120 households lying next to each other across the lowest part of the island. Most of the islanders are marine fishermen. Small island should set foot here, people on the island from the elderly to children all know you are the other people to this island. Of the 21 islands in the archipelago, creativity seems to favor the island's beautiful beaches. Up to five beaches on the island. In there, there are two rare white sand beaches where rare is Bai Chuan and Bai Nam; The remaining three rocks: North Beach, Da Den beach and Da Ba beach. Nam Beach is the front of the island. This beach is quiet all year round, so the ships to trade are stopped on this side. Therefore, the residents here are also bigger. However, the beach is also very clean, smooth white sand and yards.

Bai Ching: The most interesting is to be immersed in cool water in Bai Chang. The beach looks like a giant lake surrounded by coconut trees on a lifetime. Long sand beach, clear blue water. Away from tens of meters still see the bottom.

Beside that are two impeccable rocks. Da Den has many beautiful rocks. Most of the stone is black color ball so people take it as the name. The stones in this beach are like many kinds of colors. As the sun shines, the rocks under the sea sparkle with many eye-catching colors. There are very strange patterns. The zigzag rocks are green, red marble. From Da Den beach about 15 minutes to Da Ba beach. There is only one white stone. Small finger-to-hand stones are located along the beach. This beach has almost no sand, only white stones. One to two rocky beaches also take several stones as a gift of the sea.

Hon Ngang: Hon Ngang has the most winding port of Nam Du, which attracts thousands of boats, boats and cages. From Hon Lon to Hon Ngang takes 30 minutes by boat, there are two departures every day at 7h and 15h daily.
Hon Ngang is the center of Nam Du Commune. Hon Ngai has thousands of boat boats and nearly 60 fish cages anchored in no order. The harbor is a stilt house on stilts of bamboo and concrete close together 2km long. There is only a small road about 1.5m, without any means of transportation.

Hon Hai Bo Dap: The place is usually chosen by tourists to be a place to concentrate camp and set up tents at night. This is a suitable place for you to dive the coral reefs, catch rhodium (fishing gai), fishing, swimming.

Hon Son (Hon Son, Lai Son): Located between Hon Tre and Nam Du archipelago, about 60 km from the mainland, on the deep blue of the ocean, Hon Son (Son Rai island) stands like a giant mountain. Since 1983, this charming island has been named Lai Son, one of four island communes in Kien Hai district (Kien Giang province) with an area of 11.5 km2 with more than 2,000 households. To Hon Son, new visitors see the poetic landscape, the harmonious combination of sea - island with the human values associated with the history and culture of the land where the waves coincide.
On beautiful days, clear clouds, looking far from Hon Son as a sparkling pearl with seven peaks undulating on the water. As closer, the blue color on the island is more attracted by the island surrounded by coconut palm trees, beautiful scene, poetic. Along the coast is the fishing village, boats are busy, the atmosphere is extremely bustling.
Standing on the shore looking out, everyone is fascinated to admire the small rocks, stacked on top of each other, forming the look interesting. The most attractive is at Thien Tue beach, near the Nam Hai temple with boulders standing horrible shape on the pebbles, creating strange feeling.

Road to the top of Ma Thien Lanh: Most visitors to Hon Son love to explore the Ma Thien Lanh hill, where many legendary people that every resident here know. That is the story of the fairies usually come to the top of the mountain, called the fairground. Later, there are many forest trees, many caves pure so many priests seek to hide. On the way to Ma Thien Lanh, there is a statue of Buddha and many ancient relics of the stone.

Delicious food and specialties: Sea food is of course seafood is seafood, but here are also full of ordinary dishes to serve tourists. If you want to camp outside the island you can prepare and buy food from before and bring from Rach Gia. Except for seafood left over, the food on the island has to be moved from the mainland so prices will be higher than in the mainland.

Grilled banana green fish: Blue fish is also called frog fish, a species of marine fish, round and long body, sharp beak like fish pliers. It can be long and 2-3 kg. Called blue fish bones because the fish skin is blue, when looking at the fish bones show blue green.
People choose the fresh fish from the sea to bring back, shave wash and then use banana peeled diagonal, wrap wire thoroughly. Then the firewood to bake until the banana is dried, dried fish is cooked. When eating, open the banana, fish cracked skin, rose fragrant, easy to conquer any land indigenous gourmet from South to North. Fish meat is not only sweet but also tough, with rice paper rolls with vegetables such as leaf leaves, leaves, nail, sky, bubbles ... create a unique identity of the sea island, few places have OK.

Grilled onion grease: The scallop is a familiar seafood with a delicate ivory-white buttery texture that is suitable for both fried and roasted and is one of the food ingredients to be processed into many delicious and nutritious dishes. Salted roasted salami, grilled onion, greens scallop, scallops.

Squid eggs ginger steamed: Squid eggs are caught during the breeding season so the eggs contain more eggs, the number of squid eggs occupy more than 70%. According to experts, squid is very nutritious food. Squid eggs are easy to prepare into many delicious dishes should be very popular. Squid eggs can be made with fried squid, chopped fried, fried with butter, grilled chili or satay ... but the most outstanding is the ginger steamed eggs because the sweet smell of ink is not lost but easy to implement, eat not bored.

Sour fish: The west coast of Kien Giang is quite famous for fish farming. This is a long, black-tailed fish with a blackish appearance. This sea bass is not like sour soup in the mainland. Spicy salmon fish here with fresh meat or salt meats together with lemongrass and stab meat. To add more attractive, people give fresh bamboo shoots or sour bamboo shoots.

Dry fish: Drying is a way to keep the oldest food of mankind. Dry fish can be left without damage each year. The method of drying is quite rude but effective, often used by fishermen to keep the fish catching if not consumed in time. Dry fish also have the advantage of being easier to transport than fresh fish. In Nam Du, all kinds of dried fish in the Nam Du archipelago are made of fresh fish and are a very interesting specialty to tourists.

Suggested schedule to travel Nam Du: This is just a reference schedule so that you can easily explore the island, if you do not have much time then you can proactively shorten or extend this schedule to suit your own.

First day: Saigon - Rach Gia

Evening pick up high quality coach from Saigon to Rach Gia
You travel from other provinces self-sufficient means to Saigon

Day 2: Rach Gia - Nam Du

Car to Rach Gia early in the morning, buy tickets to high-speed train to Nam Du (if the holiday, you can actively buy tickets sooner)
Go to Nam Du, check in, have lunch and relax, rent a motorbike for afternoon out
Afternoon start exploring the island
Visit the Goddess of God on the island
To visit Nam Dang
Go to Cay Men beach, this is beautiful beach with green coconut and white sand beach.
Continue to visit Ngu beach, Chet beach
Evening to rest, camping if you want

Day 3: Nam Du - Hon Ngang - Hon Mau

Morning travel from Hon Lon to Hon Ngang to visit the fish cage
Continue to depart Hon Mung, where there are 5 extremely beautiful beaches
Lunch at Hon Mau (can bring food)
Bathing and walking freely
Afternoon can travel to other islands of Nam Du
Evening to return to Hon Lon

Day 4: Nam Du - Rach Gia - Saigon

Morning check out procedures
Buying some specialties, souvenirs as gifts
Departure to Rach Gia
From Rach Gia, drive back to Saigon.

Some attention during the trip to Nam Du Island:

The people of Nam Du archipelago use generators. Do not lose contact with your loved ones and want to have photos of the place where you smoke, you remember to charge the phone battery and camera or camcorder when the generator operates at 17h - 22h.
If you come to this place from January to the end of March, when the fresh water is considered gold, you remember to save maximum water to share the suffering of the people. During the days in Nam Du you may have to buy fresh water at 6,000 VND / 50 liters for living.