Floating Houses

Coming to Chau Doc, you will have a chance to discover the charming attraction in a three-hour tour. This tour will take you on the floating market, the floating village offshore, a Cham village across the river, and perhaps a peek at the Kinh Vinh Te, the canal that leads south to Ha Tien. Chau Doc Floating Village Being busiest at 7am, the floating market is about 10 minutes downstream from the central market. In the morning, many boats will be fully loaded up with goods, especially fruit to prepare for a market day. Boats head off to pick up fruit in Sa Dec or Can Tho every few days, but there’s always plenty of business in the early hours. Another stop you should not miss is the floating village, which are group of houses with the roof and wall made of aluminum. Embedded inside are lots of huge, netted ‘fish farms,’ where hundreds and hundreds of ca vo dem fish await canh chua bowls; some visitor can get shipped downriver to Can Tho and beyond. Note the huge moored wooden boats, which flood their lower decks to keep the fish alive during the trip. Additionally, Da Phuoc, a Cham village across the river on Con Tien Island from Chau Doc’s center is another must-see destination in Chau Doc. Along the streets, you will have chances to see many women wearing turbans made of Cham-style fabrics that they weave – during dry season – under their homes that stand on stilts. In the rainy season, because the river level rises up very high, Cham women usually put on conical hats or nón lá when they go to Chau Doc Market, to “blend in’ apparently. The 1992 mosque occasionally hosts wedding parity, because buildings in the village are not large enough to host the event; note the small cemetery behind the building.