Ha Tien

Not without feeling a little bit broken-hearted, we said “bye-bye” to the paradisiacal Koh Rong Samloen to return to the mainland. From there, we went straight away to the bus that would take us through the beautiful rice paddies to Ha Tien, the nearest Vietnamese town. Since our visas had expired some days ago, our best option was to cross the border, stay the night in Ha Tien, and re-enter Cambodia the day after.

Rice paddies on our way to Ha Tien

The trip took almost all day, but crossing the border was quick and easy. Again, you pay an extra dollar here and there for those little extras such as the mandatory “health check” –which is merely having your temperature taken- and so on…

The Vietnamese border crossing

The bus left us very close to Ha Tien’s market, a huge marketplace where you can find anything imaginable. Seafood is big in Ha Tien and you can find stalls with fresh fish from which you can choose what you want and have it cooked straight away at one of the riverside eateries.

Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh!

Ha Tien itself doesn’t seem to have many attractions though. No pagodas, no particularly remarkable buildings other than some well kept French colonial facades. However, when you walk along the Mekong embankment, the charming views of the watery giant and the forested hills beyond make up for everything else.

The unimpressive Independence monument

Along the Mekong embankment

One thing that really struck us upon setting foot in Vietnam is that it is much more advanced than Cambodia: whereas the prices are still low, the city is cleaner and better organised, and people seem to have a somewhat better standard of living. judging by the quality of the food and what the houses look like. 

Another curious thing is that suddenly all the tuk-tuks, which are ubiquitous in Cambodia, were totally absent from Ha Tien. I can't say the same about the Communist propaganda.

Ho Chi Mihn smiles at you from every corner

The morning after we headed off to the border again, got our passports stamped and continued on to a new adventure in Kampot.