An Binh Islet

In the middle of the Tiền River, directly across from the city of Vĩnh Long, lies a stretch of land covering about 60 square kilometers. This is An Bình islet, and it is part of the Long Hồ area.

Before 2025, the islet held four communes. Two were An Bình and Bình Hòa Phước. The other two were Hòa Ninh and Đồng Phú. After the administrative reorganization, the four merged into a single commune called An Bình. So an older document that names the communes one by one is still describing this same land.

The soil here is rich with river silt, and fresh water flows all year round. Along the village roads grow rambutan, mango, longan, durian and sapodilla. These are the gardens of families who have lived on the islet for generations, not rows planted to a tourist design.

What makes An Bình most interesting is that tourism here has never been separate from daily life. Ecotourism in the Long Hồ area took shape in the early 80s of the 20th century, according to Vietnam's national tourism administration. That was when a model of staying in local people's homes, "eating together, working together, living together," became a hallmark of the place. In other words, An Bình is one of the cradles of river-and-orchard homestays in southern Vietnam. It was so even before the word "homestay" became common.

In 2023, the cluster of homestays in An Bình commune was honored at the ASEAN Tourism Awards. Six homestays were named: Út Thủy, Sáu Thành, Năm Thành, Ba Lình, Ngọc Phượng and Ngọc Sang. It is an international recognition of the way the people of the islet have been taking in guests for several decades.

The ferry ride to the islet is short, but long enough to see the Tiền River spread wide on both sides. The bank on the Vĩnh Long side slips away, and the islet's bank rises into view, lined with green trees.

One place worth a stop is Chùa Tiên Châu, in Bình Lương hamlet. The pagoda enshrines Amitabha Buddha, and in 1994 the Ministry of Culture and Information ranked it a national monument of architecture and art. It is also called Di Đà Tự or Tô Châu. The Venerable Đức Hội founded it around the 19th century. Its scale dates from 1899, the Kỷ Hợi year, and it has four parts: a front hall, a main hall, a middle hall and a rear patriarch hall.

If the day's trip includes a session of đờn ca tài tử, what is playing is a heritage that UNESCO inscribed in 2013. Đờn ca tài tử is the art of music and song of the people of southern Vietnam, and it grew from around the end of the 19th century. It is not music made for a stage. It is music for gatherings, where people sit together and play and sing as their hearts lead. The đàn kìm and the đàn tranh are heard. Their sound blends with a voice raised among the trees, beside still water. A visitor will not find that moment anywhere but in this river-and-orchard country.

Meals on the islet taste of the land itself. Fish comes two ways. Cá tai tượng chiên xù is fried until it crackles. Cá lóc nướng trui gives off a scent of smoke. Then there is canh chua, a sour soup cooked with vegetables from the family's own garden. These are plain dishes tied to the river, and hard to forget once eaten.

And then there is the fruit. Rambutan season usually falls between May and July, when red clusters weigh down the branches. There are yellow mangoes, nhãn lồng longans, and durian with yellow flesh and small seeds. What the gardens hold depends on the season, but a visitor rarely leaves empty-handed.

An Bình is not a tourist park. It is a place where people lived, planted trees, rowed small boats and sang đờn ca for several decades before visitors came looking. The heart of the islet lies there. A short ferry ride, shady gardens, a simple family meal, and the sound of strings rising at a summer noon, like an invitation to stay one more day.