The Mekong Diaries – Chau Doc, Vietnam

Thursday 12th July 2018

Day 6 of “Classical Civilizations” cruise aboard ms Jahan

The previous day had been spent onboard the ms Jahan as border crossing formalities were taken care of by the team onboard. We purchased our Vietnamese visa via the ship and the fee was simply added to our account. This day began the first leg of our Vietnam portion of this Mekong River Cruise with a lively port of Chau Doc.

We set out early in the morning for a little cruise around a floating market where foods (mainly fruits and vegetables) are wholesaled and on-sold to local vendors to sell in their markets.

We travelled by local ‘tri-shaw’, a 3-wheeled tricycled rickshaw that picked us up at the dock and took us to a local busy market for a wander around. Below you will see some footage and images. I do love a local market as it is a real eye-opener into the culture of any place you happen to be at. Whether that be the frozen snails in a Paris supermarket, to the wriggling ‘snake-head’ fish here in Vietnam…

After the market we headed out by boat to a fish farm on the banks of the Mekong River where an astounding amount of fish each year are grown and harvested for local consumption and even some export. With Vietnamese and Cambodians using seafood and fish as a very large part of their diet, the Mekong fish farms are a sustainable alternative in a time where dams further north in China are seriously affecting the fish breeding cycles on this ancient waterway…

By Sam Patton – Product Manager – Cruise Traveller