Traveling to Nam Du Island: A handbook from A to Z

Travel schedule Nam Du Island
The best time to visit Nam Du Island is from December to March, at this time the sea is quite smooth and clear, so those seasickness will also reduce much discomfort when traveling by ship.

The waters of Kien Giang are not directly affected by the storm, but the rainfall caused by typhoons accounts for a large proportion, the rainy season here usually starts from April to November every year.

Transportation from Saigon to Nam Du
To go to Nam Du archipelago, you need to go to Rach Gia city - Kien Giang. The easiest way to travel is by bus from the West Bus Station, priced at 8 - 10  USD per ticket. You should take the 23h trip to Rach Gia at 6am the next morning.

To continue the journey to Nam Du, you go by high speed train, round trip ticket about 20 $ per person. If the sea level 6 or higher, the ship does not work.

REFER TO A NUMBER OF TRAINS FROM RACH PRICE TO SOUTH DU ISLAND
• Ngoc Thanh (High-speed train)

Schedule: Rach Gia - Nam Du

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

Travel time: 2 hours

• Ho Hai (Normal ship)

Schedule: Rach Gia - Nam Du

Departure time: Rach Gia at 9am and Nam Du at 10am

Travel time: 5 hours

Phone: 077 3863019

If you take the train at 8:15 am, about 11h the boat will arrive at Hon Lon wharf in Nam Du archipelago.

Superdong
Schedule: Rach Gia - Nam Du

Departure time is Rach Gia at 7:20 pm and Nam Du at 10:15

Travel time: 2 hours

 Phone: 0919664660

Transportation on the island
1. Ships

To explore the islands around Big Island and visit some beautiful places, you should hire a boat to move. On the island, there are some individuals who rent boats (if you cannot rent, you can go straight to the pier, find any fishing boats of the people, agree on the price and places to go).

2. Motorcycle

You can rent a motorbike at the hostel for about 8 - 10 $/ day, and spoil for your favorite places.

Where when traveling to Nam Du Island?
There are 2 ways to spend the night in Nam Du: renting a motel or a homestay, the price is 8 - 10 $ / night.

If you prefer the experience, you can rent yards and tents to sleep through the night. The most suitable overnight beach is Hon Dau, because there are coconut trees and sandy beaches, convenient for camping as well as playing, the rental price is about 2$  per person. Meanwhile, the tent rental price is 2$ per person.

Destinations not to be missed when traveling Nam Du
Hon Lon

It is a beautiful bay with an area that fits neatly in the Gulf of Thailand. This is considered the most beautiful beach in the Nam Du archipelago. The rows of green coconut tilted the ball, the life expectancy of trees is up to 70 - 80 years. Coming here, you can dive to catch fish or watch colorful corals. Cay Cay Men Beach is empty, so you can freely play and bath as much as you want. The sea water is clear and cool. In addition, you can also catch snails in the rocks along the beach.

Bai Ngu

Bai Ngu is located in the west of Cu Tron. Legend has it that on the way through Siam, King Gia Long stopped here so this area was called Ngu beach. In the dry season, this beach is still full of fresh water while other areas seriously lack of water. Here, there is still a well full of water. Local people believe that the well was dug when the king arrived and should be named the king's well.

Bai Chet

According to folklore passed down in the 16th century on the way to Phu Quoc for trading, between the Dutch train and the Chinese people fought a fierce battle, a few days later hundreds of Chinese corpses came to this 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 its location on the hill higher than 300 meters above sea level.

Hon Dau

Like Hon Lon, the beach is still green and the coconut trees murmur on the shore. Hon Dau is relatively large compared to other islands, primary forests occupy about 90% of the area. Near the shore there are many growing coral reefs, not as beautiful as other deep waters but clear and very clear sea water. Some coconut trees recline toward the gentle sea, you can lie on it and take a nap in the cool breeze.

Hon Nom

As one of 11 inhabited islands, Hon Nom is currently the only family of Mr. Duong Van Sau living. The island was reclaimed and built by Mr. Vuong Van Kieu, his father in 1960. The whole island has an area of ​​about 10 hectares but only 3 hectares can be cultivated, the remaining area is completely rocky. .

Hon Mau

Hon Mau is about 200 hectares wide with more than 120 households lying across the lowest part of the island. Most people on this island are engaged in sea fishing. Small islands should have set foot here, the people on the island from the elderly to children all know you are different people to this island.

Of the 21 islands of the archipelago, nature seems to favor the island's beautiful beaches. There are five beaches on the island. In particular, there are two rare white sand beaches where rare is Bai Chuong and Bai Nam; the rest are three rocky beaches: Bac Beach, Da Den Beach and Da White Beach. Bai Nam is the front of the island. The beach is mostly quiet all year round, so shipping to the trade stops on this side. Therefore, the residents here are also more crowded. However, the beach is very clean, fine white sand and Lai beach.

Bai Chuong

The most interesting is to immerse yourself in the cool water in Bai Chuong. The beach is like a bay looking like a giant lake surrounded by coconut trees. The sand runs long, the water is clear blue. Tens of meters away still see the bottom.

Next to it are two impeccably rocky beaches. Da Den Beach has many beautiful rocks. Most of the stones are glossy black, so people take that as their name. The stones in this beach are multicolored and colorful. When the sun shines down, the rocks under the sea sparkle with many eye-catching colors. There are very strange patterns. The pattern is zigzag green and red like a marble pattern. It takes about 15 minutes to walk to Da Den beach and Da Da beach. The whole beach is only a white color of stone. Finger-to-hand stones are located along the beach. This beach has almost no sand, only white stone. Anyone who comes to two rocky beaches also takes a few stones as a gift of the sea.

Hon Ngang

Hon Ngang has the quietest harbor in Nam Du, so it attracts thousands of boats, boats and fish cages. From Hon Lon to Hon Ngang takes 30 minutes by boat, there are two departures every day at 7am and 3pm everyday.

Hon Ngang is the center of Nam Du commune. Hon Ngang pier has thousands of boats and boats and nearly 60 cages for fish anchoring in no order. The harbor is a row of stilted houses on stilts of bamboo and concrete running 2 km long. There is only a small road about 1.5m, without any kind of transportation.

Hon Hai Bo Dam

A place often used by tourists for gathering camps and setting up tents for the night. This is a quite suitable place for you to dive to see coral, catch pineapple (sea urchin), fishing, swimming.

Hon Son (Hon Son Rai and Lai Son)

Located between Hon Tre and Nam Du archipelago, about 60 km from the mainland, on the deep blue background of the ocean, Hon Son (Son Rai island) appears like a giant mountain. Since 1983, this charming island has been named Lai Son, one of the four island communes of Kien Hai district (Kien Giang) with an area of ​​11.5 km2 with more than 2,000 households living. Arriving at Hon Son, tourists will see all the poetic scenery, the harmonious combination between the sea and the island with humanistic values ​​associated with the history and culture of the land where the waves coincide.

On clear days, clear clouds, from far away Hon Son looks like a sparkling jewel with 7 undulating peaks on the waves. The closer, the green color on the island is more attractive because the island is covered with thousands of green coconut trees, the scenery is peaceful and romantic. Along the coast is a fishing village, crowded boats, extremely bustling atmosphere.

Standing from the shore looking out, everyone is fascinated to see the big and small stones, piled up on each other, forming interesting looks. The most attractive is at Thien Tue beach, near Nam Hai temple with immense rock shapes floating on pebbles, creating a strange feeling.

Ma Thien Lanh Hill

Most visitors to Hon Son like to explore Ma Thien Lanh hill, which still holds many legends that every citizen here knows. That's the story of fairies often descending on the mountain, called the fairies. Later, this place has many forest trees, many pure caves, so many Taoists come to the retreat. On the way to Ma Thien Lanh, there is still an open Buddha image and many vestiges of the ancients recorded on rocks.

Delicacies on Nam Du Island

Grilled boneless green fish with banana

The bony blue fish is also known as the otter, a species of sea fish, its body is round and long, pointed like a pincer fish. The big one can be both ruler and weighs 2-3 kg. Called the blue fish bones because the fish skin is blue, when looking at the fish bones appear blue.

People choose real fresh fish from the sea to bring back, scrape off the oil and then use banana shavings to cover and wrap the string carefully. After that, the wood is baked and baked until the bananas are wilted and the fish is dry. When eating, opening the banana leaf, fish meat cracked, got up the aroma, easily conquered any gourmet mainland people from South to North. Fish meat is not only sweet but also chewy, rolled with rice paper served with wild vegetables such as leaves, layer leaves, cloves, mustard, buds ... creating a unique identity of the island waters, few places have OK.

Scallop grilled with grease and onion

Scallop is a familiar seafood with delicious but not chewy white flesh pulp, suitable for both fried and roasted and is one of the food ingredients to be processed into many delicious and nutritious dishes such as : Scallop roasted with salt and pepper, grilled scallop, onion, steamed scallop with vermicelli roll

Ginger steamed squid

Squid eggs are caught during the breeding season, so there are many eggs in the abdomen, the number of squid with eggs accounts for over 70%. According to experts, egg squid is a very nutritious food. Egg squid is an easy food to cook into many delicious dishes, so it is very popular. Egg squid can make fried squid eggs, fried in fragrant sauce, fried butter, grilled chili sauce or satay ... but the most outstanding is still ginger steamed squid because the sweet taste of squid is not lost but easy to make, eat not bored.

Sour broth with cobia

The western sea area of ​​Kien Giang is quite famous for its small cage culture. This is a species of fish with a long rhombus, black color that looks quite like snakehead. This sour, sour sea bass broth is not the same as land sour soup. Sour broth of sour fish here is cooked with fresh tamarind or salt tamarind with minced lemongrass and stabbed turmeric. To make the dish more attractive, people add fresh bamboo shoots or sour bamboo shoots.

Dried fish

Drying is the oldest way of preserving human food. Dried fish can be left for years without being spoiled. The method of drying is quite primitive but effective, often used by fishermen to keep the catches of fish if they do not consume them promptly. Dried fish also has the advantage of being easier to transport than fresh fish. In Nam Du, all kinds of dried fish on the Nam Du archipelago are made of fresh fish and are an interesting specialty for tourists.