Day by Day Travels

Our 4:30am wake up call came way to early! But we were told you had to be at the market early to catch the action. Jung and the bus were there for a 5:30 departure. We caught a boat from Can Tho’s main dock and were off. The biggest floating market in the Mekong Delta, Cai Rang is just 6km from Can Tho. The market is best around 6am to 7am or so we are told, and it’s well worth getting here early to beat the boatloads of tourists and the heat. Although on our way to the market we passed plenty of boats that appeared to have been there way earlier than us and were already on their way back. This is a wholesale market, so we were told to look at what’s tied to the long pole above the boat to figure out what they’re selling to smaller traders. Everything you can image from pineapples, to squash, to garlic and all in between. We cruised between the boats trading and watched the action on the river- a lot of fun to watch. We made our way to a boat selling pineapple and for $2 we bought an entire pineapple and were invited on to the top of the pineapple boat to get a better view of the market.  A lot of fun.  After an  hour or so we headed back up river and made a stop at a village- this village is famous for rice export (you can see boat after boat come up the river filled with rice).  The rice packaging plant we looked at had rice piled to the rafters. Vietnam is apparently the 2nd biggest exported or rice after Thailand.  Also in this village is a noodle making factory. The boil the rice to a pulp and then pour thin layers to dry- this then gets sliced in a machine into rice noodles-  fascinating. A great morning of discovery! Back on the boat and bound for Can Tho we noticed a mall that backed on to the river- we asked Jung if he could drop us off there instead of the hotel we thought it would be neat to see a mall proper and not just a market.  He dropped us at the mall and we popped in and enjoyed the cool AC- the day was really heating up. None of the stores seemed like we would find a thing to fit us- after grabbing a coffee and chilling for a bit; we started the long walk back- around 5kms.  Did I mention how hot it was!! We were melting on the walk back, so ducked into as many air conditioned stores as we could. We found an air conditioned foodcourt for lunch and sat a while.  Back at the hotel we were all pooped- early morning wake ups and long hot walks will tire a person out.  Everyone retired to their rooms, had a nap and then it was another great afternoon by the pool.  I even managed to squeeze in a cheap massage (about $15USD). A nice relaxing afternoon followed by another walk in to town.  This time we took the river walk and crossed over the colour pedestrian bridge into town.  There are some beautiful hotels on the river- a good place to stay next time perhaps!?  In town we settled on a large restaurant located on the water- right in front of the market (a market you say- perhaps I should shop!) We had about a 30 minute wait for a table, so what else to do but shop some of the neat stores at the market.  Didn’t but anything, but it sure is fun to browse. The stall owners will do anything to make a sale- they follow you around, lowering the price, telling you how bad the shirt is in the next stall that you might be inclined to glance at and the famous saying is “name me your price- you happy and I happy!”  Dinner was not that impressive- but it filled the spot.  On our way to look for an electric “cab” a little girl walked up to us and asked if she could practise her english. Her command of the english language was very impressive- we chatted to her for a while and then found a store to get the girls and our new friend and her sister an ice cream treat. Back at the hotel, we headed up to the karaoke lounge.  We rented a room for 30 minutes and had an absolute blast singing away.  A fun way to end our last night in Vietnam.  The girls were ready for bed after this singing and we ended our nigh tons the rooftop patio with one last drink.