Good morning Vietnam! That's what all of the Vietnamese seem to happily say with their eyes as they go about their morning activities. I had read that the Vietnamese are morning people and that if you sleep in they think you are sick; however, morning people to me means 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. It doesn't mean that here. Morning people here in Vietnam means 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. I am a morning person, don't get me wrong; however, I haven't woken up at 5 a.m. since April.
When Pallavi and I had to wake up at 5 a.m to go to the Cai Rang floating market in the Mekong Delta, south of Ho Chi Minh City, I can guarantee we were not saying good morning Vietnam. We weren't saying anything. Not even with our eyes. Our eyes said good morning Vietnamese coffee.
The idea of a floating market is simple. It's a collection of boats trading goods and wares on a water body. We had wanted to go and see an authentic non-touristy floating market when we were in Bangkok, but our timing was wrong. As we made our decision on whether or not to make one last valiant attempt to see a real floating market in Bangkok, we had researched floating markets and discovered there are quite a few in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. As a result, we ditched the markets in Thailand in lieu for those in Vietnam.
Apparently we are among just a handful of foreigners who have discovered this fact. When we arrived at our guest house, people looked as us as if they had never seen foreigners before. I had forgotten what it felt like to have a pair of strange Asian men go on either side of Pallavi and I, while one pretends to click a picture of the other one, when really they are just taking a picture of us. We didn't even look that good! In fact, I'd go so far as to say I looked bad. It's not like we were doing anything fascinating either. I'm sure I just had my usual resting dumb face. I don't understand what is so fascinating about us that required a picture.
However, the women in this town were so sweet. As we dragged our feet at 6:30 a.m. to the coffee shop next door, the woman was so sweet. They loved that we attempted to order our coffee in Vietnamese. 1 cafe sua da (cold coffee with milk) and 1 cafe sua nong (hot coffee with milk). They brought out our coffee and I went to drink my cafe sua nong. The woman came over, said something, and then showed me that apparently the proper way to drink cafe sua nong here is to use a spoon and to lap it up. Then, when you've finished the coffee, you chase it with jasmine tea. We saw this woman over the next 3 days, and each time she seemed to be telling us all sorts of wisdom or nice things, that we really wished we could have understood her. This woman was just a sample of the women who nicely waved to us and smiled at us as we were out and about the town.
Going to the floating market was really easy. We walked down the road and a person called out a price for a boat. We kept walking, they changed the price. We kept walking, they changed the price. We easily got our price, and we were out on the water. The floating market wasn't nearly as colorful as I imagined, but it was as interesting. Pallavi told me that this is a wholesale market. There were roughly 100 boats all together, each boat had a rope with what they were selling strung upon it. Cabbage, watermelon, coconuts, lettuce, onions, sweet potatoes, and more.
As our boat wove between all of these vessels loading and unloading their wares, we were surrounded by other smaller boats which were filled with women selling breakfast items. Hot soup steamed up in the morning on many a woman's rowboat. Want coffee or tea? Just find a coffee and tea boat. The woman on the boat will then take a hook, attach it to your boat, and ride along with you until you have what you've purchased, then she'll unhook and carry on. It was absolutely fascinating to watch and think that this market goes on every day while we grab a bowl of oatmeal and head to our offices.
After the floating market, we then just took it easy and would only venture out for either food or to watch the fishing boats at night. How about that blue moon? Nothing beats watching the blue moon rise over the Mekong, highlighting men in fishing canoes pulling up their nets. Wow.
The finding food bit was also a bit tricky. There wasn't much around, and the food we found didn't necessarily have an English translation of the menu. We did come across a place that fortunately told us that the meat we had pointed out to potentially have for dinner was dog meat. We immediately left the place, never to return, and went to find anything else.
The Mekong was such a lovely holiday away. Finally, we had a chance to see un-touristy Vietnam. It was so refreshing.
When Pallavi and I had to wake up at 5 a.m to go to the Cai Rang floating market in the Mekong Delta, south of Ho Chi Minh City, I can guarantee we were not saying good morning Vietnam. We weren't saying anything. Not even with our eyes. Our eyes said good morning Vietnamese coffee.
The idea of a floating market is simple. It's a collection of boats trading goods and wares on a water body. We had wanted to go and see an authentic non-touristy floating market when we were in Bangkok, but our timing was wrong. As we made our decision on whether or not to make one last valiant attempt to see a real floating market in Bangkok, we had researched floating markets and discovered there are quite a few in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. As a result, we ditched the markets in Thailand in lieu for those in Vietnam.
Apparently we are among just a handful of foreigners who have discovered this fact. When we arrived at our guest house, people looked as us as if they had never seen foreigners before. I had forgotten what it felt like to have a pair of strange Asian men go on either side of Pallavi and I, while one pretends to click a picture of the other one, when really they are just taking a picture of us. We didn't even look that good! In fact, I'd go so far as to say I looked bad. It's not like we were doing anything fascinating either. I'm sure I just had my usual resting dumb face. I don't understand what is so fascinating about us that required a picture.
However, the women in this town were so sweet. As we dragged our feet at 6:30 a.m. to the coffee shop next door, the woman was so sweet. They loved that we attempted to order our coffee in Vietnamese. 1 cafe sua da (cold coffee with milk) and 1 cafe sua nong (hot coffee with milk). They brought out our coffee and I went to drink my cafe sua nong. The woman came over, said something, and then showed me that apparently the proper way to drink cafe sua nong here is to use a spoon and to lap it up. Then, when you've finished the coffee, you chase it with jasmine tea. We saw this woman over the next 3 days, and each time she seemed to be telling us all sorts of wisdom or nice things, that we really wished we could have understood her. This woman was just a sample of the women who nicely waved to us and smiled at us as we were out and about the town.
Going to the floating market was really easy. We walked down the road and a person called out a price for a boat. We kept walking, they changed the price. We kept walking, they changed the price. We easily got our price, and we were out on the water. The floating market wasn't nearly as colorful as I imagined, but it was as interesting. Pallavi told me that this is a wholesale market. There were roughly 100 boats all together, each boat had a rope with what they were selling strung upon it. Cabbage, watermelon, coconuts, lettuce, onions, sweet potatoes, and more.
As our boat wove between all of these vessels loading and unloading their wares, we were surrounded by other smaller boats which were filled with women selling breakfast items. Hot soup steamed up in the morning on many a woman's rowboat. Want coffee or tea? Just find a coffee and tea boat. The woman on the boat will then take a hook, attach it to your boat, and ride along with you until you have what you've purchased, then she'll unhook and carry on. It was absolutely fascinating to watch and think that this market goes on every day while we grab a bowl of oatmeal and head to our offices.
After the floating market, we then just took it easy and would only venture out for either food or to watch the fishing boats at night. How about that blue moon? Nothing beats watching the blue moon rise over the Mekong, highlighting men in fishing canoes pulling up their nets. Wow.
The finding food bit was also a bit tricky. There wasn't much around, and the food we found didn't necessarily have an English translation of the menu. We did come across a place that fortunately told us that the meat we had pointed out to potentially have for dinner was dog meat. We immediately left the place, never to return, and went to find anything else.
The Mekong was such a lovely holiday away. Finally, we had a chance to see un-touristy Vietnam. It was so refreshing.
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