The fishing village in Chau Doc
According to Travelfish, both slow and fast boat services are available at the riverine crossing linking Phnom Penh with the Vietnamese town of Chau Doc. When you arrive at the border, a fixer will generally gather up all the passports and head into the immigration office to do all the paperwork. You can accompany them, but it’s not essential. Cambodian visas available at the border. Vietnamese visas is not available at the border. JakartaBoy posted this on Thorntree (7-Jan-2012):-
Just before the new year, I headed across from Phnom Penh to Chau Doc by river. I took the Hang Cau boat for about $25 (memory fails!), buying the tickets the day. The Blue River Cruisers do the same trip in the same boats for about ten bucks more. The boat trip was great: for some reason, most of the tourist traffic comes in the other direction, so I had a boat that could have held 20 for four people: saw the same boats coming in the opposite direction packed to the seams. But I could spread myself out over the ship, including out the back in the open air. The cabin stunk slightly of petrol, but not unbearably.
Border crossing was a breeze. Kinda funny having around twenty immigration officers available to deal with four passengers, but then, maybe it’s different in peak hour. I got a visa for Vietnam the day before I set off just by asking my hotel receptionist in PP. He called an agent who whipped over on a motorbike and sorted it all out for me for no more than five bucks over the official visa fee. If it keeps me out of government buildings and queues on me holidays, that’s a bargain!
You can’t get visa on arrival at the border for Vietnam.
The process on the river was pretty lacksadaisical: the boat boy took all our passports and went off to the office, we were herded into a waiting room (with beer available from a coolbox) and the guy came back with stamped passports fifteen minutes later. No-one inspected bags or anything.
Phnom Penh-Chau Doc Border Crossing (Jan-2012)
The fishing village in Chau Doc
According to Travelfish, both slow and fast boat services are available at the riverine crossing linking Phnom Penh with the Vietnamese town of Chau Doc. When you arrive at the border, a fixer will generally gather up all the passports and head into the immigration office to do all the paperwork. You can accompany them, but it’s not essential. Cambodian visas available at the border. Vietnamese visas is not available at the border. JakartaBoy posted this on Thorntree (7-Jan-2012):-
Just before the new year, I headed across from Phnom Penh to Chau Doc by river. I took the Hang Cau boat for about $25 (memory fails!), buying the tickets the day. The Blue River Cruisers do the same trip in the same boats for about ten bucks more. The boat trip was great: for some reason, most of the tourist traffic comes in the other direction, so I had a boat that could have held 20 for four people: saw the same boats coming in the opposite direction packed to the seams. But I could spread myself out over the ship, including out the back in the open air. The cabin stunk slightly of petrol, but not unbearably.
Border crossing was a breeze. Kinda funny having around twenty immigration officers available to deal with four passengers, but then, maybe it’s different in peak hour. I got a visa for Vietnam the day before I set off just by asking my hotel receptionist in PP. He called an agent who whipped over on a motorbike and sorted it all out for me for no more than five bucks over the official visa fee. If it keeps me out of government buildings and queues on me holidays, that’s a bargain!
You can’t get visa on arrival at the border for Vietnam.
The process on the river was pretty lacksadaisical: the boat boy took all our passports and went off to the office, we were herded into a waiting room (with beer available from a coolbox) and the guy came back with stamped passports fifteen minutes later. No-one inspected bags or anything.