Travelfish newsletter Issue 324 : Floating markets + Chau Doc + State of Emergency
Hi all,
If you’ve never experienced weather where is is 33 degrees and roughly 12,000% humidity—before 8am—then I suggest you travel to Vietnam’s Mekong Delta in September. I am dying.
A small update to our message last week about what we are doing with regards to our coverage of Burma, and what we will be doing with revenue earned from that part of the website: We’re pleased to advise we have sorted out a means to get the money direct to the families concerned. We’ll be making a payment at the end of each month and people in the country are generously helping us to get the money to them. Thank you to them and thank you also to the readers who got in touch voicing their support. Don’t know what we are talking about? We have a brief write–up here.
This week our book review is of State of Emergency by Jeremy Tiang. Sam says: “At once deeply researched and genuinely human, State of Emergency is one of the best historical novels we’ve read about anywhere in Southeast Asia”. It's not just her who enjoyed it: It won the 2018 Singapore Literature Prize last month. You better go read it!
New on the site: We have fresh coverage for Sa Dec and Cao Lanh, both in Vietnam’s steaming Mekong Delta.
Good travels,
Stuart, Sam and the Travelfish crew
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Soapbox
On floating markets
I’m back in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta at the moment and in a conversation with a guesthouse owner a few days ago I mentioned that I'd noticed a declining number of boats at some of the floating markets. The owner said that they give Cai Bae Market five years before it ceases to exist, at least from the perspective of locals using it.
Over the past year, a number of stories have appeared in the Vietnamese news media about the sinking floating market scene. Caught in the crosshairs of a growing number of big-box retailers and supermarkets, better roads and more efficient ground transport, it is often simply the case that a boat load of watermelons is not going to float your boat the way it did a decade ago.
The focus has been on Cai Rang floating market near Can Tho, with this typical of the coverage:
“Once reportedly two kilometres (over one mile) long, Cai Rang Market is a shadow of its former self. There are about 300 boats on the water now, down from 550 in 2005, according to the local tourism office.”
When I visited Cai Bae Market (near Vinh Long) the other day, I was staggered by how small it has become. Perhaps a dozen large boats were offloading primarily watermelons, but very few boats were buying. While we were the only tourist boat there (and I the only passenger), this could have been a timing issue. But there was little point hanging around.
News stories have suggested that the saviour of these markets could be tourists themselves, but it is difficult to imagine anything other than a tourist trap like Damnoen Saduak in Thailand, where tourists outnumber vendors probably 20 to one and you’re more likely to see Amazing Thailand T-shirts being sold than watermelons.
In a way, floating markets could be to Vietnam’s tourism promotion what elephants were to Thailand’s. For decades, elephants and elephant riding featured prominently in tourism marketing of the kingdom. Now that has become a less acceptable activity in the eyes of many, the country's tourism authority has been working hard to try and shift the focus somewhat (watch them and hose them down, rather than ride them).
In Vietnam’s case, you’ll struggle to find a tourism brochure on the Mekong Delta that doesn’t include a photo (or 10) of floating markets. They’ve been a crutch for the region forever. Vietnam Tourism needs to start rethinking this, yesterday.
Of course the markets, especially Cai Rang, will be around for a bit, but people need to start thinking outside the box—there is far more to the region than coconut candy factories and crocodile farms. Some excellent wetlands are spread across the region, a number of fascinating war-period sites can be visited, the food is fabulous and the hospitality outstanding. The region is also flatter than a ban xeo (a Vietnamese pancake), so it's ideal for cycling.
Could the Mekong Delta be a cornerpiece for Vietnam’s slow-travel scene? We think so, and we hope Vietnam Tourism does, too.
Go explore!
Stuart
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What we’ve read
State of Emergency by Jeremy Tiang
Sprawling across several generations and historical events, Jeremy Tiang’s Singapore-set State of Emergency is multilayered and nuanced.
Featured
Chau Doc
Set just shy of the Cambodian border (if you climb Sam mountain a little to the south of town you can clearly see Cambodia), we like to think of Vietnam’s Chau Doc as a bit similar to Surat Thani in southern Thailand.
Passing through lotus ponds at Tra Su. Photo: Stuart McDonald
Why? It is one of those classic spots which the vast majority of travellers find themselves in solely because they are headed somewhere else. In Surat Thani’s case, people are heading to (or from) some of Thailand’s gulf islands, but almost none overnight in Surat Thani unless they have to. Of course we think Surat Thani is worth a few nights (and we said as much in a newsletter not all that long ago) and much the same could be said for Chau Doc.
In Chau Doc, it is all about the speedboat. People arrive late in the afternoon on a bus from Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho, Rach Gia, or somewhere else in the Delta, knowing full well they have a speedboat to catch first thing the next morning to whisk them up to Phnom Penh (it is a beautiful trip—if you have the time, do do it). So they arrive in town, find a hotel, dump the bags, stuff face and perhaps have a few cold drinks by the river and call it a day.
Bun ca on a boat at Chau Doc floating market. Photo: Stuart McDonald
Now what we say, is yes do that, but don't get the speedboat the next day—get it the day after—or the day after that! Slow down!
As with just about anywhere in the Mekong Delta, Chau Doc has some excellent food, and a terrific market, but there is more. Around 30km to the south of town is Tra Su Forest—a bird sanctuary and wetland area which makes for an excellent half day trip. Closer to town, just downriver actually—you could swim there, but you’d struggle to stop, is Chau Doc floating market—well worth a look. Then, across the river, there are a couple of Cham villages—visit them for the striking mosques and lovely woven Cham fabrics. There is the aforementioned Sam Mountain where you can get a scooter to the top and enjoy some pretty spectacular views over the surrounds.
Typical scenes around Cho Chau Doc. Photo: Stuart McDonald
Now you’d need two days to fit all that in comfortably, but with one very full day you could fit a lot of it in. And bear in mind we’re just scraping the surface on this—these travellers headed up to a silk village in Tan Chau to the north of Chau Doc, and further to the south is Ba Chuc—a monument to the barbarism of the Khmer Rouge (we ran out of time for both of these), so there is no shortage of reasons to stick around.
So slow down and stay another day.
Read more about Chau Doc here.
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News from the region
BURMA: Rakhine: Time for a new approach
“This is not about narrow interests: what is best for the Rohingya or Rakhine, or for the NLD or military. This is about Myanmar’s national interest. If the government continues on the present path, it will only further entrench its growing isolation and make genuine progress in Rakhine a more remote prospect. ”
BURMA II: The Lady doth protest too seldom (story from 2013)
“The second is that the most prominent leaders in the democracy camp and the generals have many more points in common than was immediately recognisable in former times.”
CAMBODIA I: Cambodian opposition leader released but put under house arrest
“Hundreds of supporters and media gathered outside Kem Sokha’s Phnom Penh home on Monday. The gates to his home stayed closed and a lawyer for Kem Sokha said he would not be meeting with supporters anytime soon.”
CAMBODIA II: The James Ricketson trial
“But sadly, for Cambodians, the idea that you might be arrested on politically-motivated charges and imprisoned for years with no evidence is not an anomaly, it’s a fact of life.”
CAMBODIA III: Beat Richner dead at age 71
“Charismatic Swiss doctor and cellist Beat Richner, the founder of the Kantha Bopha Hospitals in Cambodia, died of a serious illness on Sunday at the age 71, his foundation said.” RIP
INDONESIA: “How do you interview God?”
“The restoration of the temple to its former glory took several months. According to Atu, the money promised by the government to help pay for it never materialised. Instead the refurbishment was made possible by donations from the local community.” An excellent read.
LAOS II: Getting high in Laos’ opium-riddled mountains
“While opium cultivation could eventually make little economic sense, Laos' more urgent drug problem is with methamphetamine.” 5,700 hectares does not equate to “riddled” in our humble opinion, but still an interesting story.
MALAYSIA: Malaysian PM says caning of lesbians counter to 'compassion of Islam'
“The LGBT community is routinely persecuted in Malaysia, where it is seen as a threat to conservative values.”
SOUTHEAST ASIA: The demographics of Southeast Asian jihadism
“Despite this challenge, a competent data-driven analysis can nonetheless help to illuminate the demographics of regional jihadism by painting a fuller picture than existed previously, so long as researchers do not over-interpret their results, and are aware of this representativeness problem.”
THAILAND: 'Under Swami's spell': 14 tourists claim sexual assault by guru at Thai yoga retreat
“Multiple accounts given to the Guardian, by both men and women, claimed Tarcau was “taking advantage” and “manipulating” vulnerable women under the guise of tantric healing. ”
Travel writing
OVERTOURISM I: Are we killing tourist destinations for an Instagram photo?
“Closer to home, places like Bali, Byron Bay and parts of Tasmania have also been feeling pressure from skyrocketing visitors.”
OVERTOURISM II: How can destinations spread demand?
Interesting. Not sure we agree on variable pricing, we prefer something like X number of bods are allowed and tickets costs this much. Sold out? Come tomorrow. Obviously no tickets for agents. Agree 200% on transparency. People will be (generally) more receptive when they know where the $$ are going (if they agree with where they are going!).
SINGAPORE: What makes street food clutter in Thailand, heritage in Singapore
“The hawker trade wasn’t always this popular. In 2003, the number of stalls had dropped to fewer than 3,000, but in recent years this has surged to nearly 14,000, according to the National Environment Agency.”
THAILAND: Gentlemen’s Club Bangkok
“Cristina de Middel’s ongoing project, Gentlemen's Club, focuses on prostitution’s less well documented side: men. In the latest instalment of the global series the photographer travelled to Thailand, where prostitution and the associated industries constitute a sizeable share of the nation's GDP.”
VIETNAM I: 80 years of Vietnam’s north-south railway line
“However, the majority of those using the line were passengers of limited means who were obliged to endure long journeys in what amounted to little more than luggage vans.”
VIETNAM II: The Vietnam Coracle map
VIETNAM III: The 19 best things to do in Vietnam
Interesting site
New Naratif
They turned one last week. How about subscribing?
Travel shot
Chau Doc’s surrounding countryside is great for exploring—especially by bicycle. Photo: Stuart McDonald
Till next time
That’s it from us for now. As usual, enjoy the site’s new additions and drop us a line if there’s something in particular you’d like us to cover in Southeast Asia.
Travel light!
Stuart, Sam & the Travelfish team
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