An Giang province
An Giang province is best-known for being home to pastel-painted Chau Doc, the closest large town to the Vietnamese/Cambodian border crossing on the Mekong River. Wedged between the Cambodian frontier, Kieng Giang and Can Tho provinces to the south and Dong Thap province to the north, An Giang is a particularly riverine province, with both the Bassac and Mekong Rivers within its boundaries.
The nondescript provincial capital Long Xuyen lies around 50km southeast of the border with Cambodia. Some travellers may find it convenient to pass through here for its transportation connections but there are otherwise few other reasons to stay in the capital.
Chau Doc on the other hand has a degree of charm in its buildings, boasting excellent opportunities for short river trips and is home to the outlying site of Sam Mountain -- a good half-day trip -- altogether making the town a winner for at least an overnight visit. If you're planning on travelling to or from Phnom Penh by boat, Chau Doc is the leaping off point for such trips.
Aside from its river scenery and hilltop vistas, An Giang province, in the heart of what Cambodians consider to be Kampuchea Krom, bears many of the same war-time scars as neighbouring Cambodia. During the Khmer Rouge regime, Pol Pot's forces made a number of bloody incursions along the border with An Giang. In April of 1978 a massacre took place in the hamlet of Ba Chuc, some 50km southwest of Chau Doc, with over 3,000 people killed. While a memorial has been erected to the memory of those murdered, it's unfortunately not easily visited from Chau Doc unless you're willing to pay for a day-long tour.
