Mekong Delta Homestay - What you should know before experiencing

Mekong Delta Homestay - What you should know before experiencing

Things you need to know before experiencing Mekong Delta homestay 

Wherever you go, living in Mekong delta homestay is one of the best ways to immersing yourself into the local life and exploring the culture of the region. However, not all of the homestay will offer you three or four-star services like staying in the hotel. Sometimes the uncomfortable feeling is unavoidable. Here we would like to give you a piece of brief information about standard facilities that the Mekong Delta homestay has under below to decrease the chance of experiencing that feeling and enjoy the most of your time with your host.

Bedroom

A bedroom is listed in the top consideration when choosing accommodation on vacation because it will decide your energy for the next morning. The uncomfortable bedroom will bring you sleeplessness while cozy bedroom promises to bring you good sleep to get ready for the next adventure.

So what does the bedroom in Mekong Delta homestay look like?

The bedroom is very basic. It is equipped with a wooden bed, mosquito net, ceiling fan or wall fan, mattress, pillows, and blanket. Air-conditioner is hard to find in homestay especially in the countryside due to the high cost. If you cannot stand with the tropical weather with high temperature and humid, you can ask the host for more standing fans.

 

Mekong Delta Homestay Homestay of Mr. Tài in Vĩnh Long province
Homestay of Mr. Tài in Vĩnh Long province

Bathroom

The bathroom is also an important thing for travelers when it comes to a homestay. In the countryside, bathroom normally is shared among family members. It can be located in the house or outside.

The floor is covered with flowered tiles or cement, which makes the bathroom clean and hygiene. Showers are common in Vietnamese houses though we still use the plastic bucket to keep the water from the tap then using a plastic scoop to pour water over the body to take shower.

If you cannot see any shower in the bathroom, then you can figure out what should you do to clean your body.

In Mekong Delta homestays, the host will prepare towels for you so do not worry if you forget your own at home.

Kitchen

A kitchen is a big place where the whole family member has meals together. What appears in your eyes when you first come to the kitchen will be set of chairs and tables, stove and a big cupboard.

In the past, Vietnamese people use wood stoves to cook their dishes. More and more people purchase gas stoves instead to save time. It does not mean the wood stove is longer exist. Normally, locals use both the gas stoves for quick and easy cooking and wooden stoves for food that requires a long time to cook or electricity cut off. So spending one night at the homestay and cooking dinner with the family will give you a great chance to see how they manage to cook their food with fire and eat tons of mouth-watering specialties.

Living room

To the Vietnamese people, the living room is the face of the house where they welcome the guest. They are the most respectable area of the house. Everything should be clean and tidy. The altar is located in the center of the room. It is the place locals worship ancestors. Candles, incense, and pictures of family members who passed away are displayed on the altar. Sometimes, there is still another altar to worship the land’s lord and lucky God on the left side.

Wooden chairs and tables are arranged in the middle of the room. Though modern houses have a couch and sofa, Viet people love to use wooden furniture. You can see most of the furniture made out of this material from beds to staircases, cupboards, etc in Vietnamese houses. We love wood.

Tea is offered when guests visit the house as a warm greeting.

Mekong Delta Homestay A sample of altar in Mekong Delta
Worship room with the altar

Front and Back Yard

The Backyard is the land of fruit garden (coconut, pomelo, etc.) and farm for chickens, ducks or even pigs. In the country, people take advantage of space to plant trees, vegetables and raise animals to serve their own need so they do not have to pay much money in buying food.

Graves could be found in the back or front yard so do not be surprised if you encounter a grave in your homestay. The reason behind it because people in Mekong Delta have a habit of burying dead people near their house a hundred years ago due to natural conditions. They wanted to protect the grave to show respect to the ones who passed away. They also believe that the dead will protect the living from bad spirits. 

The front yard can also be a fruit garden (thanks to good weather and rich soil so people can literally plant any kind of trees in the Mekong) or a concrete yard with bonsai garden (if they do not have enough space).

In the middle of the front yard, an altar to worship the God of heaven is easily seen from outside. You may wonder why the Vietnamese have a lot of altars.

It can be explained that we are an agricultural country so our life mainly depends on nature. That the reason why we have Rain God, Thunder God, etc. as we want them to help us to have a good harvest season and happy life.

One attractive thing in Mekong Delta homestay is that you can chill on the hammock under the shade of trees with a cool freeze, which frees you from the busy life of big cities and get back to nature.

To avoid getting disappointed when homestay does not reach your expectations, you should aware that some homestay just offers basic furniture and equipment. Asking for pictures or a description of the house will be another option to get some ideas of the house. If doing so, living with the locals would be a great memory for you.

 

Mekong Delta Homestay A corner of Mr. Tài's homestay in Vĩnh Long province
The front garden of Mr. Tài's homestay in Vĩnh Long province

 

 

 Mekong Delta Homestay Fruit gardern of Mr. Tài's homestay in Vĩnh Long province
Fruit garden of Mr. Tài's homestay in Vĩnh Long province

 

So if you want to discover to see this exclusive Mekong Delta homestay to dive into Vietnamese culture, join with us in our Mekong Delta tours. 

To Learn More our useful tips in Vietnam JOIN GROUP HERE to discuss before going to here. 

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