Coconut land

      Ben Tre Province at the mouth of the Mekong Delta is an amazing patchwork of criss-crossing rivers, canals and channels that create a thousand islands covered in coconut trees.
With 40,000 hectares of coconuts, Ben Tre is easily Vietnam’s biggest producer of the fruit, which is shipped around the country and abroad in huge quantities, fashioned into handicrafts, and turned into confectionery.
A visit to a candy factory should be on every itinerary.
Of the untold number of gardens and orchards hidden under the green canopy of Coconut Land, as Ben Tre is known, are nearly 30 that have been turned into tourist destinations with the best-known being An Khanh, Tan Thach, Cho Lach, Cai Mon and Phung Island.
Before Rach Mieu Bridge opened in January, getting to Ben Tre required a long ferry trip across the Tien River. More than halfway across, the ferry went close to Phung Island, where the tourist park has been quite popular among day-trippers and overnighters for some time.
The island, which is about 80 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City, can be reached by boat from the Ben Tre side of the river, in Chau Thanh District.
On Phung, visitors can cool down in the breeze off the water, sip a long drink, go for a swim, learn about the Dao Dua religion founded by local architect Nguyen Thanh Nam, and see how coconut candy is made in the little workshop.
The entire process of making coconut candy can be viewed up close, from mixing and stirring the ingredients through the setting and cutting stages to wrapping and packing. The workers will even let the visitor get involved, and there are plenty of samples to scoff down.
Just outside the tourist park are souvenir, craft and food shops stocking the province’s many specialties.
Driving to Ben Tre only takes two hours from Ho Chi Minh City, and less if the trip is made at night.
With its interwoven waterways and green gardens in abundance, Coconut Land makes for an ideal getaway when the weather is sultry and the city too stifling.