The main reason tourists come to Can Tho is to visit the Floating Market which, according to our guide, is the biggest in Vietnam. This was our main activity today and required a somewhat early start (6:00 am). Fortunately there was no driving involved as one travels to the market by boat, and our boat started the journey about 200 meters down the street.

The vendors at the markets are largely poor people that live fulltime on boats moored in the area where the market is held. They buy produce from farmers up river and on-sell to other people who are buying for small shops or out-of-town villages. Its a whole-sale market and buyers are expected to buy in whole-sale quantities. (That is a small boat load)

The market has expanded and morphed with advent of tourism. There are now floating restaraunts selling breakfast to tourists, and larger floating shops selling souveniers tourists, and yet other floating buildings making and giving demonstrations of rice paper, rice noodles and various types of candy.

I of course was fascinated by the propulsion systems of the various boats. Picture 16 gives perhaps the best view. An internal combustion engine (car, truck or smaller), connected to a long propellor shaft, and the whole thing balanced on a pivot point. These seem to cope very well, with deep or shallow water, rubbish or vegetation in the water and make the boats very manouvarable.

After the market we did a quick visit to a local Museum where we learned a bit about the local ethnic groups. Vietnamese 70% Chinese 10% Khymer (Cambodian) 10% and the remaining 10% spread over the 50+ groups I have mentioned in previous entries.

The last organized activity of the day (see last photo) was a visit to Binh Thuy Temple . This is a private house that is 150years (approx) old was originally owned by a family that were beaurocrats during the French Colonial period and managed to keep their property as the Communists took over after 1975.

On a totally different topic, our guide pointed out today that Vietnam (which has a population of about 93 millions) has almost twice as many motorcycle/scooters (55 million) as Australia has people. Hows that for a randon useless fact.