Thanh My Tay accommodation from AU$33

The towns of Long Xuyen and Chau Doc serve as the best bases in the area, offering local markets and good insight into local daily life. The river is still just as important as the roads in these towns, and what you’ll remember are the day trips and time spent exploring.

Sam Mountain is right by Chau Doc and can be reached from both towns. The trip alone is a pleasant ride through the seemingly endless rice paddies, which is why many tourists opt to rent small motorbikes and make the trip their own – just keep an eye on your fuel gauge if you’re a newbie! Motorcycle taxis (price negotiable) and rented bicycles are other options. On the mountain you’ll find temples, shrines and better views of the surroundings from the top. Locals here worship the Sam Mountain Lady of the Realm, and hold a special ceremony in her honour around April and May of every year.

A bit further afield is the Tra Su Bird Sanctuary, a wetland that can be explored by boat and viewed from towers for a small fee. Even if you aren’t a bird watcher, you’ll enjoy seeing storks, peafowl and other birds, and the experience of floating through lily-covered waterways with mossy trees will be something new.

Tup Duc offers a break from the natural surroundings with some paddle boating, a gun range and other activities set around what was dubbed the "Two Million Dollar Hill" during the Vietnam War –supposedly how much the US spent trying to overrun the Vietcong. You can still walk and wind your way among the brace of boulders that made the task so hard, and there are even mock ups of parts of the battle and a Vietcong briefing room.

So wot are you waiting for? Book a flight to Ho Chi Minh City, pick an An Giang hotel from our list and you’ll be able to say you followed a different path to visit the natural heartland of Vietnam!