Cai Rang Floating Market

The Cai Rang Floating Market is one of the most interesting attractions in the Mekong Delta and it’s located 6km. downriver from Cần Thơ.

The market functions in a very interesting way: at 5 am, the market fills up with farmers in small boats carrying fruits and vegetables. The merchants, most of whom live with their families in house boats, stick poles in the bows of their ships. If the farmers see that produce isn't hanging from the pole, that means they can sell their produce to the merchant. After a few hours, the farmers leave and the local townspeople come in boats to buy from the merchants. The popularity of floating markets is, in part, due to the fact that they tend to offer cheaper prices than the dry-land market since they are tax-exempt. Anyways, the townspeople float along the market and check out what’s hanging from the poles.

Floating markets are a time-honored tradition in the Mekong Delta. For someone who is used to living on asphalt, it's hard to imagine doing everything on a small boat. During our trip through Vietnam and Cambodia, we stopped at the floating market of Cần Thơ (one of Vietnam’s greatest attractions, in my opinion) and watched how the locals haggled, bought and sold. We visited the earliest and largest of the floating markets: Cai Rang.

It’s about 7km. southwest of the city and we got there on a boat from the Victoria Hotel.