The Floating Market

This floating market is so different to the market in Thailand. In Thailand there are small wooden boats selling a few fruits, vege and nick-nacks catering mainly for the tourists these days. In Vietnam there a large wooden boats, with eyes painted on the bow in red and yellow, selling an assortment of fruit and vege. These guys are the middle man, who purchase straight from the farmer, and sell to the local people from the Mekong. Apparently it cheaper to sell off the river than it is from the land. At the bow of the "ship" they have a bamboo stick which displays the fruit and vege they are selling to the public. It's quite amazing to see boats up to 10 deep with pumpkins or lettuce strapped to a bamboo stick meters in the air. As usual you have the little long boats zooming past selling all kinds of soups, drinks and fan-fair. All that goes on is so colorful, it sometimes makes me sad that we don't have this kind of organised chaos back home. Our little markets are nothing compared to the awesome sights of a floating market. Oh well, we have other things that no one else does so that will keep me happy.
After the markets we putted down the river to see how rice noodles are made, to a rice factory, a fish farm in a bomb crater and a walk over a monkey bridge. A Monkey bridge?? Well it's a feat of engineering genius really. There a pieces of bamboo strapped together, usually two thick and bent over a river. Sometimes you have hand rails and sometimes you don't....We did luckily. There was no way I was going to end up in the drink. Especially after I'd see those little bums doing a hard days work. So to speak. So over I went and survived. I was so glad that I didn't fall in cause I was with a group of about 20 and I would have died!!!
Back on a bus and we headed to Saigon.