Can Tho

Can Tho(34 km from Vinh Long, 51 km from Sadec and 168 km from Saigon) is the heart of the Mekong Delta. Spread at the edge of one of the nine major branches of the river, the city lives mainly of river activities and rice.

Living place and friendly, it is a good starting point to visit the Mekong Delta.

A beautiful market occupies a large portion of the main street, along the Mekong River and a boat you can admire landscapes of rice fields and orchards.
 

Things to see and to do in Can Tho

 

Cai Rang floatting market

Located five kilometers from the center of the city of Can Tho ( Mekong Delta ), the Cai Rang floating market is a wholesale market with a myriad of boats loaded with watermelons, mangoes, bananas, papayas, pineapples, onion etc. The main items sold there are farm products and specialties of the region. Many producers and farmers come here to sell their crop to wholesalers.

If the first boats arrive very early in the morning, the Cai Rang market is in full swing a little later, around 7 or 8 hours. We then see hundreds exchange of goods. Local people transport their products junks medium while traders use large boats to then carry the goods to Cambodia, Thailand and China. All kinds of sounds are heard: those engines, trains plunging into water, waves hitting the side of the boat, sellers and buyers are challenging each other...

Small boatsofferingsnacks anddrinksgo hereand there toserve their customers.A bowl ofhutieu(noodle soup with pork, specialtySouth) costs 7,000or8,000VNDandtakes a drinkof coffee for3,000VND(Here, drink iced coffee). Aperitifs are offeredto accompanyalcohol.In short,men, women,children:nobodyleaves onan empty stomach.

There arealsoplenty of otherthingsonthe marketseparately.There isalwayshappinessthatwe seekengine,balance, gasoline, bottles of fish sauce, salt, medicine or candy...

Life on the water

Each boat has a vertical pole on which are suspended samples of goods. Generally, the sale is all that is suspended but there are three exceptions that are guessing that local visitors often ask. The first, "what is suspended but not sold?" Answer, clothes. Traders live on their boat, so they dry their clothes in the sun but "the goods", they do not sell. The second" what is sold but not suspended? ". These are of course the food and beverages. It is unclear how the restaurant boats could expose their soups, for example. The last riddle, "which suspends a commodity but sold another?" The answer is that those who want to sell their boat. Thus, according to tradition, a resident who wants to sell his boat, suspend a piece of coconut leaf.

The floating market of Cai Rang attracts about 500 visitors per day, according to the director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Can Tho, Viet Dinh Khanh. Across the market, visitors can chat with farmers growing fruit trees. Sometimes, when these offer tasty fruit gift or for a small fee.

This scene full trade life is typical of the Mekong Delta. It is very nice to take part and witness this traditional way of life. Boats familiestraders dropped anchor near the shore. They are like moving apartments on the water, with all the comforts of the ancestors' altar to the TV through the stereo or motorcycle ...

So many things to discover in Cai Rang floating market! On occasion, spend a day with traders and people so friendly South. You will not be disappointed...