Day 7 : Chau Doc to Phnom Penh

6.30AM: We woke up early for complimentary breakfast at the very average guesthouse at Chac Doc and took a 10min walk to the nearby jetty to begin our rowing boat trip to visit the floating houses.

Breakfast


Loading our backpacks onto the boat at the jetty

Each rowing boat can only sit 2 persons (excluding the boatman) and we had to climb onto the boat rather carefully as it would rock to the sides quite violently for every tiny step that we took. Haha. Almost all the boatmen who rowed our boats were woman… and they seem to be rowing the boats very effortlessly too!

Princess and Italian lady whom we shared the room with


Loveflower with boatman. Ex-irish attempting to swim.

We got to our first sightsee – a floating house with caged fish breeding. Floating houses were built in clusters and a plank of wood was used to connect to the next house. A floating hawker stall selling viets noodles happened to be around and the locals rowed their boat to the hawker for a quick breakfast.

Floating house with caged fish breeding


Floating hawker. Loveflower and floating houses in the background.

The boat trip continued through the village… I absolutely love the lovely boat ride in this sunny and breezy weather!

Floating houses in the village



Fisherman casting his net


Whole family out fishing


Big boat to transport ppl/things to the village

We arrived at a floating house where the family does weaving for a living.

Crossing the wooden planks to reach the house


Princess trying out the scarf and traditional costume


A old woman demonstrates her craft


Beautiful scarves for sale


End of rowing boat trip

We transferred to a motorized boat for a 3hr ride to Vinh Xuong border to cross over to Cambodia…

Ex-irish pleased with his cookies. Princess chatting with fellow traveler.







Sceneries along Mekong Delta (Vietnam)



Decked out at the bow of boat, enjoying the breeze and sun

Finally, we arrived at the border (Vietnam side)!... and went for a simple but expensive lunch at the rest stop (priced in USD lor… and if you give them Dongs or Riels, they would convert the amount from USD and at their ‘special’ exchange rate).

Lunch. It’s quite Chinese style though.


Vietnam border


Cambodia border


The gang on board the boat

… and transferred to another boat for another 3hr boat ride to Lek Kuang for land transfer to Phnom Penh by bus.

Sceneries along Mekong Delta (Cambodia)


Kids waving to us

FINALLY! End of all the boat rides…

Alighted from the boat

…and after a two bus journey (it’s a bumpy ride, you are warned!), we arrived at our guesthouse – Okay Guesthouse. This was a complimentary one night stay that came with our package… The very good thing with Okay Guesthouse was that there’s a restaurant on the ground floor and we need not have to worry about where to go for food and whatnot. The prices of their food/drinks were reasonable and there’s a TV showing all the latest movies too!

Everyone is exhausted!


Dinner at the guesthouse’s restaurant

On hindsight, I guess it would be better if we had just took a direct flight over to Siem Reap or Phnom Penh; though the boat journey lets you enjoy a very scenic Mekong Delta, we were lucky in the sense that the weather was on our side… Sunny good weather and calm river condition. Can you imagine how the boat journey would become have it rained?? I shrugged to think… hahaha… and beside, I am sure you would get to save quite a few hours as the flight from HCM to PP is about an hour or so... hmm...