VietNamNet Bridge – Visiting the Cai Rang floating market in the Mekong Delta City of Can Tho, visitors 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 one visits Can Tho.

Cai Rang market opens from early morning to about 10am. Visitors should come here at 6am - 7am to feel the excitement atmosphere.

There are many ways 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 gardeners such as fruit, flowers, and vegetables ...

Each boat sells one kind of goods, which are piled up as small mountains. Tourists 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.

The vehicles at 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 Cai Rang floating market, you also have the opportunity to feel the rustic life of the southwestern region while enjoying food and drink in the small boats around the market.

There are boats selling from noodles to 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 in 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 amenities of live 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.

Pha Le