The exotic floating markets of the Mekong Delta

Lights come on as the floating market emerges in the gloom with a cornucopia of agricultural products like oranges, coconuts, mango and vegetables.

The sellers usually hang their produce on bamboo oars on top of the boat. They don’t cry out to buyers. All a prospective customer has to do is take a look at the mast.

Despite the floating market’s exotic nature, tourism is not its raison d’etre - it is a purely commercial activity on which local farmers depend for their livelihood.

Raucous bargaining fills the dawn air as vegetables, rice, sugar-cane, fruits, fish, chickens and pigs loaded aboard sampans and long-tail boats exchange hands.

The markets also have food items like bun bo, bun ca, hu tieu, banh xeo, goi, chao luon, chao ran, besides cloth, household items and even gasoline.

Then there are the service-providers – eateries, hairdressers, tailors and others.

Where to find them

There are several famous floating markets in the Mekong Delta like Phung Hiep, Cai Rang, Cai Be, Ca Mau, Nga Bay and Phong Dien.

Located 5km from the center of Can Tho City, Cai Rang wholesale market specializes in fruits and other farm products.

In the morning, hundreds of small-and medium-sized boats and sampans arrive, bringing both sellers and buyers.

Tourists to Cai Rang feel thrilled and surprised at the sight of all the hawking on the water that they can-not help joining in the yelling and gesticulating.

Cai Rang begins at around 2 a.m. and closes at 9 a.m. From here, agricultural products are carried to every corner of the country, as well as to China and Cambodia.

A smaller market, Phong Dien, is 17 km far from the city center.

Yet another, the Phung Hiep Floating Market, which lies 30 km from Can Tho in neighboring Hau Giang Province, is also a great experience for travelers.

Phung Hiep is abuzz from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. Famous for selling snakes, its setting is completely rural with homes and areca palms lining the banks of the gigantic network of canals.

Straddling three provinces – Tien Giang, Vinh Long and Ben Tre – the 200-year-old Cai Be Floating Market is still one of the most crowded and retains all the features of the Southwestern countryside.

The well-organized Cai Be is divided into two sections - one for sellers and the other for buyers. The sampans, carrying mostly agricultural and household items, span the river’s three-kilometer stretch.

Finally, in the southernmost province of Ca Mau, the floating market operates on the Ganh Hao River. This one is not as big as some of the others and is a mere 500 m across. Like the other markets, this one too opens at 3 a.m. and goes on until evening.

Some sampans sell sedge mats, making the Ca Mau Market slightly different from the others.

All the delta’s markets are most crowded in the morning. The sampans with overflowing bushel baskets, weaving and darting in the water, make these floating markets an incredible sight.

About the Author

Reported by Luu Hong
Thanh Nien News