CON CHIM COMMUNITY – BASED TOURISM, TRA VINH

    Description

    Introduction to the village 

    Con Chim is a place for you to experience Southern country life. This is an islet hamlet in the Hoa Minh commune, Chau Thanh district with 54 households including 214 people living. Con Chimhas a natural area of 62 hectares, which is located in the middle of the Co Chien River, about 10 km from northeast of the center of Tra Vinh city along the river route and 15 km along Highway 53. 

    What makes a strong impression on anyone who comes to Con Chim, is the wonderful, green, clean, and beautiful living environment; the people are friendly and hospitable; The Organic rice fields are green and green along the main road of the country and the rows of coconuts on both sides of the road with the thatched roofs of the southern region are still present here ... All the things blend together to make a very typical Southern painting. 

    Apart from the only dal road (construction of cement) stretching from the beginning to the end of Cồn Chim, there are no other construction solutions including against landslides and erosion. At the end of the islet, keeping the muddy sandbar from erosion is a story of the Sonneratia range (a mangrove species). And people have the task of protecting green Sonneratia canopies, not allowing indiscriminate exploitation according to pre-established conventions.

    With the living rule “favorable natural”, the farmers here adapt well to saltwater drought and together protect the environment, water sources, and aquatic resources. Every September, people sow rice and harvest it in December. During cultivation, they do not spray plant protection, and do not apply chemical fertilizers; mainly produced by organic methods, creating clean rice grains. In saltwater season, people raise shrimp, crabs…. Also, thanks to gentle people, protecting nature, natural fishes and shrimps find their way to the islet and multiply a lot; People themselves plant vegetables of all kinds and raise more shrimp and crabs to ensure clean food sources.

    Con Chim Community–Based Tourism was officially established in September 2019. One year after that, Con Chim was recognized by the Provincial People's Committee as a provincial community tourism destination in December 2020 and  continues to be recognized by the Mekong Delta Tourism Association as a typical tourist destination in the Mekong Delta in August 2022. Come to Con Chim to hear the story of "shrimp hugging rice trees", enjoy fresh coconut in the garden, nostalgia for the ferry to take guests to the river, know more about “Nhà vẩy rồng” (Immemorial Southern house style with the ground that has small mounds), experience the old kitchen space and enjoy the typical Southern meal.

    Cultural information

    Here, you will find the typical customs, beliefs, and cultural activities of the ancient Southern region. You will be able to learn about the local traditions of wet rice cultivation and fishing. For those of you who love to explore the local culture, you have a chance to learn more about the Vietnamese family traditions in the South and the natural features here.

    As for costumes, due to living in a river environment, people here (both men and women) like the Bà Ba shirt (One of the most famous Vietnamese costumes in the South) and bandana. The light and compact Ba Ba shirt is very convenient when rowing, canoeing, wading in the fields, slapping ditches, putting in nets, and has a pocket to hold a few necessary items. The bandana is used to cover the head, wipe sweat very useful.

    Cause living in the water area, to travel, people here will use canoes, boats, gongs, shells, ships, rafts, ferries, etc.  The image of the river and the boat here is so popular that it has become a symbol of Southern space.

    Transport

    Means of transportation to the village

    Tourists follow Highway 53 to Hoa Loi market (Chau Thanh district), via Phuoc Vinh ferry to move to Con Chim. If you take a group from the Phuoc Vinh ferry terminal, you can book a separate ferry to Con Chim directly.

    Cuisine

    What’s good to eat in the village 

    Coming to Con Chim, tourists will enjoy the extremely unique cuisine. The usual meal includes rice - soup - vegetables - shrimp and fish. They are mostly self-sufficient and use seasonally available food. At Con Chim, food hygiene and safety are always maintained and fresh. Some dishes are often used to treat guests such as Sonneratia sour soup with catfish, Sonneratia flower salad, chicken fried ginger, shrimp steamed with coconut water, crab fried tamarind, etc.

    Because the environment is full of shrimp and fish, there are also many kinds of fermented fish here: fermented snakehead fish, fermented snakeskin gourami fish, fermented anchovy fish, fermented mustached danio fish, fermented sesarmid crab,... The processing method is also very diverse and special like raw fermented fish, braised fermented fish, meatloaf with fermented, fish hot pot, and vermicelli noodles... combined with a variety of vegetables and fruits in the home garden, creating different dishes with unique flavors.

    For dining style, a group of guests (5-10 people) can eat with the host family. If the group is larger, you can contact the host about meal times for thoughtful support.

    Here, people make their own sticky rice wine. When tourists enjoy, they can feel the taste of southern wine.

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    Description

    Best things to do at the village

    Con Chim has a peaceful and cool western natural scenery that tourists can experience at any time of the year. The first experience when coming to Con Chim is the feeling of passing through the rare remaining ferries of the West and watching the Co Chien River with many green islets.

    After that, tourists can see the scenery of green fields, shrimp ponds, and Southern-style thatched-roof houses gradually appearing before their eyes. Households also decorate the aisles, front of the house, and fences full of plants and flowers; items such as trash cans, and flower pots are also products made from nature such as coconut leaves, areca leaves, etc. Furthermore, the tourists can also see familiar images of the Southern countryside reproduced by the Old kitchen, floor water, containers, and utensils to scoop water with coconut shells. If you love walking, you can walk on the village roads, with green coconut trees on both sides that catch the early morning rays of the day on the islet, and immerse yourself in the daily work of the people here.

    One more experience is cycling along the winding roads and visiting local people's houses to enjoy fragrant countryside gifts such as fresh coconut in the garden, nipa palm fruits with coconut milk, ginger jam, ginseng dew, etc.

    Because of its geographical location, Con Chim has 6 months of salt water and 6 months of fresh water each year. In the freshwater season, local people cultivate rice and catch wild fish and shrimp while they raise shrimp and crabs in the saltwater season. Therefore, according to the season, tourists can experience activities with the people such as fishing for crabs, shrimps, or fish, rice growing or harvesting, etc.

    In addition, to the above experiences, tourists can make traditional cakes like “Banh xèo” (a kind of pancake) through activities such as harvesting vegetables from home gardens, catching copper shrimp to make pancakes; and making leaf cakes, for making this cake, tourists can manually perform grinding flour, grinding stink vine leaves, shaping cakes, processing coconut milk, ...

    In particular, tourists can experience the old kitchen space and enjoy a typical Southern meal with boiled vegetables, Vietnamese caramelized pork dip for vegetables, spinach soup, shrimp steamed with coconut water, Sonneratia flower salad, Sonneratia sour soup with catfish,...

    Through folk games, tourists have a chance to return to childhood by jumping rope, shooting marbles, fighting cans, throwing darts, racing crabs, etc; moreover, tourists will make products from coconut leaves.

    Cultural exchange: You can choose the time of cultural exchange with local people after dinner, with performances of Southern amateur music, and folk music.

    If Coming to Con Chim on summer nights, tourists will see the twinkling fireflies reminiscent of childhood memories.

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