Southern folk songs permeate the peace and quiet of Thoi Son Island,U where tourists can fish with a difference and learn about bee keeping

Thoi Son Island is an increasingly popular tourist spot in the Mekong Delta, and deservedly so.

A quicker alternative is to cross the Rach Mieu Bridge and take the sign-posted exit.

Thoi Son is 1,200 hectares of populated fertile land with many canals, ponds, and orchards full of jackfruit, plums, papaya, bananas, oranges and mangoes begging to be picked.

Angling is popular there though it’s not done in the traditional way, at least not by visitors at one of the island’s small resorts.

What they do is don farmers’ garb and bail out a fish-filled pond with a bucket, pouring the water into an empty adjacent pond and leaving the fish exposed. Then it’s a simple matter of picking them up and stowing them in a basket.

The catch of the day can be cooked and eaten with rice wine under shady trees in the cool breeze off the river.

During meal time, local singers and musicians entertain the guests with the southern folk music known as Cai luong and the more formal Don ca tai tu, which combines southern folk rhythms and Hue city Royal Court music.

A popular excursion at Thoi Son is visit the venerable house of local identity Tam Cho, whose home is made of precious hardwood in the Mekong Delta style and surrounded by ornamental trees and flowers.

A package tour to the island inevitably takes in one or more of the island’s many apiaries, where bees are raised for their honey, pollen and queen bees’ milk.

The beekeepers tell visitors all about keeping bees, harvesting honey and collecting pollen, which is done by putting a tray under a hive to catch the pollen falling off the bees’ legs before they enter the hive.

Another must-see is one of the workshops where coconut candy is made by hand, along with handicrafts and household utensils fashioned from different parts of the coconut palm. They can all be purchased by visitors.

To get the most out of Thoi Son Island, book a tour with the Indochina Star Tourism Company at 85 Dien Bien Phu Street, District 3 or the Hanh Dung Tourism Trading & Tourism Company at 83 Truong Son Street, Tan Binh District, both in Ho Chi Minh City.

Reported by Diem Thu