Chau Doc Market in Chau Doc Town on the Cambodia border sells hundreds of varieties of salted fishes, crustaceans and turtles.
The market at the center of the town in An Giang Province is well-known for salted, dried seafood and fish sauce which are Mekong Delta specialties.
The area earmarked for selling salted creatures like fish, crab and shrimp occupies almost half the entire market with more than 100 stalls, apart from places that sell fruits, vegetables, local dishes or clothes.
The salted creatures are placed neatly in large pots.
There are about 30 varieties of fish at this stall, each with its own unique taste and some with glowing looks like snakehead, catfish, snakeskin fish, perch, and some small species.
Salted seafood of these types are also exported in bulk to Laos and Cambodia.
"There are many ways to serve snakehead fish: cutting into slices, grinding, filleting, salting."
Salted crab is a Mekong Delta specialty that locals eat daily with rice.
Another fish, known locally as "ca du du" and costing around $2 per kilogram when salted, is bought by many visitors as gifts. It can be eaten with porridge or rolled with boiled pork meat and raw vegetables.
Chau Doc Market also sells dried fish that can be stored for a long time, and the varieties include catfish, snakehead and basa. Dried snakes and frogs are available here at $2-25 per kilogram.
Kim Ngan, a visitor from Hanoi who is buying dried fish as gifts, is happy with what she has seen at the market: "There is a wide range of salted, dried fish and they are cheaper than at other places."
