Mekong Delta Floating Market

Once here, everything was completely different.

American military boats armed with machine guns rushed across the Mekong waters, Vietnamese partisans fired at them, Americans fired and bombed in response, and quite often the numerous canals and ducts of the yellow river acquired the color of blood ...

Today, these places are more reminiscent of episodes of the film "Water World" with Kevin Costner, which did not fall into the main version of the film.
Earth does not matter here.

Water. This is what gives life, work, food.

After spending the whole day in the boat, among the inhabitants of floating villages, and having seen many moments from the life of the people of the Mekong water world, I can say that here, in general, everything is arranged somehow completely differently.

For example, a market selling vegetables and fruits. How are we used to seeing such markets? Counters, southerners, scales, mountains of watermelons, crates of peaches, tomatoes and cabbage in the boot of the Fives or Gazelle vans.

Forget it! There are no retail counters. There are just boats full of sweet potatoes, pineapples, water chestnuts, carrots and all the same watermelons ...

Dawn arrives late in the floating market.

Yes Yes exactly. The sun is just rising over the horizon at a quarter to six, and motor boats and rowing boats are already gliding along the yellow waters of the Mekong, heading for the epicenter of business life - the floating market.

From afar, he seems somehow plain and completely boring. Dozens of old wooden boats with highly sticking sticks are moored aboard, and it seems that nothing is happening near them.

But this is not at all true. The closer we get to the first boats, the more distinctly we understand that from minute to minute we will be sucked into a whirlpool of noise, din, scurrying boats, screaming traders, flying bags and roaring 4-cylinder engines.

The counters in the floating market look like this.

A large, as a rule, old boat, loaded with goods for the most I do not want, either slowly drifts, or is anchored in the middle of the river waiting for buyers.

Buyers move in smaller boats. As we walk between the rows in the grocery market, these boats scurry between vegetable barges in search of the right products and reasonable prices.

Most vegetable barges have a tall pole in the bow, on which are either strung or simply tied vegetables or fruits - cabbage, carrots, sweet potatoes, bananas, pineapples, etc. This is an advertising index. Hang on a pole what is sold on this boat. This is done so that the buyer from afar can see the product he is interested in.

Six closer.

Trade is in full swing. Everything happens pretty fast. The boat flies up to the floating vegetable warehouse, the engine is turned off and pulled out of the water, a short trade, a bag of vegetables flies to the boat, the buyer returns a pack of dongs back.

By the way, money in Vietnam is not paper, but made of material that is somewhat reminiscent of polyethylene. This is very practical in a country where high humidity and half the population lives either in rice fields or in the Mekong Delta. Paper money would wear out at crazy speed ...

Vietnamese are benevolent people).

Knock knock, who lives in Teremochka?

Transshipment of goods.

Water chestnut in the delta is just like hot cakes (black on a medium boat).
Honestly, a kind of thing. I didn’t understand her ...

But the pineapples in Vietnam are incredibly tasty.

It sometimes happens that several buyers' boats moor at the same time to a merchant boat, and all help each other to load, passing bags of vegetables along a long chain.

Work like a galley.

Everyday life of root traders (I don’t know what exactly they are called).

It seems to be on the water, but swarming, as in the ground.

Purchase of watermelons.

The floating market in the Mekong Delta.

Watercraft are as diverse as cars on our roads.

Someone slowly rowing oars ...

Someone imposingly controls the motor with his foot.
In general, the Vietnamese love to punch and often fly along the channels at a decent speed, controlling the boat with one foot.

And in general, they are still those boat dashing people.

Loaded to the eyeballs. I bought everything my wife said.

Mother and son.

Many boats have a red painted nose with an anchor pattern. Not sure what this means and why there are so many similar boats?

Maybe an analogue of a boat Mercedes?

Most boats are motorized.

Self-made structures are used from a standard cylinder block that transmits torque to a screw located on a long rod, which can be quickly removed from water if necessary.

The same motor performs the function of a steering wheel.