Tuoi Tre News
12 February 2015
Manually draining ditches to catch fish is a long-standing practice in several Mekong Delta provinces in Vietnam and if tourists are lucky enough, they might find themselves in such an intriguing sight during Tet (Lunar New Year) tours.
Tours to such Mekong Delta places as Dong Thap, Can Tho, An Giang, Ben Tre, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau, and Kien Giang are offered throughout the year and is an attraction for foreign tourists.
Those organized before, during, and after Tet also appeal to a large number of local and international holidaymakers.
Tet begins on February 19 this year, with festive activities lingering on around one week after that.
Apart from the crisscrossing rivers, fruit-laden orchards, architecturally unique pagodas, and stunning seas such as those off Kien Giang Province’s Phu Quoc and Ha Tien Districts, the delta provinces allure both natives and tourists with one of their rustic delights: manually bailing water out of ditches to catch fish and cooking them right away.
Hoai Vu, a Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper contributor, said he “relived” a priceless experience of his childhood’s memorable activity during a recent trip to his hometown.
The activity would particularly burgeon in his neighborhood around the 15th day of the twelfth lunar month, when tides begin to retreat.
Their bumper catches would be enough for meals for several months following Tet.
During the trip to his hometown, Vu observed that though fish were no longer found in abundance in ditches as in the past, the activity still brought a festive atmosphere just as in the good old days.