A closer look

Sleeping in is the ultimate rookie mistake when trying to experience the Mekong Delta's aquatic commerce. At 5:00 AM, the Cai Rang market is a chaotic gridlock of wooden vessels. Because shouting over hundreds of roaring boat engines is futile, local merchants utilize a genius visual system: they tie their specific produce to the top of soaring bamboo poles. If you want a pineapple, you just steer your canoe toward the floating pineapple in the sky.