If we hadn’t met Marie (in the yellow tee) and Marko from the Netherlands during our My Son ruins tour outside of Hoi An, we probably wouldn’t have gone to Can Tho. They spoke so glowingly of the Cai Rang floating market in Can Tho, the largest city in the Mekong Delta with 1 1/2 million people. Mark and I wouldn’t have booked Hieu’s Tour, the #1 tour of the floating market according to Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor. It was a fabulous tour of the floating markets from 5-8am followed by a ride in the small canals to a rice noodle factory to see how noodles are made and to eat one of their concoctions—noodle “pizza.”
“David,” our exuberant 20-year old guide, was a delight. He was studying to be a veterinarian with the goal of owning a pet shop and animal hospital. He had had a girlfriend for two years but was not sure they would marry. He was very focused on financial stability. His father, who had been a doctor, had died at a young age and his father’s death had a huge impact on him and his family. During our tour, he explained so much about how the floating markets operated so that we understood what we were seeing. The number of floating markets had drastically shrunk in the past five years and he wasn’t sure they would exist for very long.
Our 70 year old boat captain, Ut, was a marvel. She talked openly about her husband who drank too much alcohol and did not work. Her feisty nature shone through when a male boat captain scolded her for navigating too quickly through the small canals and she yelled back at him with gusto. During down time, she wove bracelets from palm leaves for us.
