Around 5 AM, when Can Tho city is still falling asleep, in a place that is 6km away, the hustle and bustle of life start.
The sound of the boat swaying, the salute of the salesman, the laughter from all four sides echoed, even more, when it is still dark. This is Cai Rang floating market - one of the places tourists cannot ignore when coming to the rich land of Can Tho.
This place is considered by the locals as an invaluable “specialty”. Unlike the market on land, Cai Rang floating market is held on a river with boats floating to buy and sell. Before becoming a tourist destination, this place was a wholesale market specializing in the wholesale of fruits and specialties of the Mekong Delta such as pineapple, mango, durian, star apple...
A tourist boat driver at Cai Rang floating market said: “I am 53 years old this year and this market has been existing before I was born. Previously, there were 3 markets at river junctions, but now as the roads are convenient, 3 markets moved here, both as a place to trade as well as a place to remember the legacies of our ancestors in the past times”.
Today, when you visit Cai Rang floating market, bustling boats are always available to serve tourists. The best feature of every market visit is shopping. Many vendors said happily: “The best fruits in the West of Vietnam are sold on boats in this place.” The variety of fresh, rich, and delicious fruits are not cheap, but shopping in this immense place is an unforgettable experience.
Welcoming us, a vendor offers to sell fruit: “Star apple is 100,000 VND for 5kg of star apple, 100,000 VND for 6kg of mango, the durian, in other places they sell 100,000 VND but I only sell 90,000 VND per kilograms. We sell durian to eat on the spot, and if the seeds are not small or the durian is not delicious, I will pay back the money, or exchange immediately”.
Besides, having breakfast on the river is also quite an interesting experience you should not miss. The vendors, with skillful hands, quickly process the special noodle... right on the boat with fresh vegetables, fresh meat, and hot broth that is shimmering in the early sun. This is a unique river culture in the West of Vietnam that cannot be found anywhere else.
The wobbly boats do not seem to shake the warm hospitality of the people here. Perhaps that is why, although road traffic nowadays is well-developed, Cai Rang floating market still retains the sincere spirit of the West of Vietnam.
