Floating Market

Well, it was our first weekend of the semester, and as the Vietnamese usually have school on Saturday mornings, so did we. At 6 am no less. But, it was necessary because we were going to the floating market. We all had ideas about what this floating market would be like, but it was, in reality nothing like we thought.


We (our group and our new friends from the university) piled into a floating taxi, which is a long traditional boat made with chairs in it to take people like us around. We then proceeded to drive down the big, muddy river. Can Tho is on one of nine branches of the Mekong River where it splits in the south. Given the size of this small part, the whole river combined must be huge. It's the rainy season right now, but still, it's a big river. Lining the sides of the river were tin houses made on stilts, and through the doors we could see people doing their dishes, washing their clothes, or little naked kids taking baths. Chugging up and down the river were big boats filled with gravel and sand, and fruit, and people, and anything else that you can really imagine.

It took us about a half an hour to reach the floating market. It came up suddenly, and we saw tons of boats anchored around. The boats selling produce generally buy from farmers down river, and then come up to sell their wares to other vendors who then take them to market or sell them on the streets. On the boats selling goods there are huge poles sticking up into the air with all the goods tied to the poles as a sort of advertisement for what they are selling. Some poles will just have a type of gourd, but others will have at least twenty five different kinds of fruit hanging from the poles. The people at the floating market live on their boats and with that develops a whole sort of culture. Most of the boats are really brightly colored and almost all have these huge eyes painted on the bow. The eyes are supposed to watch and protect the boats from monsters in the water, and also provide light and safe passage for boats traveling at night. The people buying drive from boat to boat and load tons of watermelon, or whatever it is they are buying into their boats and then drive back up river to try their luck on land. Because Can Tho is known for their floating markets, this was a great thing to see and I would love to spend more time among the brightly colored boats and the people who spend their life on them.

In other news, this is an exciting time to be in Vietnam because the Autumn festival is coming up next weekend. It is a holiday for the children, and that night they get a lot of candy and line the streets with lighted lanterns and sing folk songs. It sounds like it has a similar feel to Halloween in the US. But, in preparation for this big holiday we are helping some students make lanterns for the poor and orphaned children in the city. We have been spending a lot of our afternoons doing this, and it has been great. Of course, the most rewarding part will be going to give them to the children, but for now we are making friends with our fellow wood and tissue paper gluers. The lanterns we have made are something to be proud of and to see them all lying together is beautiful. I can't wait to see them lit and bobbing up and down the streets.

Well, I think that's about all from Vietnam. Another week of school ahead of us and I am excited because we are starting to learn about the ecology and keep chugging away at learning those tones.
Xin Chao!

Julia