Mekong Delta

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After a few days on my own, I took a chance on an organized tour to Can Tho - in the Mekong Delta region. Basically this is the Great Plains of Vietnam - the bread, or more accurately, rice-basket of the country. Vietnam's biggest exports are rice (2nd in world), cashews, and coffee. This section of the country mostly rice though. The delta water is very brown, not from pollution, but rather high silt content, which makes the water fertile and good for rice fields.

Over two days I saw how rice paper and coconut candy are made, took a couple boat rides on various parts of the river. Saw how people on the river lived.

On the second day we got to see a floating market, probably the highlight of the trip. Big boats from the farming settlements come first, hanging samples of their produce on 3 meter posts over their boats.

Smaller boats from different villages came later to buy what their areas needed. These wholesalers really became grocery stores for their neighbors, reselling later back home.

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