Can tho, Vietnami – As dawn breaks down can be, the city’s river is filled with noisy motors of tourist ships.
In the distance, traditional wooden house boats emerge through the dark light while the cavity market of CAI stood out.
Cai Rang, and other markets like it, were once among the most popular cultural icons of southern Vietnam, with a story dating back to the early 20th century.
Before the development of roads and bridges, numerous water roads of the Delta region were the main means of trade and transport, leading to the development of floating markets where the channels converged.
But over the past two decades, the markets have been reduced to size at the same time as the rapid economic development of Vietnam – first gradually, then suddenly – and only two of the 10 main markets of the region maintain any important presence.
“When I first visited [Cai Rang] The market in 2011 was much bigger, ”Linh told a local guide, Al Jazeera told.
“Now it’s about one -third of that size,” said Linh, who led daily tournaments in the market until a few years ago.
Today, CAI Rang includes about 200 ships, less than half of it during its roof in the 1990s.
The near PHONG DIEN market has been reduced to less than a dozen ship and disappeared mainly by tourist itineraries.
Cai to be, a market once widespread in neighboring province Ben three, is among those who have completely disappeared, closing for good in 2021.
Historically the largest of the Delta markets, Cai Rang still resembles a good-size assembly-at least from afar.
In the nearest inspection, the market looks rarer. Nowadays, tourist ships are a significant portion of water traffic.
However, the market works as always, as the sampans are loaded with products from the larger “wholesalers”, which then returns to the markets on the ground.
For many sellers, boats double as a house.
Everyday life is on the full screen as boat residents wash water dishes from the river, cook foods on small stoves or rest in hammocks – often with children and pet dogs.
However, behind the photogenic charm, anxieties extend.
“The business is not good,” told Phuc Phuc, who works in the market selling pineapple to tourists, Al Jazeera told.
Sometimes it sells only 10 pineapples a day at 20,000 Dong Vietnamese ($ 0.78) each.
“Only in the high season is it possible to make enough money. The rest of the time, we are barely surviving. “
Until two years ago, Phuc and her husband worked as a wholesale seller selling yams.
Weekdo week for the previous 25 years, they would travel to a long province, near the city of Ho Chi Minh, to restore their boat – a process that lasted a few days there and back.
But while road infrastructure has improved in the last decade, land-based trade has become faster and more cost-effective, seeking the need for river-based trade.
“The only people who continue to work here are those who can’t afford to buy a van or a big car [to deliver produce]”Al Jazeera told her husband, than.
Tuyen, who works as a wholesale seller who sells onions, garlic and sweet potatoes, is also weak.
“Ten years ago, I earned good money doing this, but now it’s just enough to do,” she told Al Jazeera as she prepared a breakfast of fish soup in her boat. “Everything is harder now.”
Tuyen said Pandemia Covid-19 was a turning point, after which many sellers, unable to meet the edges, passed to work on the ground.
Asked why she did not join them, she showed rental fees for a market country – about five million Dong Vietnamese ($ 195).
In the boat, she has no rent to pay.
“I would prefer to stay on the ground – it’s more comfortable and convenient – but I have no money,” she said.
While improved roads are often mentioned as the reason for the decline of markets, other factors have played a role.
Many smaller markets have struggled to recover from temporary closure during the pandemic, as health and safety regulations promoted a relocation on land -based markets.
Poor planning has further exacerbated the situation.
To address the annual flood of Delta Mekong, authorities have in recent years built walls for the prevention of floods along the banks of the Can Tho River, one of its numerous waterways.
While these walls have helped reduce floods and erosion, the lack of Piers has made it more difficult for river -based trade.
The broader cultural changes also throw a cloud on the future of the floating market.
While Vietnam modernizes, the younger generations are turning their back on their parents’ trade, seeking better education and career opportunities.
“My daughter doesn’t want to work here,” Phuc said. “She prefers to work in her conditions for a company and invest in shares. She’s not like us – she doesn’t like this life. “
Although sellers may worry about the future, Cai Rang survival seems to have a small consequence for the average resident of Can Tho’s near city.
These days, most people bought at supermarkets and shopping malls and have little reason to visit Cai Rang.
“For me, it’s nothing special,” told a hotel receptionist who visited the market only once, Al Jazeera told him, seeking not to be named.
However, tourism contributes approximately 6 percent to the city’s economy, with the CAI sailing market fell the main equation.
In 2017, the city greeted 7.5 million tourists, according to official figures.
As the arrivals hit 5.9 million in 2023 after they left practically nothing during the pandemic, the numbers remain significantly under their peak.
Most of this is due to the consequences of the pandemia and a reduced number of flights from other parts of Vietnam, according to Son Ca Huynh, who runs a tour company in Can Tho.
If the floating market is to be closed, efforts to revive tourism are likely to become even more difficult.
Huynh, who is being branched into cooking classes and ships of the beaten-track channel ship, said efforts to preserve the market can focus on its appeal to tourists, citing Bangkok’s floating markets as an example than its trading function.
“In the Bangkok markets, they sell a lot of different things,” Huynh al Jazeera told. “Here, we sell mostly fruits and vegetables.”
But to do so, she said, the government will have to do more to encourage traders to stay, including building new scaffolding and their help to increase their income – which she believes are unlikely given the cost involved.
In any case, Huynh said, the market will lose its authenticity and its cultural value.
“In my mind, it wouldn’t be alike,” she said.
From 8am, the day’s trade has ended in Cai Rang.
The sun is raised above the river coast lined by the palm trees, and the sellers are resting in their home boats. But Linh, the tournament guide, suspects the tranquility will last and expects CAI to be closed within a few years.
“Then I will have to look for a new job,” she said.