Floating market in Mekong Delta

• Minority Markets
• Exploring the natural beauty of Van Don island ( Quang Ninh)

The name floating market literally came from its way of forming. In the middle of immense rivers, there are numerous boats and canoes gathering to form markets above the water. Floating markets in Mekong Delta are the most famous for their abundant products. Farmers from the region bring their goods, fruits and vegetables mainly, to the markets and sell them to local dealers. These dealers sell the products to shops in the neighboring towns and to wholesale dealers from the big towns.

In the picture you can see local farmers with fruits for sale. All big boats have a pole. Each wholesaler hangs the goods he buys or sells on this pole. This way, people on small boats know where they have to go from a certain distance. In this case, this is a floating vegetable supermarket. On the floating markets you do not only find people buying and selling goods, you also find floating restaurants, floating bars, floating gas stations, and many other floating shops.

Canals are here the easiest and fastest way of transportation. At the bow of each boat is attached a bamboo pole and a sample of the goods being sold from the boat are strung over it, making it easy for buyers to find what they need. The poles are also of different sizes, upright or bent which makes for an interesting graphic view and is a really unique form of advertising. People call it “ cây bẹo” which is one of unique marketing way. The boats are full of products such as : rambutans, mangoes, grapefruits, watermelons, durians or fishes, turtles, snakes, prawns, birds… which are specialities. All the buyers and sellers in floating market are honest and friendly. Especially, the sellers tell the reasonable price for their goods. The best time to visit floating market is in the early morning, when the sun is crawling up east and many locals are already there, ready for trading – boats after boats.