We were up at six in the morning — the right time to visit the Mekong floating markets, when you can still breathe the local atmosphere without being swamped by tourists.
We headed to the river where, after some hard bargaining, we secured a boat to take us to two floating markets and through the small canals of the Mekong Delta. A journey of over six hours for 200,000 dong.
1 euro is roughly 27,000 Vietnamese dong, so 200,000 dong works out at about US$10 or €7.20. Just over a euro an hour, fruit and fuel included.
The first market we visited was mainly wholesale — relatively large boats, loaded with vegetables right up to the mast, offering their produce to small and medium-sized traders.
The floating markets are a flurry of oars, motors, vegetables, fruit and money
Fruit overflows the loading capacity of boats and barges
At the floating markets you find boats of every size
A Vietnamese girl watches us from her cabin
One particularly curious detail: they use the mast to display the vegetables they're selling. Instead of a flag, they spike the product on top so buyers can spot it from a distance.
Smaller boats selling noodle soup or coffee were dotted throughout, though we declined those offers, assuming they'd be overpriced.
The masts display what's for sale
The large boats drop anchor and wait for smaller craft to come alongside
The floating markets are beautiful both up close and from a distance
Leaving the first floating market behind
The journey along the Mekong between markets could be a little dull at times, but every so often you'd catch a glimpse of real Vietnamese life — houses built from wooden planks, women washing clothes in the brown river water or even preparing food with it.
The houses lining the Mekong show no pretensions to grandeur
A Vietnamese boy resting with his helmet on at the edge of the Mekong
Poverty is the norm, but so is colour
The second market was much more captivating. The boats were small and round, in the traditional Vietnamese style, and the products changed hands in smaller quantities.
Colours and smells saturated the air, fruit and money moved in what seemed like a never-ending bustle, and the sounds of oars and local voices had their own rhythm.
The floating markets run all morning and into the afternoon
We tried them! Those Vietnamese hats are surprisingly comfortable!
Business never stops at the floating markets
But there's always time to pause and take a breath
Every kind of vegetable and fruit you can imagine
After the markets we headed into the labyrinthine backwaters of the Mekong Delta. Being in a small boat meant we could navigate these narrow channels, which the large tourist vessels can't reach.
Our boatwoman caught a fish, offered us incredibly sweet fruit — pineapple, jackfruit and watermelon, some of the juiciest we'd ever tasted — and spent her spare moments doing crafts, making us gifts including dragons, bracelets and rings.
When the moment came we disembarked to walk through rice paddies and small villages, catching a glimpse of life as the inhabitants of the Vietnamese delta actually live it.
Our boatwoman navigating the Mekong channels after dropping us ashore
Catching a fish in the river
Views of the rice paddies around the Mekong
Our boatwoman made us a dragon
Without doubt it was a wonderful experience — one we remember with great fondness and even better flavours.
Until next time!
