Sunrise at the Floating Markets - Mekong River

At 5am we were led from our Guest house in Cantho down to our boat at the riverbank. The reason for the early start is so that we get to see the Sun rise over the floating markets.

To our great relief, the first thing our guide took us to was the coffee boat - a much-needed wake-me-up for that hour of the day! It was impressive watching the young lad on the coffee boat nimbly steering his way through the flotilla of market boats using only one foot.

We got straight into the action, drawing alongside boats filled up with fruit, fish, baskets, rice, livestock and so on - not forgetting all the families and customers going about their lives on the water.

 

 

Looks like Penelope Pitstop's wearing her pyjamas on the ferry again!

Duck thinks: "I knew I shouldn't have had that last cake, just minutes before the Weight Watchers weigh-in!"

Here's some of the families we saw:

Here's us along with the Canadian couple (Michelle and Clement) we took the trip with. Pineapple on a stick, anyone??

And of course, we had to try on the hat our guide (Su) was wearing:

As you can see, Hazel fits the part perfectly, whereas Pete...

After the markets, Su took us further down river, away from the town a bit. We were a bit puzzled when she pulled over to the bank and started hacking at the palm leaves on the shore, then set off again:

Little did we know, she was weaving some amazing stuff for us, while steering the boat with her knee.

As the trip progressed, we got further into the narrower waterways:

And stopped off at one of the rice paddies. Haze is demonstrating her technique:

Here's one of Pete's "arty" shots:

On the way back into town, we passed by a large boat of unprocessed rice (that's still in its husk). As you can see, at this stage it just looks like grain:

All in all, it was a lovely morning. :-)

Namaste!

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