Every morning, Stiermann Martin, general manager of the RiceField Lodge resort in the Mekong Delta City of Can Tho, rides a canoe to take his tourists along the 40-kilometer beautiful Xa No canal connecting Hau Giang Province with Can Tho City. The canal, formed in 1901-1903 by two French people, is an important traffic route connecting Mekong Delta provinces and transporting rice in the region; therefore, it is called “The rice road” while Hau Giang Province is home to endless rice fields and canals entangled with boats.
Going with General Manager Stiermann Martin, Director of Vong tron Viet ( Vietnam Circle) Tourist Company Phan Dinh Hue said that according to his own experience, holiday-makers easily get bored after 20 minutes of sightseeing in Can Tho City’s Cai Rang floating market on Cai Rang river, one of the most interesting tourist attractions in Can Tho city and one of the five most beautiful floating markets in Asia.
Instead, tourist company should organize a trip along the Xa No canal; travelers will be interested in goat farms or well-known pineapple fields along the canal. Holiday-makers will have an enjoyable experience of the tour to attractive destinations such as Xang Moi flower village, ten rice mills built during the time under French colonial domination, 20-ha mango field Bay Ngan meeting VietGAP standard and a village specializing in boat making.
Travelers are totally relaxed at witnessing traditional milking by hand, making cheese and other village activities. Visitors can understand more about the lives of locals when stepping in the 2,000-ha pineapple field in Vi Thanh Town where tourist farms are set up beautifully. Xa No Canal is also a venue for exciting boat races which always draw shouts and shrieks from the crowd.
In the end of 2020, Xa No Tourist Market was established along the canal in Vi Thanh Town connecting a local tourist wharf, 4-star Xa No hotel, walking street Hai Ba Trung with entertainment sections and cuisine sections. These venues are considered as significant infrastructure for the trip from Xa No canal to Lung Ngoc Hoang Nature Wetland Reserve, a unique and exclusive travel destination of the province.
The province is calling for investment in 2,800-ha Lung Ngoc Hoang Nature Wetland Reserve to convert it into a famous tourist destination. Director of Vong tron Viet ( Vietnam Circle) Tourist Company Phan Dinh Hue said that Lung Ngoc Hoang Nature Wetland Reserve and Xa No canal are the two significant pillars for the province’s development.
Secretary of Hau Giang Provincial Party Committee Le Tien Chau noticed that Hau Giang Province has potential for agricultural development, which French people have discovered the agricultural potential of Hau Giang since 1901. Therefore, he added, French people decided to build the canal, the largest irrigation work becoming a crowded agriculture road in the Mekong Delta region at that time. Over 100 years later, the province’s agriculture sector has made remarkable progress with more and more large rice paddy fields being formed and establishment of cooperatives and cooperatives chains.
