vietnam floating market struggles to stay above water

Fixed weighing scales used to be a good business in Vietnam\'s floating Cai Xiang market, but with modernity pushing traders to land, the last repairman on the river now earns only a few dollars a month.
Nguyen Van Ut, surrounded by dusty old scales on his messy houseboat, says the vendors are giving up their boats at terra firma to live a better life, supermarket
\"I don\'t have many customers now.
It was OK in the past, but now many boats have left the water market. . .
The man on board has turned to the vehicle. year-old told AFP.
Thirty years ago, after his wife and two sons drowned in an accident, he began a maintenance business on the Can Tho River to support his surviving children.
Life was good for a while, but now he relies on the alms of the children-
Three of them work in nearby Can city.
It was reported that the two-kilometer-long market was its former shadow.
According to the local tourism bureau, there are now about 300 ships on the water, down from 550 in 2005.
It has become a victim of the economic rise of the Mekong Delta, which has grown rapidly over the past decade.
Nearly 570,000 jobs have been created in industry and construction, lifting many people out of poverty.
But people like Ut are left behind and cannot live on shore.
Even vendors who earn decent wages from tourists pouring into the market are eager for the benefits of living on the land: better housing, better work and modern facilities.
Nguyen Thi Hong Tuoi started working on the water as a child, just like her previous mother and grandmother.
Although she made a lot of money, she did not want her daughter to inherit the family tradition.
\"In the future, I will let my daughter live on land so that she can learn and have a suitable job,\" 34year-
The old man told AFP that while her elderly mother was resting in a hammock, their boat was surrounded by sacks of cassava.
This is a common wish for young people in Vietnam, where more than half of 93 million people are under 30 years of age and are eager for rapid development
A city that is constantly developing for work. -
Supermarket crowded
The origin of the Cai Ling market can be traced back to the time when Vietnam and its neighbors Cambodia and Laos were occupied by the French, and it was easy for the French to exploit the natural resources of the once-known colony of Indochina.
Canal network in the Mekong Delta-
Nature and Peoplemade --
In the absence of a reliable road network, it is used to transport goods and personnel.
Today, there are about a dozen surviving markets in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, although many have shrunk like Cai Xiang.
\"The local government is trying to keep the floating market alive (preserve)
Culture and attracting more tourists, \"said Nguyen Thi Huynh Phuong, a lecturer at nearby Can Tho University, who studied the history of the market.
It is still a wholesale market where vendors wake up every day before dawn, load boats with watermelons or radishes, and promote their products by placing them on the bamboo poles of the bow.
But its charm attracts millions of tourists every year, buying noodles, fruits and coffee from water merchants, making it a well. Built pit
Stop on the Mekong tourist trail.
The government recognized the market as a tourist hotspot, and last year it designated Tsai as a national heritage.
For vendors like Ly Hung who have lived on the water for 26 years, visitors have helped them maintain their traditional lifestyle.
\"Without tourism, the floating market will disappear,\" he said . \"