Mekong Delta Travel - Floating Markets
The biggest floating market in the Mekong Delta is called Phung Hiep. Markets open at 5 am and are open till 11 am. This is one of the reasons I recommend a stay of at least two days. The only way to visit one of these floating markets is staying in the Mekong Delta area, waking up early and taking one of the boats first hour in the morning. The Delta is too far from Saigon to visit one of the markets if you do not sleep here. If you do a one day excursion, you will only see the canals. Markets will be already closed by the time you get here.
Two other famous floating markets in the Mekong Delta region are the Cai Rang and the Phong Dien. Farmers from the region bring their goods, fruits and vegetables mainly, to the markets and sell them to local dealers. These dealers sell the products to shops in the neighboring towns and to wholesale dealers from the big towns.
One of the region's gems is the stock exchange floating market. South of My Tho is the "Dau" market were over 3000 companies are traded. Ask a local guide to take you to this otherwise difficult to find market.
If you ever come to the Mekong Delta bring a good camera. The photographic possibilities here are immense. The fields around the canal, the local people, the floating markets, the houses around the river, you will find hundreds of opportunities to take unforgettable pictures.
3 miles from Sam mountain is the town of Chau Doc. 85,000 people live in this city by the Cambodian border. Chau Doc lives mainly of the smuggling of goods to and from the neighboring country. Most of the goods come from Thailand.
The Sam mountain is another of the local tourist attractions. Several temples and pagodas can be visited on this mountain. Some tours offer a trip to this mountain to see the sun set. Sam mountain is the highest point on the Mekong Delta.
Sa Dec is another of the main cities on the delta. The town has lost part of its character since the capital of the province of Dong Thap was moved to Cao Lanh. Formerly the town of Sa Dec was the center of the Chan Lap civilization. Currently people of Vietnamese, Chinese, Khmer and Cham origin live in the area.
Long Xuyen is the center of the commerce in the area of the Mekong Delta. 100,000 people live in this city, the capital of the An Giang province. Not far from this relaxed town are the ruins of the The Oc Eo civilization. Long Xuyen is also famous for its Christian population.
The Mekong river has its origins almost 6,000 yards above the sea level in the Yushu Tibet Autonomous region, in Northwest China. The river has a length of more than 6,000 miles, It is one of the longest rivers in the world.
Half of the river Mekong belongs to China, where it is called Lancang in Chinese and Dza Chu in Tibetan. After leaving China, the river Mekong forms the Myanmar and Thailand border for 150 miles. After meeting the Ruak River, it forms the Lao-Thai border. After a short stretch through Laos, it flows across Cambodia, where is known as Mékôngk.
Although many rivers throughout the world have united people living near them, this is not the case of the Mekong River. There is a long history of confrontations of civilizations in the Mekong area.
The first known civilization in the Mekong was the Indianised Malay, from the 1st century. After, came the Oc Eo and the Khmer Chenla civilizations.
Probably the most famous civilization of all times on the Mekong was the Khmer Empire of Angkor. From the same times are the first Siam and Vietnam kingdoms.
In the 15th century the first European came to the Mekong region. They came from Spain and Portugal to mount some missionary expeditions. In the 19th century, the French took interest in the zone, and took control of Saigon. In 1863 the French extended their control to Cambodia. In the 20th century the French invaded Laos, and established the French Indochina.
From 1946 through 1954 took place the First Indochina War. Ho Chi Minh led the resistance against the French.
|
