This was the boat that we took from Phnom Penh (Cambodia) to Chau Doc (Vietnam).
The trip takes about 5 hours. That includes ~4 hours of boating and 1 hour of time spent at border crossings. You have to stop at the Cambodian side of the border to exit Cambodia, then you stop again on the Vietnamese side of the border to enter Vietnam. It's nice to get out and stretch your legs at least. And, naturally, we had some people on our boat who didn't have the proper visa or registration or whatever so we had to wait extra time for them to fill out some paperwork. As Americans, we did have to obtain a visa to enter Vietnam and we had done that beforehand by sending our passports to the Vietnamese embassy in Germany. So, it does take a bit of effort. I think there may now be an electronic visa you can apply for online but I'm not completely sure.
Here are some views of the river and the sunset and the clouds. It was a pretty trip down the river!
Bonus: There were puppies at the Cambodian border! And kittens at the Vietnamese border! We obviously hit dinnertime for both families. Super cute.
Some views from our hotel in Chau Doc. We stayed at the Victoria Chau Doc which was perfectly nice but there isn't really any reason to spend time in Chau Doc. We wandered around for awhile in the evening and couldn't find a restaurant to eat at (the one our guide suggested was closed) and ended up eating at the hotel, which was fine but a bit pricier than we would have liked (especially for wine). Also ... mosquitoes. I would almost suggest undertaking the 3-hour drive to Can Tho when your boat arrives in Chau Doc at 6pm from Cambodia. Just get it over with and skip Chau Doc altogether. I say this because our hotel in Can Tho was really nice - in reality, Chau Doc is fine for a night - there were a ton of kids playing, doing martial arts, driving little cars, etc in the park next to the hotel which was fun. Then we got up early the next morning and headed out towards Can Tho.
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