What a day!
During the night, the sounds alternated between a crowing rooster (from around 3:00 a.m. Vietnamese time = 9:00 p.m. German time) and electro disco from 6:30 a.m. Since I haven’t adjusted to the time difference yet, of course, all of this was less than relaxing. I was just able to change rooms to the side away from the noise. 🙂
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What to have for breakfast? I have to admit that I still have to get used to recognizing what’s on offer: a cafe means that they serve coffee, many Vietnamese don’t eat anything for breakfast, then there are rice dishes or—and this is what I decided on—noodle soup with beef. (Karin – paradise!!). From the very first spoonful, I could feel my addiction beginning. Soup with noodles, meat, and all kinds of things you could put in it, such as different basil leaves. A little boy explained to me in English what options I had, very nice! Then I went to the cafe and that’s where my second addiction of the day began: the coffee is great! Vietnam is the second largest producer of coffee in the world after Brazil (dear Brazilians 🙂 Almost only Robusta is grown here. It’s a strong coffee that is drunk hot as a shot or iced, hot (ca phe de) or cold (ca phe da = written like this: cĂ phĂŞ đá), often with sweetened condensed milk (ca phe sua da). Again and again, I meet very nice people who are happy to explain things. In cafes and restaurants, you sit on kindergarten chairs, which is a bit funny, as the Vietnamese aren’t that small….
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Then I set off on my bike.
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The bike looked better than it was, but I was happy to be able to get out of Can Tho. I wanted to see the floating market from land to get an overview first. It quickly became clear that I was almost the only one on a bike; around me, to the left, right, and often in front, were motorcycles. I wanted to cycle along the promenade by the river, but after the third bridge over a side arm, I gave up and joined the line of vehicles.
Of course, cycling takes place in a crowd of moving vehicles. A traffic light phase lasts about 1.5 minutes, and as soon as the light turns green, everyone rattles off in all directions. I have experienced several times that a motorcycle came from the opposite side to my side to park there, for example… So, it works, but I have to be careful.
After my landlady told me that the market was about 7 km away, I pedaled hard, dripping with sweat… and shot right past my destination. Because at 11:00 a.m., there were hardly any boats left at the market.
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I had expected a lot of hustle and bustle, but there was hardly any. What I wanted to see wasn’t there anyway.
When it seemed strange to me, I stopped at a restaurant where the owner’s son was on vacation from his studies in America. He was very kind and explained everything to me. He also ordered a Grab car to take me and my bike back to the floating market. The owners obviously felt so sorry for me that they gave me water and some small pastries—really nice!
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I ate these delicious pastries near the floating markets in the morning, with coconut cream that I could spread on top. I’m showing the place where I had my picnic to draw attention to the big problem here: plastic waste is piling up everywhere, really everywhere. It’s very sad and frightening to see. In addition, the places I’ve seen so far are not oriented towards the river. The cafes nearby open onto the street and not the water. The water seems to play a role only in transportation and, unfortunately, in waste disposal.
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What I’m looking for hasn’t shown up yet; maybe I was just too late today.
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