Cruising the Mekong: Part I, Fish Farms and Floating Markets

Kia Ora

Crew and passengers of Gecko Eyes

Imagine that you are the only passengers on a small private boat named Gecko Eyes. For you and your companion, there is a staff of seven persons to wait on you. Sound good? Indeed, Trung, Trong, Phuc, Phong, Lam, Doun, and Anh did their best to make it so. None of those names include the uniquely Vietnamese accent marks, and none are pronounced as you might imagine. Vietnamese is a tonal language with six tonal variations. I learned the correct pronunciations to each of those names by writing them phonetically after a lesson from Anh, our guide for the entire Saigon section of this trip.

More humble home on the Mekong

From boarding Gecko Eyes near Saigon, all the way to the Cambodian border, we saw people living beside the Mekong River and on it. Aquaculture is widely practiced. Some of the fish farms were humble affairs. The  one we visited was a show piece. The fish farmer's family lived right over the fish cages. Farmed fish are fed commercial pellets. I was unsuccessful in determining if they were fed antibiotics to prevent disease in crowded growing conditions.

Fish live under floor in farmer's home

KC feeding fish

Gathering lotus reeds

Beds of floating water lotus are thick everywhere. To my mind, they might have been an overabundant nuisance and hindrance to navigation. Not so. Women harvested the reeds, dried them and wove sturdy baskets from them.

A wholesale market is held early in the morning on the river. Large boats load the harvest and anchor in a central spot. Each displays the produce or product they have to sell by hanging it in a bag  on a high pole on their boat. Retail sellers motor up in smaller boats and buy the product to sell at their street stalls.

Pole displays melons to sell

Melons sold and loaded 

Cheers, 

Kiwi Traveler in Viet Nam