Dark and early in the morning, we were back in the sampan heading upstream from our mooring in Can Tho. The Cái Răng Floating Market, about 15 minutes from Can Tho, usually starts early, around 3am. It is primarily a wholesale vegetable market. Traders get here early so that they can buy goods to take to the commercial markets by sunrise before 7 am. So, we had turned out ludicrously early. Even before breakfast.
The market consists of a lot of boats, some rafted up together, in the middle of the river. At the market, goods are advertised by a method known as “bẹo hàng”. This is the practise of of hanging a sample of the goods (such as fruits or vegetables) on a long pole instead of using signs. The “selling boat” typically hangs any plant pot to distinguish it from the “buying boat.” The “bẹo” is a long pole (often made of bamboo), tied with any item for marking or signalling something. So, as we approached, we could see boats with pineapples, sweet potatoes, water melons and other produce hanging from bamboo poles.
Smaller boats circled the sellers collecting goods to take to market. In between these were other small boats supplying services to everyone else. This included some general store boats carrying a bit of everything. And café boats selling coffee, tea and something for breakfast.
We drifted past and then went to visit a floating noodle factory. This was a two-story building on a barge. Downstairs was the shopping area selling a vast range of noodles and souvenirs. It was in fact, a floating carpet shop attracting tourists that had been lured in by the floating market. Upstairs they made the noodles. A thin dough was poured onto a fine mesh over boiling water. I imagine the dough was a rice and water paste. After a few moments cooking, it was collected onto a large, bamboo roller and put to dry. After an hour or so the disc of partially dried dough was mechanically shredded into fine noodles. These were balled up and left out in the sun to dry or fried in deep fat. The ovens here used stone fireplaces fuelled by the rice husk we had seen collected from the rice polishing factories. It burned quickly so a hopper on the top of the oven could be used to provide fine control over the oven.
Back in the sampan, we passed through the market again. Things were getting a lot quieter on the selling front now. Then we went ashore close-by to have a look at the wet market. An area of narrow streets where pedestrians fought with scooters over goods that were mostly laid out on the ground. We had been warned of the possibility of gruesome goods. In particular, we were warned of rats. Not rats running around stealing stuff but rats as food. Killed in the rice fields and hung up ready for cooking. At the same time, we were assured that there would be no dogs. There used to be the odd canine culinary concoctions but now the dodgy dead dog dinners are illegal. Some of our group were appalled at the idea of eating dogs. Me too. I don’t like the elitist justification for extreme violence towards an innocent animal. However, many of our group eat pork and I struggle to understand how they are content with the cognitive dissonance this evokes. Pigs and dog are equally intelligent happy animals that can be trained and form friendship bonds with humans.
We never spotted any rats but we did see many types of live fish, eels, snails and frogs. The fish were in shallow bowls. Occasionally one would manage to jump out and flop its way down the street before being recaptured. The frogs were enormous and the snails were a good size as well. Is this the French colonial influence at work or will these people just eat anything? There were masses of dead and bloody meat on display as well. I did not look too closely. Just seeing all the flies buzzing around was, I thought, enough to put anyone off. The whole scene, from a distance, was one of bloody massacre, a visceral carnage.
There were of course an awful lot of lovely fresh fruit and vegetables on display. Fresh green pepper corns – if you have never tried, they are amazing. Racks of watermelons. Beautiful bright yellow lemons. Mushrooms of every shape, size and flavour. I also spotted a shop making enormous slabs of tofu. We both enjoy tofu but have never tried making it. Yet another project for a rainy day.
After seeing such so much food it was time to head back for a late breakfast. On the way, we passed some boats with mesh on the side of their hull. This is to deliberately let water in. The ships are used for transporting live fish. They do this by partially flooding the hull.
