When the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday is drawing near, taking a trip to Lai Vung area in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap is highly recommended.

Endowed with favorable natural conditions, Lai Vung has been known as the kingdom of tangerine in the Mekong Delta. Local farmers chiefly earn a living by growing pink tangerine and join hands with tourism companies to arrange exotic sightseeing tours for visitors.

Throngs of holiday-makers from HCMC are flocking to the tangerine gardens in Lai Vung to witness the ripening season of pink tangerine and take photographs while spending a day working as a farmer to pick fruits.

Pham Van Danh, the owner of a 4,500-square-meter mandarin garden, told the Daily that the final lunar month is the busiest time at local orchards as his garden can welcome more than 500 visitors a day.

“My family started planting tangerine for business in 1993 and was also the first household in the locality to come up with the idea of arranging tours to the tangerine orchard for travelers in the year-end period in the run up to Tet holiday,” he added.

Travelers are advised to drop by tangerine orchards in Lai Vung by the 20th of the 12th lunar month, which falls on February 5 this year, as local farmers will start picking fruits for sale during the peak Tet season.

From HCMC, travelers can take a bus to Dong Thap Province at numerous tour operators on Pham Ngu Lao, De Tham and Bui Vien streets in the backpacker’s area in District 1 or at a bus station on Le Hong Phong Street in District 10.

In addition, travelers can book a day tour of Sa Dec flower village - Cao Lanh - Lai Vung mandarin orange garden at Saigontourist Travel Service Co., an arm of Saigontourist Holding Company, with the price of VND979,000 (US$43) and departure on February 3.

A visitor is seen collecting tangerine. A kilogram of newly-picked pink tangerine costs VND40,000 (US$1.76) at the orchard A girl poses for a photo in a tangerine farm Tourists admire tangerine trees laden with fruit at a farm of Pham Van Danh who has 24 years’ experience in planting pink tangerine in Lai Vung District, Dong Thap Province Tangerine jam made from tangerine peel is on sale at the farm with a price of VND300,000 a kilo

 SGT/VNN