The Mekong's strong current and the volume of water that flushes through the cages allow farmers to put more fish inside each cage and to group the floating homes close together, so that they're almost like little villages. "It's also one of the reasons why the Vietnam catfish has a pretty good flavor," explains Frese. "You don't get the off flavor of pond-raised fish."

When the fish reach an acceptable size, fishermen haul them onto a boat and head toward a processing plant. Certain species are shipped fresh; the rest are frozen and exported across the ocean. A plate of fish and chips at a pub in London may well have had its beginnings in a floating fish cage in the Mekong Delta.

It's not just the fish that's putting Vietnam back on the global map, though. The country has experienced an extraordinary surge in international trade, affecting everything from product exports to the construction of new factories. Gross domestic product growth has nearly doubled every decade in the past 20 years, and it consistently hovers at about 8 percent - the second highest in the world, behind China. Goldman Sachs has listed Vietnam among its Next Eleven countries to watch for investment potential. And in late 2006, the New Asian Tiger was accepted into the World Trade Organization, guaranteeing the nation a solid financial foundation for the future.

If there were a single photograph that encapsulated Vietnam's remarkable economic renaissance, it would show an aerial view of Ho Chi Minh City's harbor. The capital city (which locals still refer to as Saigon) sits astride the Saigon River, some 50 miles inland from the South China Sea. Nearly all of Vietnam's exports and imports come through this deep-water riverway, and it's already filled to capacity.