Thanh Toan rural immersion Private

HIGHLIGHTS

• Learn deeply about rice culture, its rituals and celebrations. 
• Do farming, boating, fishing, crafting as a farmer.
• Cook rice-themed lunch with home grown ingredients.      
• Browse market, village temples, Thanh Toan tile roofed bridge.
• Cycle along quaint lanes to indulge with rural scenes.  

ITINERARY

Depart from the city center around 8:00. After less than half an hour of cycling (3km), you leave the city behind to follow countryside roads that wind along canals, ducks, and rice fields.

Thanks to the guide's storytelling, you appreciate the deep-rooted wet rice culture and its central role in Vietnamese life. Admire charming village temples, colorful mosaic patterns. By chance, you may be absorbed with ancestral ritual practices at a seasonal celebration. 

Call by a farmer's house and lend a helping hand with farming jobs. Activities are seasonal, in real life settings and very entertaining.  Enjoy a farmer tea-break with a local healthy snack.

Continue your immersion with fishing experience on a laid-back pushing boat ride along Như Ý river. Occasionally the fishermen will challenge you with sampan racing or tending the duck flock. Grab some trick-of-the-trade to catch some fishes for your lunch or eventually fun trade at the village market. 

“He that would have the fruit must climb the tree” is the principle for your homely lunch with a local family. Learn from the host’s rice-theme recipe and share your skills to make the experience meaningful for all parts. 

After lunch, hang on with locals around the restful Thanh Toàn ancient tile-roofed bridge. Situated adjacent to the village market and mighty rice fields, this beautiful architecture was built by the virtuous Madame Trần Thị Đạo in the 18th century. By mid-afternoon, enjoy interactive experience with local artisans to make a palm conical hat or wrap and taste sticky rice cakes. Return to the city on bamboo shaded green roads.