Mekong Delta, Cai Be floating market

I’ve wanted to see the Mekong Delta for a long time, so next up, Can Tho.

We took a five hour bus journey from Saigon to Can Tho, VN, and while there we visited the floating markets. Here the Mekong is deep and wide, and many live on the river banks in wooden, stilted houses. Others live in houses made of corrugated iron. As dusk fell, these houses remained dark so I presume they have no electricity.

The river is a means of survival for many of the rural population here, and people fishing, washing clothes and bathing in the river is a common sight.

Instead of booking our tour via the hotel, hubs and I headed to the Quay to book an independent, illegal tour, as the hotels charge twice the price.

We left the hotel at 5am and jumped in a taxi. Unfortunately, the driver took directions from the hotel staff, and headed off in a totally different direction, despite us repeatedly showing him our destination on a map.

There was a lot of frustrated yelling…..hubs at the driver and the driver at the hotel staff via his phone, the dog kicks the cat, the cat kicks the mouse syndrome. Finally he tried to drop us off at a ferry terminal in the middle of nowhere. In the end we asked him to take us back to the hotel, and instead he took us to the correct Quay, Ninh Quay. He charged us for the entire hours drive!!! It should only have taken five minutes.

As we headed off on the Mekong River, I became very aware of how tiny and old our little boat was. We bounced and listed dramatically every time we were caught in the wake of the large trawling boats.

There was water weed floating in large clumps everywhere, it had even colonized many of the banks.

Cai Be Floating market was fascinating, and totally different from the markets we saw in Bangkok. Here, produce was mainly sold to those living on the large boats and to those on the banks of the vast Mekong.

Food, drinks, clothes, fruit, fish and meat were all up for grabs.

It was lively, busy and crowded. I just can’t get enough of these markets, they utterly fascinate me.

It was interesting seeing how much of the fruit was growing along the banks of the Mekong, lots of the fruit trees were in tiny gardens.

The sheer variety of boats on the river was breathtaking. Many were loaded with rice and sat extremely low in the water.

Our little boat did us proud. This trip took about seven hours yet went by in a flash.

On the way back, our Captainess took us through the backwaters. I can’t describe how beautiful and peaceful this was, it was like being in another world, just gliding along watching the wildlife. We even saw kingfishers.

How I came to love this little boat.

We were a little surprised at our disembarkment, instead of dropping us off at the Quay, our Captainess dropped us on the banks of the Mekong behind our hotel, leaving us to scrabble up and over mounds of steep, uneven rubble, not easy with a pulled tendon! We did laugh about it though, maybe she just didn’t want to get caught dropping tourists off at the Quay, or maybe she was being helpful by dropping us off closer to home.! Good for her, either way!

And Finally….

Random thoughts and observations.

There are lots of vegan and vegetarian restaurants/cafes in VN, so being vegan is easy. Being a lover of veggie noodle soup makes it even easier. I’ve had it most mornings for breakfast, fabulous it is. Noodle soup in all it’s many forms is very popular here!

If you love spicy food like me, this is the place to come.

Absolutely anything can be carried on the back of a scooter or small boat.

The police are as bent as nine bob notes, and corruption is rife. People have to buy their way out of any misdemeanors. Drivers caught without a licence just pay up. Many motorbike riders don’t have a licence, some buy fake ones.

Karaoke is very popular. Some side streets are full of karaoke bars. Daughter would be in heaven here.

There are no rules on the roads, except don’t hit what’s in front of you. You’d be liable for that.

I’d prefer to be in a boat here, rather than a car or bus.

Vietnamese kids always smile and say hello to Europeans.

Vietnam has an exotic scent, a mixture of incense, spices, street food, smoke, traffic fumes and something similar to Jasmine.