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Cai Rang Floating Market is located about 6km from the center of Can Tho City. Having been formed and developed over hundreds of years, shaping the trading culture of the riverine region, Cai Rang Floating Market is unique with its spontaneous buying and selling of agricultural products and goods on the river. This is a tourist attraction that draws many visitors when they come to visit and shop in Can Tho.
Rough Guide, a UK-based magazine, was particularly impressed by the unique feature of Cai Rang Floating Market: the boats selling goods are "brilliantly colored in tropical hues." Here, a wide variety of tropical fruits from the Mekong Delta are on display. Vendors often hang the goods they sell on bamboo poles at the stern of their boats so that buyers can easily find the boat they are looking for. The market opens at 5 am and closes at noon.
On July 8th, the Cai Rang District Party Committee, Can Tho City, held a review meeting on the three-year implementation of the "Conservation and Development of Cai Rang Floating Market" project. According to the report, over the past three years, tourism products and services in the floating market area have developed, diversified, and enriched to meet the needs of domestic and international tourists. To date, Cai Rang has constructed and installed 36 promotional billboards, compiled and printed 13,600 leaflets, equipped two garbage collection boats, deployed 11 out of 50 buoys to ensure safe waterway traffic, and assisted in relocating 38 floating rafts to safe mooring areas. Furthermore, food and entertainment services for tourists have also received significant attention and investment. Three households have invested in three floating restaurants on the river, organizing floating stalls selling souvenirs and local specialties.
Additional information:
- A pole used to display goods for sale at Cai Rang floating market.
At Cai Rang floating market, vendors often use poles to display their goods. Typically, each boat specializes in selling one type of item, so vendors hang the corresponding goods on a pole on their boat so that customers know which boat sells which item.
- "Four hangings," a distinctive feature of Cai Rang floating market.
"Hang whatever you want to sell": Items from boats and ships for sale are hung on long bamboo poles, about 3-5 meters long, called "bẹo poles".
"Hanging but not for sale": This is what makes Cai Rang Floating Market unique and attractive to tourists, as it allows them to observe and learn about the daily lives of people living on boats. The items hung up are usually household goods and therefore not for sale.
"Not displayed, but sold": These boats typically sell snacks and drinks such as cakes, pho, noodle soup, coffee, etc. Many tourists love the feeling of sitting on a boat and enjoying the local dishes, savoring the peaceful atmosphere of the river.
"Hanging one thing but selling another" (also known as "hanging a leaf to sell a boat"): These are boats that don't display agricultural products or fruit, but instead hang a piece of roofing leaf or a coconut leaf. With this type of boat, it can be understood that the boat itself is what is being sold.
