Month: June 2022

One of the places that many tourists come to every morning when coming to An Giang is Chau Doc market.  Chau Doc Market is located in the heart of the city, is the gathering place of the most attractive specialty items in the area such as fish sauce, fruits, vegetables and all the local dishes prepared on the spot.

By Thomas Vietnam at vemekong.com | Official Chau Doc Visitor Guide

1. Better to Know as a Tourist

Ticket:  Free

Spend-time: Half an hour (approx)

Hours: Dawn – dusk

Food: Yes      

Shop: Yes

Parking lot: Yes

Blog: https://vemekong.com/chau-doc-market-an-giang/

Address:  Chau Doc Market is located on Bach Dang Street, Chau Phu An Ward, in the center of Chau Doc City, An Giang Province

Added values: Traveling to An Giang, do not forget to spend time walking around the busy Chau Doc market. And remember to come with an empty stomach to be able to eat all the delicious gifts here. Moreover, Local people are very friendly.

Nearby attractions and hidden gems: Looking for places to stop on your way to and from Chau Doc Market? Or maybe you found it too crowded here? We’ve got some ideas! Check out our list: Tra Su Cajuput Forest (27 km), Sam Mountain (7 Km), Cam mountain (40 km), Chau Doc Floating Market (10 km), 30 Thang 4 Park in Chau Doc (3 minutes)…

2. Travel Guide to Chau Doc Market

Usually, small merchants, stalls or small retail salesmen in the market open their goods very early, around 5:00 am – 5:30 pm, when trading and exchange activities take place.  Chau Doc Market meets from early morning to late evening, always crowded with customers.  Therefore, if you want to buy delicious ingredients and enjoy hot dishes, the ideal time is from 6:00 to 8:00.  With this period of time, you will fully see the bustling, bustling and diverse images of a market called a food paradise.

Chau Doc Market in An Giang sells a lot of different goods, divided into zones such as: instant food, fruit and vegetable market, fish market, clothing market, etc. Thanks to the good arrangement.  methodically and neatly, so when you come here, you can visit and find the items you need quite easily.

Types of fish sauce

In addition to the name Chau Doc market, locals also call it with another familiar name, Cho Mam. Because this place is the gathering point, exchanging and buying all kinds of different kinds of fish sauce such as Linh fish sauce, fish sauce, snakehead fish, pickled eggplant sauce, etc. The pots of fish are neatly arranged and eye-catchingly decorated.  .  Each type of fish sauce sold at Chau Doc market is named after the raw fish to make it easier to remember.  Going to Chau Doc market, standing hundreds of meters away, you can smell the characteristic aroma emanating from the stalls in the fish market.  With the quantity supplying thousands of tons per year to consumers nationwide and neighboring countries such as Laos and Cambodia.  Chau Doc Market is really a place that makes people overwhelmed by its characteristics.

Many stalls of fish sauce or more famous in Chau Doc market for many years have been known to locals and tourists such as Ms. Khoe’s fish sauce, Hai Xuyen’s sauce… In particular, the price of fish sauce here is extremely cheap, seemingly equal to 1.  1/2 or 1/3 compared to other places and clearly listed prices.  Therefore, if you are a believer who likes to eat fish sauce, this is the right place for you to bring everything to bring home.  A few types of easy-to-eat fish sauce that you can buy at the market are Linh fish sauce, Sat fish sauce, snakehead fish sauce, trout fish sauce, Ro fish sauce, Dot fish sauce, etc. These types are eaten raw or cooked with fish sauce (steamed fish sauce, vermicelli, hot pot sauce… are all delicious.

One of the products that people like is Thai fish sauce.  Snakehead fish is filtered, boned, skin is then shredded, mixed with shredded papaya and ram bacon, rice, sugar, and chili peppers added.  The sugar used to make fish sauce is jaggery, a specialty of An Giang.  Thai fish sauce served with raw vegetables, acrid bananas, and boiled bacon is delicious.

Ba Khia mam is a very familiar specialty dish for the people of the Southwest region, it resembles a crab and lives mainly in the canals. It has three stripes on its back, so people call it Ba Khia.  Ba Khia Mam has a long history along with the years of the southern people’s opening and reclamation period.  At the end of May is the season of Ba Khia, the people of Kien Giang, Ca Mau, An Giang … harvest Ba Khia and Ba Khia fish is also produced to eat all year round.

In Chau Doc, thanks to the support and attention of the authorities at all levels, the establishments, businesses, and craft villages of making fish sauce have the conditions to grow stronger and more sustainable.  The government together with craft villagers build a collective brand;  provide technical support to people in the application and upgrade of technological equipment, using enzymes in fish sauce processing stages to help shorten the time of maturing without changing product structure and quality…  This helps to save production costs while the product still meets hygiene standards.

Dry food

Besides delicious fish sauce products, dried copper fish with hundreds of types are also sold at Chau Doc market.  Famous here is the specialty of dried pangasius with the ingredients being fish raised from the raft villages at the confluence of the Hau River.

 Chau Doc Market also sells delicious dried snakes.  In addition to high-value specialty dried products, the market also sells many types of dried wild fish such as dried choke fish, dried carp, dried peg fish, dried bream, etc. dangling, clean as if inviting visitors. 

Shopping experience at Chau Doc market, An Giang

Chau Doc Market is a large market of An Giang province, attracting many foreign tourists to visit.  Therefore, the situation of saying low prices, bullying tourists is inevitable.  If you’re a tourist, no matter what market you go to, you need to have a few shopping tips to make sure you’re buying at the right price.

Ask the price of food at the area selling instant food.  Detecting prices if you want to buy clothes and shoes: For locals in the Bay Nui area, perhaps skillful bidding is not too strange anymore.  But if you are from afar and are afraid to pay the price, the best way is to check the price before buying!  Do this, you will see the same item, the same quality but the price is different!

Be careful with poor quality goods: An Giang is quite close to the Cambodian border, and is a pick-up point in other regions such as Thailand and China, so besides quality products, there are still many poor goods.  quality, imitation of famous brands.  When buying, be sure to look closely at the barcode and the packaging.  Often fake goods will have colors, printing methods are quite careless, if you have a little eye you will immediately detect them.

Preserving personal property is essential when visiting and shopping.

Most of the food items are only for a short time, so you should buy in sufficient quantity.

If you buy fish sauce to take home, ask them to pack it in plastic or glass containers with high tightness.

3. What to Do –See – Eat at Chau Doc Market

After walking around the fish market, you remember going to the food court to enjoy An Giang specialties.  At the market you can find more than 100 different dishes.  From play dishes, snacks to non-dessert dishes, all are available.

Whether you want to eat or not, there are dishes such as vermicelli, grilled vermicelli, old vermicelli vermicelli, grilled fish vermicelli, pancakes, banh chung, broken rice, beef noodle soup… Chau Doc market is famous for fish noodles with the aroma of pots.  The big broth mixes with the invitation to create an indescribably bustling space.

If you want to snack, eat a lot, there are fried bread, rolls, fried eggs, fried mussels with white rice, green vegetable salad, fish salad, banh beo, banh cuon, spring rolls, … One thing to notice  When looking for snacks, you should look for stalls selling by trolleys, street vendors or in a small stall.  The snacks at these places are often processed by many skilled people, so the food will be very delicious.

Along with savory dishes, sweet dishes such as jaggery beef cake, pork skin cake, banh cuon… are all delicious and attractive flavors.  Throughout the small street in the market, you can easily see street vendors with all kinds of cakes.  Their price is quite cheap, beef cake is only about 5000 VND / piece.

Especially, after enjoying it, don’t forget to order yourself a cool glass of jaggery.  This is a branchless tree, similar to a coconut tree, but with a taller and larger body, spreading leaves like palm leaves.  The fruit is made into a chamber (called Quay in the South), the fruit is as big as a Siamese coconut, inside has a white (rice) kernel that looks like water coconut rice.  The jaggery juice is sweet and cool, even just one sip is enough to make it difficult for visitors to forget the taste.  Many stalls in Chau Doc market sell fresh jaggery, there are many stalls that process jaggery into many dishes such as jasmine jelly, jaggery beef cake… According to An Giang travel experience, if you want to enjoy jaggery, Fresh and delicious, you should come here from January to July of the lunar calendar.  This is the season for jaggery to bloom and bear fruit.

There are also extremely attractive types of tea such as: é seed tea, latex cotton tea, Thot Not juice, bean tea, bean tea for sale … that you can eat on the spot or take away.

This place also sells specialty fruits and vegetables of An Giang river region such as Xay fruit, Thailand May fruit, persimmon, cana, banana, etc. You can enjoy eating and choosing special dishes.  products bought as gifts.

The shape of the fruit has a slightly flattened oval shape.  The outer skin of the ground fruit is black or dark brown.  The outer skin of the crushed fruit is crispy, when eaten, just gently press it with your hand to break the shell to reveal the inner flesh.  Visitors can buy a bag of pureed fruit to bring along the way.  Forest ground fruit when eaten in the mouth has a sour taste, for a longer time will find it sweet and especially fragrant.

Rattan  is also a fruit that is sold a lot in Chau Doc market.  The thorny rattan fruit is orange, turning slightly black when ripe.  This fruit originates from Thailand and was imported to An Giang across the Cambodian border.  The outside of the fruit has small but not sharp spines, easy to peel.  The thorny rattan has an aroma that is both like a jackfruit and a little bit of the scent of the mountains.  When enjoying through thorny clouds, visitors can feel the characteristic sweet and sour taste.

Interspersed with stalls of fish sauce and food, you can come across more than 25 dishes of vegetables, tubers, pickled and crunchy fruits.  Prominent among them can be mentioned dishes that women like very much such as: pickled toads, pickled tamarind, pickled mango, pickled custard apple… or pickled dishes such as lotus root, palanquin, white cabbage, cabbage, papaya, kimchi….  Especially, most of the pickled and crispy dishes are well made, easy to eat, have a characteristic aroma, and can be used for many days

4. Free Itineraries from VeMekong

As a local travel expert, we have some ideas for you to think about.

From Chau Doc city center:

Route 1:

Route 2:

Route 3:

If you do not have much time left, it is easy to check out spots in one full day by boat or with bike or with motorbike and car. But there are much more than tourist sites like these in An Giang. Make sure you have more time to feel and explore more about the hidden gems and the culture, food, night life, wildlife and forest as well. Top tip: Stay in a homestay nearby, so you have more chances to visit it and surroundings. If you are looking for the package An Giang daily tour with local, you can contact www.vemekong.com or Hotline/WhatsApp/WeChat/Zalo +84939888559; email: hello@vemekong.com

5. Google Maps of Chau Doc Market

Google Maps made a name for itself helping people travel from one place to another, avoid traffic (You probably know the route from your hotel to the gas station by heart, but what you can’t be sure about is gridlock), measure a distance, get back to the hotel on time, share the location… 

6. Visit Chau Doc Market by yourself

Solo traveller? Travelling on your own means you will get out of any difficult situations by yourself. This, in turn, leads to more satisfying travel experiences and helps you improve your problem-solving skills.These days we rarely get the chance to sit with ourselves and simply be. That’s why you should consider the time you spend alone on your trip as a gift.

It is possible for solo travellers to use google maps and do it alone. But sometimes they need to update local maintained roads and bridges which close and lead you a longer road than the road from Google maps. It is just about the time. It takes more time to find the correct garden to come. Adventure is always fun. Wifi is strong in An Giang village! The locals find it hard to speak English as well. Top tip: Sticking to one canal and keeping going along it which gives you more things to see and avoids getting lost. Contact vemekong.com to hire a car, scooter with English-speaking-guide or cycling tours in An Giang.

7. Responsible Travel and Advice Chau Doc Market

Don’t get us wrong. But we assure you that you totally agree with us. “Do not give candy and things to the children when you plan to visit any local villages”, the kids will leave the school and follow the sweets and later they find some things to give you or sell to you. The garden is a little forest, don’t pick and touch the flowers or fruits without the local’s smiles. We deal with traveling green and leaving green behind, not plastic. Top tip: Vemekong.com are some of the companies that care a lot about responsible travel and local respectation.

8. Amazing Video flycam/drone of Chau Doc Market (4k) 

If a picture says a thousand words, it stands to reason that the video says many times more. 

9. Incredible Tips for Photography, Specialists, KOLs, Media and Influencers 

To get the best of the best for your unique writing, featuring, photo, video and insider’s stories. We do recommend you to have a local travel expert, the one who always gets more ground information and makes sure every single element is solved perfectly. The Vemekong (very exclusive Mekong) team is your priority choice. Email and have a private talk with them to customize your journey smoothly, personal and the most ultimately amazing. You can contact www.vemekong.com or Hotline/WhatsApp/WeChat/Zalo +84939888559; email: hello@vemekong.com

10. Pro Tips 

Best time to visit Chau Doc floating market, Long Xuyen floating market is from 5:30am-6:30am. I hope you have an amazing sunrise on the Mekong Delta river.

You can stay in a homestay which is near the floating market, this will help you out the best option. Then you can hire a scooter, car or bike and explore it by yourself, but you still need to hire a boat for the floating market tour.

If you plan to extend your travel to Chau Doc homestay, do not forget to bring mosquito repellent cream.

Visit Chau Doc or do any customized tours, please choose reputable providers with boat trips equipped with lifebuoys, jackets, motorcycle and cycling tours with the helmets and. Safety is a priority! Choose Chau Doc responsible tours which help you give back while traveling. It’s a cliché, but it’s true.

Chau Doc food & drink guide ranges from street food, authentic, fancy to fusion foods. As a tropical land of many fresh vegetables and homegrown gardens, which always make Chau Doc cuisines fresh, close to nature and very traditional. If you are a food lover, don’t hesitate to put other bites onto your food lists such as Bun Ca Chau Doc (the soft noodle is cooked with fish), Banh bo cake of Chau Doc, Sugar palm fruit, Caramelized and Braised Catfish, Grilled Rice-field Rat with Salt and Chili, Long Xuyen Broken Rice, Nui Cam Pancake, O Thum’s Chicken Grilled with Lime Leaves, Sour Soup with Siamese Mud Carp Soup & Sesbania Flower, Stir-fried Shrimp with Sesbania Flower, Phu Huong Beef Noodle Soup, Basa Fish Hotpot, Mam (Fermented Fish)…

Bring your hat, sunglasses, and sunblock, scarf to wear when visiting temples, pagodas, and the cathedral.

Bring the raincoat if you’re planning a trip to Chau Doc in the rainy season, as Chau Doc always looks fantastic in the full rain and full sun.

Chau Doc tourist attractions are magnificent itself, but if you have enough time, don’t forget to put other places onto your bucket lists such as Tra Su Cajuput forest & Birdwatching, Chau Doc Floating Village, Fish Farm & Cham Minority Village, Chau Doc floating market & small canal, Sam mountain, Tuc Dup hill, Chau Doc river tour, Chau Doc cycling tour, Chau Doc photography tour, Ta Pa Rice Fields, Vinh Te Canal, Seven-Mountain Ox Racing Festival, Tay An Pagoda, Chau Doc Market, The Lady Temple – The Ba Chua Xu Temple, Phuoc Dien Pagoda – Hang Pagoda, Thoai Ngoc Hau Tomb,

Hopefully, the above tips will help you to come up with a great plan for your adventure in Chau Doc, An Giang province, Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Have a safe trip!

“Sleep less, travel more, respect more” – Thomas Vietnam – Local travel expert.

Thank you