Can Tho floating market

From Phu Quoc we took the express ferry to Rach Gia and then had a lovely ride along the canals of the Mekong delta to Can Tho. Again we went to bed early as the next morning at 5:00 our guide picked us up for the floating market tour 🥱

Sunrise was nice 😊 

First we visited a little market for retail customers where they sold produce but there were also boats hawking coffee and snacks. 

Due to the low tide and being Monday there weren’t as many boats as usually. But also the improved roads have led to a decline of the whole floating market business as nowadays scooter and trucks are used for distribution.

After this we toured through the little canals which was tricky due to the low water level. 

We could feel the boat touching the ground sometimes

Greenery

Preparing fish traps

Growing/catching water hyacinth

Living at the waters edge

Next stop was at a rice noodle factory. They spread the mix over some cloth with boiling water underneath. Then grab it with a kind of bamboo paddle and move it on some bamboo trays. These then get placed in the sun for drying and then shredded into thin noodles.

Spreading

Placing

Drying

Trying to tear apart 😁

By adding some different ingredients the color can be changed but all taste the same.

From here we went to the whole sale market, where bigger ships sell large quantities of goods. To advertise what they have a bamboo stick is used where they hang their produce. 

But first we got some breakfast, Ban Mih, Vietnamese sandwich 😋

Lekker 

Snack boat

Pumpkin ship

Watermelon ship 

Turnip ship

We then boarded a ship full of pineapples to have a bite. 

Carving out the pineapple eyes

Chilling

Final stop was at a garden with lots of plants and some snail and fish ponds.

Rose apple, eaten with chili and salt 😋

Right next to it was a huge windowless building like we have seen often before but couldn’t figure out what it was. Our guide explained that it is a swallows nest farm, with the loudspeaker on top emitting fake swallows cries to attract the birds. They then nest inside which in turn get collected (the nests made from swallows spit, not the birds!) and are considered a delicacy 🤷‍♂️

Swallows nest farm

Living fish on a stick 😳

It was a nice tour even though the many pieces of trash in the river were a sad sight 😔 But the people don’t seem to learn, our boat had its propeller stuck four times by plastic bags and the captain each time threw it back in the water after untangling it!?! WTF 🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️ 

That was it, we thanked our guide and headed further up the Mekong delta, by motorbike 😉

Safety first