Cai Rang Floating Market
Cai Rang Floating Market is open all day but it is
busiest from sunrise to about 9am. The main items sold there are farm products
and specialties of Cai Rang Town, Chau Thanh District and neighboring areas.
Every boat has a long upright pole at its bow on which samples of the goods for
sale are hung.
During the early morning market hours, larger sized
boats anchor and create lanes that smaller boats weave in and out of. The
waterway becomes a maze of hundreds of boats packed with mango, bananas, papaya,
pineapple, and even smuggled goods like cigarettes. Sellers do not have to cry
out about their goods because their goods can be seen in a distance and their
cries would not be heard in the vastness of the river and the noise of boat
engines. Small boats that sell beer, soft drinks and wine go among the other
boats to serve market-goers and visitors. Sellers tie their goods to a tall
pole so that buyers can see from a distance what they are selling.
Each boat is loaded with plenty of seasonal goods.
Activities at the market are also an occasion for tourists to study the
cultural aspects of southerners.
To visit Cai Rang Floating Market, visitors can join
a tour of the Mekong Delta. On the way to Can Tho, visitors can stop to visit
My Tho and take a boat trip to visit orchards, bee farms and coconut candy
establishments in Ben Tre.
