Goodbye, Cambodia ... Good morning, Vietnam

Sad to be leaving Cambodia, we've had a good time here. There's the warmth of the weather, of course, but more so the warmth of the people, smiling, polite, helpful and eager to please. This is despite the obvious poverty and the, still recent, tragic history. Our Killing Field guide yesterday had lost most of his family under the Pol Pot regime and he himself as a young boy had been forced into slave labour in the fields. The anger was apparent just below the surface and all the Cambodians we met were very aware of the corruption in high places.
We make an early start and take the bus down to the river to pick up our boat. With only one other passenger we have it virtually to ourselves. The Mekong is huge; ferry boats crisscross it, big barges so low in the water they look as though are sinking and big freighters make their way up and down it and fishermen line the shores with their nets.
After 3 hours we reach the border and go ashore at a sleepy little immigration post on the Cambodian side. Our passports are stamped and a few hundred yards downstream we do the same in Vietnam.
From the moment we enter Vietnam everything seems to get busier - more traffic on the river, more houses on the banks, more industry, more people. And it's the same once we dock Chau Doc is a bustling small town with far fewer cars, no tuk tuks but thousands of motor bikes, bikes & cyclos. Our hotel is opposite the market and very noisy, let's hope it quietens down a bit tonight. We grab a late lunch at another hotel just down the road - 9 different orders all freshly cooked, delicious.
There is just time for a wander around the market before we head up to Sam Mountain to watch the sunset. Unfortunately the sunset was as disappointing as the sunrise the other day, but sipping beer looking out towards Cambodia as we waited was a pleasant way to pass the time.
Dinner was on a pontoon on the edge of the Mekong and was excellent, even a bottle of Vietnamese wine went down well.