Sunday Market, Meo Vac, Vietnam

Mèo Vạc is a small mountain town on the highway that begins in the northern city of Hà Giang and loops through spectacular mountain scenery before returning to Hà Giang. This road and the sights along the road are a major tourist attraction in Vietnam. Many of the people living in and around Mèo Vạc are citizens of Vietnam, but ethnically not Vietnamese. The Hmong are an important group in this area, and there are a number of other ethnic groups who live and work in this part of northern Vietnam.

Floating Market, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Châu Đốc is a Vietnamese city sitting on the country’s border with Cambodia. The Hau River (Sông Hậu), part of the massive Mekong Delta system of rivers, flows through Châu Đốc. Every morning a floating market is busy in the center of the river. People from the northern side of the river bring their fruits and vegetables to the market for buyers from the south side who take their wholesale purchases back to markets in the city.

Riverside Market, Mekong Delta

The loading dock pictured here serves a riverside market in the small city of Cái Bè, which is about 100 km to the southwest of Saigon and 85 km from where the Mekong spills into the East Sea. Fruits and vegetables are grown on one side of the river and ferried to urban markets on the other side. These workers are handling large baskets of rambutan fruit.