To Market

Thursday, September 22, 2011




Everywhere but in Saigon, the Vietnamese morning begins with an hour or two of official broadcasts from loudspeakers throughout the town and countryside. Popular music gives way to an announcer delivering news of the government’s latest plans for each city and region. There will be new schools built to educate local children. More roads and bridges are coming. Economic development goals are being set and achieved. Then, more music, and the broadcasts end until the evening. Thoa, our program leader, explains that people don’t like to watch the news available on television, so this is how the government communicates with them.

Until the bridges and roads arrive, the river remains the Mekong Delta’s primary transportation network. We take a boat to the markets of Sa Dec; local residents join us by ferry. Fish, meat, and vegetables of every kind are for sale here. Rambuhtan, a small red spiky fruit, is everywhere in bulk, as is the larger dragon fruit, a dramatic pink melon with larger appendages and a white, watermelon-like flesh dotted with hundreds of small seeds.

The commerce of Sa Dec goes on without paying us any mind, except for my friend Cameron, who attracts a great deal of attention. The vendors, particularly the women, show him their wares, and there’s always someone to describe things in English. Close up, we find a bag full of live chickens next to a pail with others, freshly-skinned. Live fish and frogs are at the next stall, followed by oversized carrots and turnips, and small, red-green tomatoes.

The market bustles with commerce, and our fellow passengers on the Toum Teave bring back clams and snails for lunch, which the crew happily prepares. The afternoon brings rain and a change of plans; we sail early for the border town of Chau Doc, which we tour in the rain by “cyclos,” one-seater tricycles with drivers. We have arrived at sunset, just in time for the evening government announcements. Tomorrow, after a short morning visit to a small village, we will cross the border into Cambodia.