Mekong Delta Part 2: Sa Đéc & Cao Lãnh

Day 3: Cần Thơ to Sa Đéc

At the beginning of day three, we took off on a 20 minute boat road to visit a famous floating market, the Cai Rang Market, which is the largest floating market in the Mekong.

The market is certainly organized chaos, with more emphasis on the chaos –
around 350 boats of varied sizes float by each other, selling a variety of fruits and vegetables, among other things, including beer!

This was certainly one of the more unique and fascinating markets we have seen, made even more unique by a quick stop on a pineapple purveying boat, where we watched a woman cut up fresh pineapple to order, and then we sat on the top of the boat and ate it like a fruit Popsicle. This was some of the best pineapple we have had – ever.

After returning from the market, we had a quick bite to eat and then started off on the bike ride. The meal below was a very common one in the Mekong; different meats, often pork, chicken, and fish, with some rice and stir-fried vegetables, most commonly Morning Glory.

The Mekong Delta is a maze of rivers and islands so we ended up taking a lot of short ferry rides to cross the rivers. The ferries are always filled with locals, who line their motor bikes up at the end of the boat, so they can fly off before the boat has even stopped on the other side.

Here you can see the ferry “dock” where the ferry drivers masterfully line up the ramp of the boat despite a very strong current on the rivers.

We made as many excuses as we could to stop for some iced Vietnamese coffee or a fresh coconut. Hammocks are abundant, and of course, a must when we would stop for a refreshing drink!

If you look close enough, you will see Doug is onto his second iced coffee on this stop; they really are amazing and entirely addicting.

One of the great things about this part of the trip was that the people are so friendly and curious. They don’t see many foreigners, so they want to know where you are from, what you are doing there, and how they can help you. The man below is a great example of this curiosity, he was right in there while Trang fixed something on one of the bikes.

Dinner that night was an all-you-can-eat hot pot and grill spot. They had vegetables, fish, and meat set up for people to help themselves to, and then you cook it up yourself at the table. One of the best things was grilled squid. We also grilled up an unknown green vegetable, which Trang told us was green mango, and not meant for grilling. Oh well, we liked it!

Spending the week with Teresa and Doug was awesome, there is never a dull moment when these two are around!

Day 4: Sa Đéc to Cao Lãnh

The next day we spent a lot of time at another market, the Sa Đéc Market. This market was a great example of the interesting foods, smells, people, and chaos that draws us to markets all over the world. This was certainly one of the coolest markets we have been to – the people were very friendly, and it was a beautiful place to photograph, filled with bright colours and smiling faces. There were live fish, crabs, and frogs everywhere, some of which have escaped onto the ground from the confines of large bowls or plates!

Below you can see Matt and Doug in the middle of the chaos, if you look close enough.

The volume of produce they move through these places is astounding. Sa Đéc has a population of about 200,000, which is quite small for the amount of fresh food available at this one market.

At the very end of the ride on day 4, we had the option of taking a ferry across this last river. Instead, we decided to take this large bridge across. It was much steeper and longer than it looks, but we made it across!

While we were eating dinner in Cao Lãnh a young boy came over to our table to say hello and practice his English. He was very bright – he guessed we were from Canada because of the leaf on Matt’s shirt.

For kids his age it is becoming more common that they will go to English school outside of their normal school day. His parents were very happy and proud that he could come over and communicate with us. Although we found that not many people spoke English, this will certainly change over the next couple of decades.

Day 5: Cao Lãnh to Saigon

One the last day we cycled through beautiful rice fields, and tree lined trails. We ended up cycling just over 150 KM over the 5 days. You can see the last leg of the trip below where Trang took us a bit out of our way because we were so close to 150!

We saw yet another surprising item being transported by motor bike, in this video below you can see (and hear!) about 20 ducks being carried in a basket on the back, and even on the lap of the woman!

The work ethic and ingenuity here is high – the video below shows a bunch of workers moving bricks off a boat to a construction site. Some of them are without shoes, and carrying around 40 bricks across a narrow plank.

After we finished the bike trip on the last day we took a boat ride on a small river that was used as a Vietnamese hide-out during the war with the US.