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makes it sound as if the days of a famous tourist attraction may be numbered:

Sitting on a boat selling pineapple, Tran Minh Thanh, who has spent 26 years of his life trading farm products at Cai Rang, said the market has never been as deserted as it has been recently.

He said in the past, the market usually attracted as many as 500-600 boats every morning.

Carrying rice, vegetables, fruits and other agricultural products, those boats anchored close to each other to create a line running more than one kilometer and covering nearly two-thirds of the river’s surface.

But in recent years, the number of boats and traders coming to the market has gradually been falling; now, the market just welcomes around 30-40 boats per day.

Thanh explained that the market has become emptier because traders have switched from boats to trucks.

Furthermore, in recent years, the Can Tho City authorities have built an anti-erosion embankment too high along Cai Rang River, which has made it inconvenient to transport goods from shore to boats.