In the culture of the Mekong Delta, floating markets are taken to be one of the fascinating features. Because the life of this wetland completely depends on the level of water – locals move on boats and exchange their commodities every day, the floating markets play an extremely important role. In the journey to explore the magnificence of the delta, it’s strongly recommended that you shouldn’t lose out on a chance to visit some of those markets, especially Cái Răng Floating Market, known as the most rewarding one.
Cái Răng Floating Market – a unique feature of the Mekong Delta
Where is Cái Răng Floating Market?
Cái Răng Floating Market is situated in Cái Răng District, Cần Thơ City, 166km to the southwest of Ho Chi Minh City, and 6km from the downtown center of Cần Thơ City. It takes 30 minutes to get there from Ninh Kiều Pier.
Cái Răng is the largest and most renowned floating market in the Mekong Delta. The market is also quite common to domestic and international travelers, and often put in itineraries to the Mekong Delta from travel agents. It is an opportunity for them to get insights into the life and culture of the delta.
What are sold at Cái Răng Market?
Cái Răng Floating Market is a wholesale market full of boats exchanging farm produce and other commodities. With its favorable position which is the T-junction of the river Hậu and the river Cái Răng), the floating market is neither deep nor shallow so that the boats can move and anchor off easily. Located nearby is a large fruit granary where fruits are provided throughout the country.
Decades ago, Cái Răng Floating Market was once a concentration of merchants trading farm produce, and each boat specialized in a specific kind of produce. By that time, the market was also the largest rice granary of overseas Chinese in the Mekong Delta. Nonetheless, today there are more commodities, food, and other items traded at the market. Therefore, a visit there will entitle you to taste special food of the delta right on the boats. Keep in mind that you should visit it early in the morning when the most hustling and bustling prospect of locals is the clearest and most noticeable.
How to get to Cái Răng Floating Market?
From Ho Chi Minh City, you can get to Cái Răng Floating Market by bus/coach, car, or bike.
Going by car
If you choose to go by car, here is the route: Ho Chi Minh City – Trung Lương Expressway – DT878 Road – National Route 1A – Tiền Giang Province – Vĩnh Long Province – National Route 91 – Cần Thơ Bridge – Ninh Kiều Pier. When you arrive at Ninh Kiều Pier, stay overnight in your hotel and visit Cái Răng Floating Market next morning.
Going by bike
Ho Chi Minh City – National Route 1A – Mỹ Tho City – Mỹ Thuận Bridge – turn right to Vĩnh Long Province – Cần Thơ City.
Going by bus/coach
There are many bus/coach lines from Ho Chi Minh City to Cần Thơ City, e.g. Thành Bưởi,Lộc Phát Limousine, Liên Hưng, and Văn Lang. Upon arrival in Cần Thơ City, just take a rest and then proceed to Cái Răng Floating Market next morning.
Apart from catching a bus/coach, you can take a Mekong Delta tour for 2 days or 3 days, in which Cái Răng Floating Market has been included.
How to get tickets at Ninh Kiều Pier?
If you don’t take a tour from any travel agent to Cái Răng Floating Market, you can buy a ticket at Ninh Kiều Pier. And if you are in a group of 10-15 people, it’s strongly advised that you should hire the whole boat at the price of VND500,000 – VND800,000 (you can bargain over that price).
If you travel independently to the floating market, you may ask some group to get on their boat at the price of VND30,000/pax.
When is the best time to visit Cái Răng Floating Market?
Cái Răng Floating Market opens from 5:30AM to 9:00AM. Hence, you should arrange to visit the market during this time period so that you can observe the busy life of locals trading goods and commodities. The best time to depart should be 5:30PM, and arrive at the market should be 6:00PM.
In the past, the market often opened from 2:00AM – 3:00AM because it was once the wholesale one. The early morning was the time when merchants came there to get their supplies. Today, the market has been changed a bit for tourism; it opens from 5:00AM – 9:00AM to serve travelers and tourists.
What is special at Cái Răng Floating Market?
Cái Răng Floating Market is indeed full of special and astonishing things to discover, ranging from cultural features, the local life, food, entertainment, and fruits. Then take time to know about each of them.
Long bamboo sticks erected vertically on boats at Cái Răng Floating Market
Ever wonder why merchants could find out their supplies while there were countless boats on the river? Sellers on boats knew how to get the attention of people by erecting a long bamboo stick and hanging what they sell on it. Thanks to the long bamboo stick, the buyers still saw products they needed and found out their expected sellers. This has become a special detail impressing tourists and travelers so much when they visit the floating market.
At most floating markets in the Mekong Delta, most boats have long bamboo stick whose tops are items the owners want to sell. Therefore, it’s believed that the bamboo stick has become a symbol of the floating markets in the delta.
Tropical fruits
When it comes to Cái Răng Floating Market, locals will introduce you to delicious tropical fruits you shouldn’t lose out on. Just come taste mangos, strawberries, pineapple, watermelon, mangosteens, bananas, coconuts, oranges, grapefruits, and custard apples. The market is indeed the place of an abundance of fruits. It’s known that most floating markets in the Mekong Delta are near big fruit granaries as this makes transport easier. That’s why you can witness a concentration of fruits and trading fruits and transporting fruits there.
Culinary delights on the river
As said above, the floating market has been changed a bit for tourism, so you can find special food and drinks to enjoy right on boats, such as rice noodle soup, Vietnamese coffee, rice noodle soup with crab paste, sweet soup, and dry rice noodle. At times, small restaurants are set up on boats, which will stun any international friend. When your boat arrives at the market, others will weave along waterways to offer various specialties. More amazing than street food in big cities, what is offered there never lets you down.
“Shaking” rice noodle soup and “braised coffee”.
Upon arrival at Cái Răng Floating Market, apart from witnessing the view of the market and local life, you are advised not to miss the most famous specialties: “shaking” rice noodle soup and “braised coffee”.
Why do locals call the food “shaking” rice noodle soup? As you know, the floating market is on a river and rice noodle soup is served right on boats, so the boats shaking while you are savoring the food is not unusual at all.
Braised coffee is quite strange to travelers. In its simplest sense, that kind of coffee is cooked right on boats all the time. It’s because the wind typically blows strongly while you are on boats, making coffee cold quickly, so to serve customers with warm or hot coffee, it’s necessary to cook it like that. That’s why it’s called “braised coffee”. It’s quite common among overseas Chinese communities.
Vietnamese folk music on the river
Occasionally, some Vietnamese folk songs are performed to entertain travelers and tourists on the river. This is also one of the impressive features of Cái Răng Floating Market. Those performances are from Cần Thơ Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, and often made at weekends. They move along waterways to bring comfortable moments for people there. This kind of entertainment is an integral part of the locals’ spiritual life.
The peaceful life with daily routines in the Mekong Delta
Cái Răng Floating Market is not only the place where you can know more about the market culture of locals, but also the prospect of their routines. The locals live on boats as their houses. We can call the boats floating houses and the life there is indeed serene. Everything you feel is a cool breeze on the water, the fresh air and green from water-ferns around the floating houses, and smiles of the local people making their living. Even everything essential for their life is on the water, such as gas stations, groceries, wood factories, and clothing shops. It seems that the locals always know how to adapt themselves with life on the river, and even make their delta richer and richer.
There is nothing more wonderful than a 2 or 3 day trip to uncover the life, culture, and people of the Mekong Delta. If you just see beautiful sights in other places, the delta brings you many more new experiences, especially about learning something different from your culture. Just let yourself dip into the trip and feel it in your own way.
