A difficult journey
Having spent six years selling clothes at the market, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (born in 1999, O Mon, Can Tho) decided to change direction, leaving behind the hustle and bustle of city life to return to her hometown and engage in agriculture on a 1,500m2 plot of land inherited from her grandmother.
Ngân shared that she had long yearned to live surrounded by nature, growing vegetables and raising fish. When her grandmother passed away, her mother gave her a piece of land. Returning to her hometown, Ngân began working in a field she only had a little experience with from helping her parents with the harvest.
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The young girl had dreamed of gardening since she was a child.
The beginning was full of challenges, with vegetables dying and fruit trees withering, leaving Ngan feeling tired and discouraged at times.
"At first, my parents didn't understand why their young daughter chose to return to the countryside to work in the garden, so they weren't very supportive. But after seeing how hard I worked, my father started helping, from preparing the soil and choosing seeds to teaching me planting techniques," Ngân said.
Initially, Ngan only intended to do gardening to film videos to post on YouTube and TikTok, showcasing her hometown and the cuisine of the Mekong Delta. But later, she came up with the idea of combining it with ecotourism, both to promote the image of her hometown and to create an experiential destination for tourists.
Ngan's garden is planted with many kinds of seasonal vegetables and fruit trees such as jackfruit, mango, durian, star fruit, guava, etc. Every day, she and her father take care of the garden together, only hiring someone to weed. The water is pumped from the large river through a system of tanks that her father helped build.
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The garden is like a miniature ecosystem.
Her work takes up all her time. Ngân takes advantage of the early mornings and late afternoons to weed and water the plants; in the afternoons, she delivers fruits to people, and in the evenings, she continues filming videos. There were times when filming just one video about the garden and gardening life took Ngân two days.
Since she works alone, she has to run from place to place, finding suitable spaces for filming. Therefore, she only accepts 1-2 groups of clients per week to ensure the best possible service.
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Ngan's garden has a variety of plants.
"Sometimes, I only have time to visit the garden, check which plants are dead, wilting, or infested with pests, and that's it. If it weren't for my father's help, I probably wouldn't be able to do what I do now," Ngân said.
The dream is to create "quality" ecotourism .
From simple videos about life in the Mekong Delta, Ngan's TikTok channel gradually gained popularity online. As a result, many domestic and international tourists have sought out her small garden, located more than 20km from the center of Can Tho, to experience it firsthand.
The garden as seen from above.
Here, guests can pick their own vegetables, catch fish in the ditches, and cook their own meals over a wood-fired stove in a rustic thatched hut in the garden. "I wanted to create a familiar feeling, like returning to the Mekong Delta of the past, like reliving memories of my grandparents' and parents' homes," Ngân shared.
To serve her guests, Ngan had to invest a great deal of effort: digging ditches to raise fish, building huts, bringing in clean water, constructing a stone kitchen area, and creating a natural living space. Therefore, the cost of the experience is quite high, but in return, guests are all satisfied.
"They value privacy and authentic experiences, not mass tourism," Ngân shared.
What makes the 9X generation happiest is that guests feel joyful and excited about their new travel experience. Everyone is thrilled to catch fish, pick vegetables in the garden, and then sit down together to cook a meal.
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The garden has a diverse variety of fruit trees and vegetables.
The biggest challenge was that Ngan had to "double": being the owner, the tour guide, and the waitress all at once. There were times when she was completely exhausted, but she never thought about giving up: "Since I've put so much effort into building this, I have to see it through to the end."
Although the amount of organic vegetables produced is only enough to serve her family and guests, Ngân still enthusiastically sends them as gifts to some appreciative customers who place orders.
In the future, she hopes to collaborate with friends to expand her organic, pesticide-free vegetable garden, contributing to the promotion of local agricultural products.
Ngan hopes that as more people learn about this model, not only her garden but also the agricultural products of other farmers in the area will be well-received.
"I want to create truly high-quality ecotourism, where visitors not only experience the region but also understand and appreciate the Mekong Delta more," the young woman said about her future aspirations.
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