7 Days Exploring the Mekong's Floating Markets – What's Left

My first trip to the MeKong Delta was in 2020. Having just moved to Ho Chi Minh City the prior year for an expat assignment in footwear, I had seen photos of the Mekong’s floating markets but never visited. Seeking to change that, I made the short 2-hour trip south to Can Tho to see the Cai Rang Floating Market. I’ve been fascinated by them ever since. 

What about floating markets managed to so capture my imagination?

For one, I think, coming from the United States we really have nothing like this. There are farmer’s markets on weekends during parts of the year, or the occasional pop-up fair, but nothing that represents the daily life of so many doing commerce and trade, and certainly not on the water. 

Moreover, as someone who finds a lot of beauty in the simplicity of daily life — hopefully visible in a lot of my work — my interest in floating markets and people’s experiences working on them over generations was probably predictable.

But times have changed, and the floating markets are not what they once were. Even the two largest remaining in the MeKong Delta — Cai Rang and Long Xuyen — are but shadows of their former selves. If I was hoping to really document the floating markets, the time to have done that was decades ago. At least. Alas, all we can do is use the time we have today.

In that spirit, I set off in early 2024 with a local guide friend to explore the MeKong Delta for five days, in an effort to capture daily life on the Mekong’s floating markets — what’s left. I decided to add two more days later in the summer, hoping to fill in some story-telling gaps, for a total of 7 days documenting and exploring.

Along the way were many 4:30 and 5:00 am wake-ups in order to be on the water by sunrise, when so much of the busyness of the markets take place. As well, I had a couple hours worth of audio recordings to go through once back in the city, so that I could remember and accurately record some of the insights and recollections of those who still work on the floating markets, to go with all of the photo captures.

Those elements, stories and more should make their way into future blog entries, where there’s space to better share. But for now, at least, you can see a few preview photos below from those journeys.

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