Cai Rang is a famous floating market in the country’s southwestern region. Like Long. It is a wholesale market selling fruit and vegetables. However, the unique of the market is that it resides on the river.

In the Mekong Delta region, there are many floating markets, such as Cai Rang, Nga Bay, Binh Dien, Phong Dien, Cai Be, Long Xuyen and Chau Doc. Cai Rang, however, is the most famous as it has the most specific trading activities.

The Cai Rang floating market is on the Cai Rang River. It is 6 kilometers from Can Tho City by road and it takes about four hours from Ho Chi Minh to get to the market.

The market is a destination for consumer agricultural products from 12 provinces in the Mekong Delta region. Aside from selling fruit and vegetables from Can Tho Province, the market also sells special agricultural products from neighbouring provinces.

The market opens everyday from 4am to 9am. In the early morning, hundreds of boats and junks come to the 1km-long floating market, all carrying a variety of fruit and vegetables.

Small and large junks travel on the river like motorbikes and cars on land. And everyone is busy trading. Being a wholesale market, the trading activities are carried out quickly; there’s no bargaining here. Traders come to the market to buy fruit and vegetables and then bring them to other smaller markets or to export them to China and Cambodia.

It’s difficult to hear people’s voices because of the loud sounds from the boat engines and the rolling of the river. That’s why each boat has one large stick, called cay beo, from which the sellers hang their products, called treo beo. Everything here hangs from the sticks. For instance, if people sell bananas and durian, they will hang bananas and durian on the stick so that buyers can see them from a distance. On many of the boats and junks, there are paintings and decorations. Looking at these, one can guess that they come from Vinh Long, Tien Giang or Dong Thap provinces.

Recently, to meet the demands of traders throughout the market, many new services have been created. Going to the market now, one can see many boats and junks selling breakfast and coffee. These boats are often small, so they can move through crowded areas to serve people.

This specific feature of Cai Rang floating market has attracted not only Vietnamese people but also foreign tourists. Tourists often purchase a tour or hire small boats to visit the market. And, they never forget to bring their cameras.

The people at Cai Rang market are getting used to the visitors and their cameras, so they are very friendly and ready to answer what questions they can.

At 9 am, the traders exit the market and move to bring fruit and vegetables to other retail markets. After the scene on Cai Rang river ends, the boats and junks leave, and the river returns to its relaxed state to wait for the next busy morning.

Visiting the market, tourists have a chance to buy some of the fruit they’ve seen, ripe on the poles. However, the most treasured possessions are the pictures they take and their memories of the local people at Cai Rang market.

It is advised that one can’t come to Can Tho Province and not visit Cai Rang floating market.