Ailsa at Where’s my Backpack has set “Flowers” as this week’s challenge. I’ve posted a couple of these before but I think only two or three of you have seen them, so please indulge me, dear readers, as I expand on my little collection of the flower sellers of the Delta.
In the week before Tet, the floating markets along the Mekong were alive with more than the usual amount of colour, as the flower growers took over the most visible locations on the banks of the rivers and canals. Most popular were the bright purple Bougainvillea, and for those with the money, a beautiful yellow flowering bonsai.
Check out the other entries – I’ve seen a couple of remarkable creations with flowers – amazing stuff.
The Wanderlust Gene 
What a beautiful glimpse into this corner of the world. Bougainvillea were common in Honduras while I was there, climbing over balconies along cinder-block walls. Seeing them always brings back memories. 🙂
Love the photos of the floating flower market.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
Thanks for your comments, Francine. Sorry it’s taken so long to reply – a few days away seems to have sent my entire life off schedule!
We have a whole bank of bougainvillea at the front of our house in Kingston. The more sun we get, the brighter it blazes! It’s very hardy in the hot weather. Lovely photos…I love the bonsai…
The bonsai was wonderful, wasn’t it? The bougainvillea here is marvellous too – from huge monsters clambering up through trees, to small six inch pots – wherever it gets a minimum eight hours sun a day, its gaiety seems to decorate even the most drab corners.
That is such a lovely scene! Bougainvillea are beautiful!
The colours are so vivid and happy, aren’t they?
You know what I love about this? That flowers are such an intrinsic part of life that the sellers go to all the trouble of getting them on the boats and making a life of it. Wonderful images.
Yes, there’s something very alluring about a culture which places such a high regard on beauty 🙂
glad you posted them again, i missed these evocative images the first time …. not only the beauty of the flowers, the lives of the people on the boats, the sense of the river, but for me having been along the Mekong on a river boat it all comes alive! love the one of everyone relaxing on the boat, no stress there 🙂
You too, Christine? It’s a wonderful experience, isn’t it – just being with the river, and wandering around the villages along the shore – my four days came to an end way too quickly.
Oh dear- I feel the need of an hour or two to meander the delta with you. I love this dipping into other cultures but I’m so ignorant- I don’t even know what Tet is! I shall sneak 5 Sunday morning minutes to find out.
That makes it even more worthwhile Jo. Fantastic. Glad you came along to the markets with me – it’s all so exotic and otherworldly.
Amazing as always!
So supportive and complimentary, as always 🙂
What a wonderful tradition – so amazing to see these boats decked out in flowers for sale!
The floating markets of the Mekong delta are extraordinary – everything from goldsmiths shops to hardware, fruit and vegetables, to flowers for Tet. It’s a necessary tradition in this water world, and absurdly picturesque 🙂
Stunning, Wanderlust, I must experience this for myself sometime. Really lovely, thanks for letting me know this is out there, waiting for me! 🙂 😉
The world’s full of wonders, isn’t it? It’d take more than a lifetime to see it all, I think Ailsa. :d
I’ll just have to go round a second time, I guess! 😉
At least 🙂
flower boats, you brought an interesting piece of the world to me, thank you
Flower boats, melon boats, boats selling everything a normal market would have on offer – but by boat, meeting at the confluences of the major rivers and canals, just like on land. The Delta is a real water world 🙂
Beautiful!
It’s nice to think everyone will be buying colourful plants for their houses, even if some can only afford it once a year.
Yes, every Spring I go out and buy all sorts of flowers to plant in my garden and its expensive (but worth it) I loved living in the Netherlands…plants and flowers were so cheap!
I’d never thought of that, but of course, with the production of plants and flowers being one of its biggest industries, there had to be benefits for locals!
People in Holland buy fresh flowers to have in their homes at least a few times a week… its like buying milk to them – you have to have it!
How wonderful that must be if you don’t have your own garden to pick from. I’m really liking this insight you’ve given me 🙂
Gorgeous photos! This makes me regret my decision to cut out Vietnam from our itinerary for later this year. Hope to fit in some floating markets in Bangkok.
Oh dear, what a shame! You’ll just have to plan a boat down the Mekong and travel in Vietnam for another time. Vietnam is quite extraordinary. Beautiful, of course, but so full of history, and the people very discretely ‘Vietnamese’, with strong culture and traditions, and very artistic. Sure there was some derivative stuff about, but there’s a self belief, a self confidence to the artists that drew me into conversations that were impossible in Lao and Cambodia.