Wanwisa Ngamsangchaikit/TTR Weekly
Vietnam’s Can Tho City’s government has approved a project to restore and improve the Cai Rang floating market in Cai Rang district. The project will include an upgrade to facilities, while also adding new features at the market. It will involve installing new moorings for boats, landing jetties, and building a new floating restaurant.
This boat at the market sells fresh watermelon. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
Authorities say the project is necessary to maintain and develop the market as the city’s most popular attraction, since years of neglect is starting to show. Work will begin in early 2016.
Cai Rang Floating Market dates back 100 years and is now a major trading post for agricultural products of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region, including fresh fruit, local food specialties and handicrafts. The market is open daily, from 4AM to 9AM and attracts nearly 300 boats. During festivals and holidays, up to 500 boats visit the 1 km-long floating market. It attracts around 500 to 700 tourists daily, according to local media reported.
Can Tho is the fourth largest city in Vietnam, and the largest in the Mekong Delta. The Mekong Delta is in southwest Vietnam where the Mekong River empties into the South China Sea through an extensive network of waterways.
The floating market in Can Tho is a tourist attraction known the world over and attracts over 300 boats a day.
(Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
The region includes 13 provinces or municipalities: Can Tho; An Giang; Bac Lieu; Ben Tre; Ca Mau; Dong Thap; Hau Giang; kien Giang; Long An; Soc Trang; Tien Giang; Tra Vinh; and Vinh Long.
One interesting fact about the floating market: on each boat, you can tell what the vendor is selling because they hang their product or fruit on a tall pole so people in the distance can tell right away.
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