If the Central region has flood season, the river brings danger, then in the West, the flood season is the source of life for generations. When the flood comes, it is time to replenish alluvium, shrimp, fish, and natural products gather along the water, creating a prosperity that cannot be found anywhere else.
Follow the river
The biggest difference between the West and other regions is the way people live along the rivers. The intricate canal system makes it difficult to travel by road, so water transport is dominant. Gradually, trade and exchange depend largely on the river.
People buy, sell and live their daily lives on boats, here and there. The vast space of the rivers and waters of this delta is like their common home. That makes the people of the Southwest have a pleasant, open-minded and hospitable personality, because nature is gentle and kind to people.
To experience and explore the West, boat trips are probably the best choice. Just go to Ninh Kieu wharf - a famous tourist pick-up point, the tourist boats will take tourists to Cai Rang market - a gathering place for generations of people in the West.
Cai Rang Market gathers garden fruits from all over Can Tho, Vinh Long and neighboring areas: My Khanh garden village, Phong Dien, Binh Thuy, Cho Lach.
Floating markets were formed due to the dominant waterway transportation system. The intersections of rivers and wharves became ideal gathering places. Each boat was a mobile stall, selling all kinds of fruits and food. The floating market space was not only a place to buy, sell, chat, and share business. Although it has somewhat faded, the boats filled with goods displayed on the water from early morning are still an indispensable part of Southern life.
Standing on Cai Rang Bridge in the early morning, you will see layers of boats, big and small, of all colors, carrying goods, bobbing up and down. Pairs of boats, passenger boats and owner boats, huddle together like ants meeting on their journey to build a nest.
Light the oil lamp, listen to vọng cổ
From Cai Rang market, boats follow the Can Tho River to Truong Tien Canal, then follow small canals to My Khanh orchard village. This is one of the largest and most famous fruit gardens in Can Tho.
Visitors can also experience performances of traditional music and reformed opera in a complete Western space, sweet from the fruits to the songs of garden artists.
The people of the West were born from the alluvial soil of the Tien and Hau rivers, and grew up listening to the sounds of the zither, the xang xe, and vong co. Almost everyone can sing a couple of lines. Coming to the West, just going by boat and eating fruit without listening to cai luong and vong co is a bit lacking.
Lighting an oil lamp and listening to traditional music is an interesting experience that is being recreated at many destinations in this land. After the evening at the garden house, each visitor will hold an oil lamp and be led along dirt roads to traditional huts. It sounds reminiscent of the old days when Mr. Cao Van Lau used to light an oil lamp and walk around the village singing the song Da Co Hoai Lang, expressing his longing for his ex-wife.
In a space that is both cozy and close to nature, visitors can hear interesting information about the formation and development of this unique art form in the South; and marvel when the "countryside actors" perform many famous plays of the past, from Da co hoai lang, Ben cau det lua, Tinh anh ban chieu...
Western cargo boat
Experiencing the cargo boats along the Mekong Delta is also a way to explore the culture of the river region. I followed such a cargo boat from Can Tho to the orchards of Ca Mau.
Boats from Can Tho often follow the Xang Nga Nam or Quan Lo - Phung Hiep canals to the South. Depending on the water season and the need to get goods, boat owners choose the appropriate route. The further down the road, the less developed it is, so people in the West in remote areas still need such cargo boats.
When the boats reach the big canals, they continue to weave their way into the small canals to supply the people in the garden. Sometimes the boats stop at the guest house in front of the canal at midnight. The houses near the riverbanks are awakened by the cries and the rumbling of diesel engines. They are probably eagerly waiting for new goods, from shampoo, washing powder to clothes, dried food, cakes and Tet fruits - just like the way the people in the Central Highlands of my hometown wait for the goods trucks coming from the city.
People in the remote areas of the West often wait for such shipments. The Tet boat also carries apricot and marigold flowers for people to buy to welcome spring. Tet flowers are often from famous flower villages such as Sa Dec, Cho Lach, Vi Thanh, Phuoc Dinh, carrying all kinds of flowers, big and small, to serve the needs of people in the garden to decorate for Tet, to welcome their children working far away back home.
Anyone who has lived in the West will surely not forget the river in front of their house with the cargo boats, fishing boats, and sampans going back and forth morning and night. On those boats, sometimes you hear a very interesting sound that, when you are away for a long time, your stomach will always remember: who is raising catfish, who is selling catfish in the season?
In addition to announcing that cargo boats are entering the canal, the sound also means that the boats are selling on credit. When the rice season comes, the boats will return to collect the money. Although economic life has improved and the young generation has moved to the city to make a living, the remaining people still cling to the rivers and canals. Their main economy still depends on the rice crop.
Harvest season is abundant, when sowing season comes, all capital is poured into the fields. For generations, rice has depended on the alluvial soil from the upper Mekong River, but in recent years, the rice harvest has become increasingly difficult. Boats that sell on credit sometimes return when the season comes, but there are no more debtors. The cargo boat trips from the West gradually become less frequent.
First near the market, second near the river - civilizations for generations have been associated with rivers. Rivers have more or less influenced the character of people in each region. Rivers sometimes change course, river mouths are sometimes silted up, like the nine branches of the Mekong Delta now only have seven mouths. But its traces for generations are still evident in the lives and culture of generations of Vietnamese people...
Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/ngang-doc-song-nuoc-mien-tay-3148305.html
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