Breakfast in Vietnam, Lunch in Cambodia

There are several well-traveled tourist routes between Vietnam and Cambodia.  Originally we were going to take a bus from HCMC to Phnom Penh (the capital of Cambodia), but when we added in a few days in the Mekong Delta it seemed more interesting to take a speedboat along the Mekong River, instead.

So from Can Tho we did a quick overnight stop in Chau Doc, closer to the Cambodian border.  We stayed at a great place called Murray Guesthouse (Colin was quite excited since my side of the family are Murrays…).

We woke up early, ate a quick breakfast, and made our way to the speedboat dock via cyclos, a bike-cart combination.  We’ve gotten more accustomed to crazy traffic patterns after five weeks in Vietnam, but E’s commentary on this short video is pretty funny…..

There are several boat companies that run this route, and prices vary quite a bit.  Internet reviews and our hotel host both recommended Hang Chau, the cheapest one, and we were pleased with the experience (and that we didn’t pay up to 3.5 times more for essentially the same thing).  The first part of the ride, to the border, passed quickly because we were busy filling out all the forms to leave Vietnam and enter Cambodia.

When we arrived at the Vietnamese side of the border crossing, the boat guide took all of our paperwork, passports, and pictures and we just sat and waited in a small waiting room onshore.  After about 30 minutes, we were all cleared to leave Vietnam.  Everyone got back in the boat, we motored about 2-3 minutes, and then we repeated the process on the Cambodian side.  Bob and I have this weird fascination with our location on the map while at border crossings.....we didn't get an actual picture of the border, but we did get a picture of our location on our phone...

One of the advantages of taking this route between countries was that the border posts seemed pretty relaxed.  After getting our visas to enter Cambodia, we all got back in the boat, the guide switched the Vietnamese flag for a Cambodian one, and we were off once again.

As we motored along, we passed Cambodian countryside houses and villages.

And about 1:00 PM (6 hours since we had left Chau Doc), we arrived in the city of Phnom Penh!