Cai Be, one of the many well-known floating markets in the western region of southern Vietnam was formed in the Nguyen Dynasty in the 19th century. The Cai Be Floating Market is always busy, bearing all the characteristics of the locals’ life in the western region.

Cai Be floating market takes place where Tien River forms the border between Tien Giang, Vinh Long and Ben Tre provinces. It's said to be a fruit-market of the Southern part and the market is cultural identity of the Mekong Delta. It takes about an hour to reach the market from Vinh Long town. It runs from 5 am to 5 pm. Normally, fruits are sold and brought to big boats. Then they will be transported to fruit-processing factories or to Ho Chi Minh City, Vung Tau, even to Hanoi and Northern provinces.

It's a floating market' but services are available, foods and drinks on small boats twist and turn to serve hungry sellers and buyers. Signal to buy is only a whistling or waving band. Apart from fruits, local products: snakes, birds, turtles... are easy to find near Phung Hiep bridge. These specialties are almost bought and brought to restaurants in Can Tho or Ho Chi Minh City.

Every day, approximately 400 -500 boats filled with fruits, vegetables and other products gather a long the banks of the river, waiting for traders and customers but the most interesting thing to see the huge Catholic Cathedral here on the riverside. It makes the fantastic spot for visitors to take photographs. The merchandise sold in each boat is hung on a high pole in front of the boat as a sample to attract customers from a distance. All the goods are transported to the market by rafts and boats.

The market is divided into two parts: buying and selling places. Rafts and boats are anchored along the two sides of the river for kilometres. From the floating market, goods are shifted for selling at inland markets or small boats take them for delivery along canals in the Plain of Reeds.

From three 3 am in the early morning, rafts and boats are crowded since Cai Be is one of the biggest wholesale markets in the region. Traders live on the river and some link their lives with boats like their mobile house for generations. Cai Be seems to be an inseparable part of their daily lives.

On each boat, goods are hung on poles that are called dialectically “cay beo”. Hundreds of such poles point the sky wards. Boats also operate like “taxis,” very convenient for tourists around the region.

Along the criss crossing canals, people in the Plain of Reeds take not only goods of each countryside to the Cai Be Floating Market but also their unique cultural characteristics, creating such a beautiful river painting.