After visiting many landscapes in the Mekong Delta, tourists should go to the remote province of Dong Thap to feel its beautiful nature in high-tide season. Most of the Dong Thap Muoi land is a huge low-lying area with an extensive indigo forest, meadow and lotus ponds which are considered the green lungs of the South. From the beginning of September, the area is immensely flooded giving a good opportunity for aquatic creatures to develop drastically. Why don’t you go to the Tram Chim Market in Tam Nong District of the province in high-tide season to discover many specialties of the Mekong Delta and to learn more about the culture and activities of the region.
It’s 170 kilometers from HCMC to Cao Lanh City of Dong Thap Province. Rolling on Provincial Road 30 for more than 30 kilometers, tourists will arrive at Thanh Binh Town. From here, it’s about 17 kilometers to Tram Chim Town.
Along both sides of the road to Tram Chim, tourists will see enormous fields flooded in dazzling white like a sea. In the distance are some small houses hiding under rows of trees.
Tram Chim Town looks bustling and crowded like an oasis in the middle of the flood. After ten minutes of walking for relaxation, tourists begin to enter the market to do sightseeing or to buy fresh specialties caught by farmers and fishermen in high-tide season.
The first strong sensation coming to each tourist is from seeing the snakes. The market has many iron cages containing hundreds of live snakes who spend all their time trying to escape from these cages. Most of them are bong sung (water-lily snake), ho hanh, ri voi, ri ca, trun and rau. These are common residents of the Mekong Delta’s fields and swamps. They have no venom and they are not endangered so there’s no restriction to trading them.
Tram Chim Town looks bustling and crowded like an oasis in the middle of the flood. After ten minutes of walking for relaxation, tourists begin to enter the market to do sightseeing or to buy fresh specialties caught by farmers and fishermen in high-tide season.
The first strong sensation coming to each tourist is from seeing the snakes. The market has many iron cages containing hundreds of live snakes who spend all their time trying to escape from these cages. Most of them are bong sung (water-lily snake), ho hanh, ri voi, ri ca, trun and rau. These are common residents of the Mekong Delta’s fields and swamps. They have no venom and they are not endangered so there’s no restriction to trading them.
An owner of a store selling snakes in the Tram Chim Market told the Daily that high-tide season ran from the beginning of September to the end of November. Every day, his store sells from 150 to 200 kilos of snakes to customers from Saigon and Can Tho City and about 4 tons of snakes each month. A kilo of snake is from VND60,000 to VND80,000. Customers who want to buy unique snakes such as ho dat, mai gam, ho heo, ho ngua or gam python, must pay a deposit because they are rare.
Tortoise is also sold here for VND250,000 per kilo for golden tortoise, VND150,000 per kilo for nap tortoise and VND120.000 per kilo for sen tortoise.
Farmers catch field mice by the thousands and sell them at the market.
At dawn, the wharf of Tram Chim Market is crowded and uproarious with hundreds of customers and dealers trading fishes. Tourists can find tens of boats carrying linh fishes anchored at the wharf. According to one boat owner, in the Mekong Delta’s high-tide season there are a lot of linh fishes at the cheapest prices from VND4,000 to VND5,000 per kilo. A kilo of linh fish in some markets in Can Tho City is VND30,000.
Vegetables abound at the market, from the most popular kinds to more unusual ones that are specialties of the South, such as bong dien dien (cork) in yellow color, bong sung (water-lily) in beautiful purple, bong sung ma having simple white flowers and more. These vegetables, which can be eaten raw, cooked or boiled, are excellent with fish sauce.
Visiting Dong Thap Muoi and the Tram Chim Market in high-tide season, tourists will store noteworthy memories of the daily activities of the remote market with its diverse and strange-looking specialties that are not to be seen anywhere else.
