Life Along the Mekong

By the time the Mekong reaches Vietnam, it has travelled thousands of kilometres from the Tibetan Plateau. Here, in its last stretch, it divides into a fan of channels that the Vietnamese call Cuu Long, the Nine Dragons, before spilling into the South China Sea. The land between them is flat, green and laced with canals.

It is also one of the most productive farming regions in Asia, a patchwork of rice paddies, fruit orchards and fish ponds that feeds much of the country.

Markets on the water

The floating markets start before sunrise. At Cai Rang, near Can Tho, wholesale boats sit mid-river loaded with pineapples, pumpkins or sweet potatoes. Instead of shouting, sellers tie a sample of what they sell to a tall pole at the bow, so buyers can spot it from a distance. Smaller boats weave between them selling noodle soup and coffee to the traders.

As roads and bridges have spread across the Delta, the markets have grown smaller. They are still worth the early start, but they are best seen as a working morning rather than a show.

Orchards, workshops and canals

Away from the main river, life moves at the pace of a sampan. Narrow canals lead to fruit orchards, rice fields and family workshops making rice paper, puffed rice or, around Ben Tre, coconut candy. Many families open their homes to guests, and a night in a Delta homestay usually means a home-cooked dinner of river fish, fresh herbs and whatever the garden is producing.

Mornings start early here. By six, bicycles are crossing the monkey bridges, boats are heading to market and the smell of wood smoke drifts from kitchens along the bank.

Living with the water

The river sets the calendar. In the flood season, roughly from August to November, water spreads across the upper Delta, bringing silt and fish to the fields. People build on stilts, plan harvests around it and travel by boat when roads go under. It is a place that has always adapted, and visiting slowly is the best way to see how.