Chau Doc

Chau Doc (Châu Đốc) is a city in the heart of the Mekong Delta, in Vietnam.

Get in
Chau Doc is best-known to travelers as a border crossing with Cambodia.

Get around
Walk: the main downtown area is an easy walk, from the riverside to the market to Chau Doc Square.

By motorcycle
Minh Kim guesthouse (Phone: 029-66552244, 01222225646, Address: 622 Ton Duc Thang, Vinh My) offers motorcycles for rent. The price is 150,000 dong per day. If you will mention to the owner that you want to rent Alan's motorcycle you will be given a semi-automatic motorcycle for 100,000 dong per day. The owner of the guesthouse speaks quite a good English.

See
A stroll along the riverside will be well worth it. You will bump into many young people eager (but a bit shy) to engage you in conversation. It can be very rewarding after a morning spent haggling in the colourful markets.

Do

 * A traditional massage with suction cups is a great way to relax and unwind before returning to Go Chi Minh City or taking one of the riverboats to Phnom Penh.

Buy
A large, sprawling market dominates the centre of town, with a covered section in Bach Dang street. There are many ATMs, mainly in center near the pagoda, and on Le Loi/riverside.

Drink

 * Chau Giang Floating Restaurant, Trần Hưng Đạo street. You can get a cheap drink with a great view of the river at the Chau Giang Floating Restaurant, on the pier at the opposite end to the Victoria Hotel, near the Hang Chau ferry office.

Connect
Get a prepaid SIM card from Mobifone (centre, near pagoda) or Vinaphone (Le Loi, riverside): about 65,000 dong and monthly Internet package ~120,000 dong.

Have a problem with your phone, buy a new SIM card or recharge account balance, visit The Anh Mobile Service 31 Le Loi (near Chau Doc Church, church three-way crossroads).

Go next
Bus station is near the entrance of city about 4 km from centre and ~15,000 dong moto taxi ride.


 * Can Tho is a popular next stop for travelers on a tour of the Mekong Delta.
 * Ha Tien 60,000 dong, 3½ hr, 09:00 departure on the way to Phu Quoc
 * Ho Chi Minh City. Phuong Trang bus company (phone +84 76 356 5888) make the connection for 125,000 dong 6 times a day between 08:45 to 00:15.
 * Phnom Penh is another popular destination. Many travelers stay for one night in Chau Doc and go the next day to Cambodia. Several boats are available, from slow boats to fast boats. A journey on a slow boat can take up to 10 hr to Phnom Pehn, and the quality of the boats is not always the best (extremely noisy engine, heavy vibration, a lot of sun and no toilet can make a 10-hr trip really long). You can get a visa-on-arrival at the border, it costs USD20 or 400,000 dong (Feb 2010). Most likely, some of the tour operators will tell you, that they have to get the visa for you and that it is now more expensive and other lies (such as the border crossing closes soon and they will get there faster with your passport using a motorbike, etc.) but this is not true and you can ignore them. Try not to take to many dong with you, because the exchange rate you get is not very fair. There is no ATM, so bring enough dollars with you. At the border, there is a small restaurant, but it is comparably expensive. You can get take-away meals and a bottle of water from restaurants in Chau Doc if you plan ahead.