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Binh Thuy ancient house in Can Tho dates from 1870 and mixes French and Asian architecture.
Can Tho is known for the Cai Rang floating market, Ninh Kieu Wharf and Truc Lam Phuong Nam Zen Monastery. From Ho Chi Minh City you can follow National Highway 1A to Can Tho. The source gives the distance as about 170 km, taking 3 to 4 hours during the day.
Source: Wikipedia, Can Tho. Checked October 2026.
The Mekong Delta covers roughly 40,500 to 43,000 square km (15,600 to 17,000 square miles), depending on how its edge is drawn.
The region is also called the South-western Region, Tay Nam Bo, or the Western Region, Mien Tay. The area covered by water depends on the season, which is one reason the edge is hard to draw and sources differ. Its wet coastal geography makes it an important source of agriculture and aquaculture for the country.
Source: Wikipedia, Mekong Delta. Checked October 2026.
About 19,000,000 people live in the Mekong Delta.
The inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Vietnamese, with a large Khmer minority living mainly in Tra Vinh and Soc Trang provinces. There are also sizeable Hoa, or ethnic Chinese, populations in Kien Giang and Tra Vinh provinces. The source puts the population at 17.33 million in 2011, so figures vary with the year and the source.
As of 2022. Source: Wikipedia, Mekong Delta. Checked October 2026.
The delta grew 23,186,000 tonnes of rice in 2011, which was 54.8% of Vietnam's total rice output that year.
Kien Giang, An Giang and Dong Thap provinces were the strongest producers in 2011, each making over 3 million tonnes and almost 11 million together. The source says any two of them produce more than the entire Red River Delta. Just three provinces produced less than 1 million tonnes.
As of 2011. Source: Wikipedia, Mekong Delta. Checked October 2026.
The Mekong is about 4,350 km (2,700 miles) long by one measure and 4,909 km (3,050 miles) by another, and it flows through six countries.
The river runs from the Tibetan Plateau through southwest China, where it is officially called the Lancang River, then Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and southern Vietnam. Extreme seasonal variations in flow and the rapids and waterfalls make navigation difficult, though it remains a major trade route. The two lengths come from different ways of measuring.
Source: Wikipedia, Mekong. Checked October 2026.
The Mekong drains a basin of 795,000 square km (307,000 square miles), and its average discharge is 16,000 cubic metres per second.
The river discharges about 475 cubic km of water a year. When it enters Cambodia, over 95% of its flow has already joined it, and downstream the terrain is flat, so water levels rather than flow volumes decide how water moves across the landscape. The range between wet and dry seasons is extreme.
Source: Wikipedia, Mekong. Checked October 2026.
A 2019 study published in Nature Communications found the delta sits a mean 0.82 m (2 ft 8 in) above sea level, with 75% of it below 1 m.
The study used an improved measure of elevation and found the delta much lower than earlier estimates. About 12 million people live in the 75% that falls below 1 m. A majority of the delta is expected to be below sea level by 2050, and land subsidence of about 1.1 cm a year adds to the effect of sea level rise.
As of 2019. Source: Wikipedia, Mekong Delta. Checked October 2026.
When the Mekong floods, the flow of Cambodia's Tonle Sap river reverses. When the Mekong is low, the Tonle Sap flows into it.
The Tonle Sap joins the Mekong at Phnom Penh on the right bank, and Phnom Penh also marks the start of the delta system, where the main stream breaks up into an increasing number of branches. The seasonal cycle of water levels at Phnom Penh is what produces the flow reversal.
Source: Wikipedia, Mekong. Checked October 2026.
The giant Mekong catfish can grow to about 3 m (10 ft) long and weigh 300 kg (660 lb).
The Mekong giant catfish is endemic to the river. The source records a 293 kg specimen caught in the Mekong in 2005. All of these very large fish have declined drastically because of dams, flood control and overfishing, and the sizes given are upper limits for the species.
Source: Wikipedia, Mekong. Checked October 2026.
The Vietnamese name for the delta, Dong bang Song Cuu Long, means Nine Dragons River Delta.
Cuu Long means Nine Dragons, and Song Cuu Long is one of the Vietnamese names for the Mekong itself, next to Song Me Kong. Classical Vietnamese texts called the river Song Khung or Khung Giang. The delta has been occupied since as early as the 4th century BC, so its names come from many peoples.
Source: Wikipedia, Mekong Delta, Wikipedia, Mekong. Checked October 2026.
Climate, airports and UNESCO status for Mekong Delta are on its destination page. More places are on the fun facts index.