How to get there

There are two directions to Thieng Lieng Island:
The first way: From Tac Suat ferry terminal, Can Thanh town, visitors get on a boat which takes about 45 minutes (5 boat trips per day) to Thanh An island; then spend the same amount of time on another similar boat to arrive at Thieng Lieng Island; therefore, it is called “an island in island”.

The second way: 2.5-hour drive from Rung Sac road to Dan Xay pier (under Dan Xay bridge), where visitors spend 30 minutes on a canoe or a small motor boat owned by locals to get to Thieng Lieng Island. Enroute to the island, visitors would experience the excitement as the woods stretch out on both sides of the river and the v-shape wakes the boat leaves behind as it goes through the water.

Thieng Lieng – a friendly island

Thieng Lieng is the first buffer zone in the east of Vietnam’s first biosphere listed as “Can Gio Biosphere Reserve” by UNESCO. The lush green landscape of the extensive mangrove forests along with ranges of velvety coconut trees from afar as well as in a very short distance looks like an endless poem that carries with a sense of tranquility and lightness.

Visitors can walk or bike around the island, along the 4-kilometer road surrounding nearly 200 hectares of salt fields. Visitors would be rewarded with the sparkling square shape of salt fields and the abundant shrimp ponds under the sunshine. Do not forget to stop by the T-jetty where barges dock to supply fresh water for the island. From this jetty, visitors can look out on the immense picturesque Long Tau river. The lapping waves mingled with the sound of the blowing wind and the sounds of engines and horns, are harmonized into a gracious and peaceful song.

The specialties of Thieng Lieng island

On the island, there are plenty of fun and exciting activities associated with the daily life of the islanders such as: raking salt, carrying salt, fishing, feeding crabs, catching crabs, floating oyster bags, netting star gobies, trapping mudskippers, catching sesarmid crabs at midnight, catching snails in the coconut forest, picking nipa palms…

Besides the fresh fish, shrimp and crab, the island also has sapodilla fruit, nipa palms, soursops. With the cooking skills of the generous locals, you would enjoy a variety of special dishes such as sweet and sour cobia fish soup, grilled oysters with green onions, fried squid, fish cooked with fish sauce bowl, especially the well-known tiny shrimps with Lim Kim salad that can hardly be found outside Can Gio.

The islanders of Thieng Lieng are proud to be excellent salt makers. They hold a secret of making pure salt, which is the main raw ingredient for shrimp salt making in Tay Ninh as well as edible salt suppliers and companies in other provinces and cities across Vietnam. Today, local people have started making shrimp salt, spicy salt, herbal salt for foot soak. Visitors can try a sample on-site or purchase as a gift. In the evening, visitors can stay at cozy homestays, and enjoy some traditional music performed by the local artists on Thieng Lieng Island.