In southern Vietnam, people use the Mekong River as an inexpensive transportation route. Farmers also take their fruit and vegetables to large boats called floating markets. Locals go to these markets to buy their food and fresh seafood.
The Mekong River, one of the principal rivers of Southeast Asia, is an important source of water for crop irrigation in Laos. A large percentage of the country’s population live in communities along the Mekong and its branches.
The Mekong is one of the world’s major rivers. It is the 12th-longest in the world, and the 10th-largest by volume (discharging 475 km³ of water annually). Its estimated length is 4180 km. It drains an area of 795,000 km²: From Tibet it runs through China’s Yunnan province, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. All except China and Myanmar belong to the Mekong River Commission. The extreme seasonal variations in flow and the presence of rapids and waterfalls have made navigation extremely difficult.