Giorno 9 — Can Tho → Chau Doc
Breakfast. At 06:20 departure for the day's visits. The commercial heart of the entire Delta is the Cai Rang market, on the outskirts of Can Tho, which will be visited by boat. Here, the products of the crops that cover the areas around the Delta are traded, easily transported by waterway. In Cai Rang, everything happens on boats. The best time to visit the market is in the early morning. This is, in fact, the most important time for negotiations thanks to the presence of a large number of farmers and traders. The junks, loaded with tropical fruits such as mango, rambutan, lychee, pineapple, mangosteen, as well as rice, vegetables, spices, roots, and other typical products of the area, are scattered in disorder, occupying more than a kilometer of the busy river. The fresh market, on the other hand, is on the river banks. We will cross it, savoring its smells and colors, before continuing our journey that will take us today towards the nearby border with Cambodia. A few kilometers from the border, we come across a place of unparalleled natural beauty: the Tra Su Nature Reserve, a gigantic swamp covered by a dense and impenetrable cajuput forest. Among these trees, about 70 species of large endangered water birds live, and Tra Su is one of the few places where they can still be easily spotted. We will have to move silently and motionless, on small rowing boats. The final destination of the day is Chau Doc, the capital of the border province, where the Vinh Te canal meets the Hau River. The Vinh Te Canal was dug by the French during colonial times to mark the border between Vietnam and Cambodia. We will explore the canal by boat, with rudimentary houses on high stilts lining both banks. Here, fish farmers live and build large cages mounted under their floating houses! Feeding the fish is easy and fast for them: they can do it comfortably from their living room, throwing the feed between the nets placed along the floor! Accommodation in a hotel near Chau Doc at the end of the visits. Dinner at the hotel.
