VietnamSurprise – Visiting the Cai Rang floating market (in Can Tho city) in the Mekong Delta, travelers will be immersed in the miniature world of the southwestern region.
With the crisscrossed rivers and canals, plus the annual flood season, Cai Rang floating market was born as a necessity to meet the demands of goods exchange of local people. As one of the three largest floating markets in the Mekong region, with hundreds of boats grouping up, Cai Rang market is a must-see destination when it comes to Can Tho.
Cai Rang market opens from early morning to about 10am. To visit this market, visitors should come here at 6am – 7am to feel the excitement here. There are many ways to go to the market. If you choose the road, you can take a bus or a “Xe om” (motorcycle taxi) from the center of Can Tho to Cai Rang with about 20 minutes away. Then you can walk to the market.
However, due to Cai Rang Market is on the Cai Rang river, about 6 km from the center of Can Tho city, it is better to go by boat from Ninh Kieu Wharf to the market, with VND30, 000 per ticket and after about 30 minutes.
As the main market in the region, Cai Rang is flooded with seasonal produces of Southwest growers such as fruit, flowers, and vegetables … Each boat often sells one kind of goods, which are piled up as small mountains. Tourists come here sometimes don’t need to buy but only watch the mountains of mangos, oranges, rambutans, and dragon fruits to feed their eyes.
It is more interesting to see the way traders deliver their goods from this boat to another boat, by throwing. Since this is a wholesale market, the retail prices are not much cheaper than urban markets but in return you can comfortably choose fresh fruit.
Since the vehicles on the market are boats, moving between boats to buy things is not simple. To decide whether you should jump into a boat or not, pay attention to the things hung on the pole in front of each boat because that is the goods that the boat sells.
In the Cai Rang floating market, you also have the opportunity to feel the rustic western life while enjoying food and drink in the small boats around the market, from boats selling noodles to the boats shell drinks and coffee. The food here is very cheap. Only a few thousand dong for a cup of coffee or a noodle bowl, but it will be unforgettable taste every time you remember about Cai Rang.
Soaking up the bustling atmosphere of the market, visitors can observe and learn of the family lives in the boats. Not only the “stalls of goods,” the boats are also the houses of many families, with the amenities of life such as TVs, DVDs, motorcycles, even pets.
So it is not strange when you see at the market all services like computer and scale repair to fuel sales and groceries selling cosmetics, fish-sauce, salt to drugs and confectionery… on boats, featuring a simple life.
Source: vietnamnet. vn
