VietNamNet Bridge – Tan Thanh Beach in Go Cong Township in the Mekong Delta Province of Tien Giang is not as famous as Vung Tau, Mui Ne, Nha Trang or Phu Quoc beaches but it boasts its own beauty with primitiveness and purity.
The beach is very wide and not ideal for swimming, but tourists can walk offshore for some kilometers while the water level just comes up to the ankles. Afternoon is the time for villagers and visitors to catch clams and have them boiled to eat on the spot.
That is why many cottages, which are just five meters high, stand on the sand for villagers to catch clams. And this is a very weird image in comparison with other beaches with their many resorts and umbrellas.
But it is not interesting to go to the sea without swimming. Tan Thanh Beach is often gentle and shallow, but when the tide rises, the waves are strong. However, to ensure tourists are safe while swimming, people have built a one-kilometer-long bridge. When the water rises high, swimmers can jump down from the bridge and swim into the bridge wall. When the water drops, the bridge becomes an ideal place for tourists to enjoy the wind, look into the distance and breathe the salted smell of the ocean.
“The beach is not too crowded like other beaches, so I really love to wander along the shallow beachside, keep silence to wait for the dawn and wallow into sunset. That is a wonderful sensation in Tan Thanh,” said Hoang Khanh, a visitor.
Once visiting Tan Thanh, tourists should stop by some wooden stilt houses covered with simple leaves along the beach to try indigenous specialties. The fleshy, good-sized clams are the main food specialty of Tan Thanh but it is also known for its crabs.
When the tide is high, tourists can ask for a ride in a basket boat to one of the many stilt houses in the sea where they farm clams. Tourists can climb into the houses to look out to sea and in the evening the twinkling mountains of Vung Tau Town in the north can be seen.
Visitors can spend a night in simple one-bed bungalows along the beach, which are illuminated with electric or oil lamps and priced at about VND100,000 per night. Behind them in the green forest, the wind whistles all night long.
VietNamNet/SGT | 
