Châu Đốc is a district and town in An Giang Province

An Giang Province

An Giang is a province of Vietnam. It is located in the Mekong Delta, in the southwestern part of the country, sharing a border with Cambodia to the northwest.- Geography :...

, bordering Cambodia

Cambodia

Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

, in the Mekong Delta

Mekong Delta

The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southwestern Vietnam of . The size of the area covered by water depends on the season.The...

 region of Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

. As of 2003 the district had a population of 112,155. The district covers an area of 100 km².

The town is located by the Hâu River

Bassac River

The Bassac River is a distributary of the Tonle Sap and Mekong River. The river starts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and flows southerly, crossing the border into Vietnam near Châu Đốc....

 (a branch of the Mekong River flowing through Vietnamese territory) and Vinh Te canal. Châu Đốc is situated 250 km west of Hồ Chí Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...

. It takes about six hours to travel by bus from Hồ Chí Minh City.

History

The site of Châu Đốc was long in history a territory of the Kingdom of Funan (Vietnamese: Vương quốc Phù Nam). The territory became Vietnam’s about 300 years ago. The town is near the picturesque mount of Sam where the Sam Mountain Lady (Vietnamese: Bà Chúa Xứ Núi Sam) is worshipped. The Sam Mount Lady Ceremony is held every April of lunar calendar

Lunar calendar

A lunar calendar is a calendar that is based on cycles of the lunar phase. A common purely lunar calendar is the Islamic calendar or Hijri calendar. A feature of the Islamic calendar is that a year is always 12 months, so the months are not linked with the seasons and drift each solar year by 11 to...

 (May) every year.

"Mort Chrouk"(Khmer:មាត់ជ្រូក) was the Cambodian name Vietnamized in Chau Doc.

In 1957 the town was the site of the Chau Doc massacre

Chau Doc massacre

The Chau Doc massacre was the July 11, 1957 killing of 17 people in the small town of Châu Đốc in An Giang province, near the border with Cambodia, in what was then known as South Vietnam...

.

Population

Vietnamese, Champa and Khmer live together in harmony. The three main religions in this region are Mahayana Buddhism (Kinh/Vietnamese, Hoa/Chinese); Theravada

Theravada

Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...

 Buddhism (Khmer/Cambodian), and Sunni Islam

Sunni Islam

Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....

 (Cham). The total population is around 120,000 http://www.thixachaudoc.com/ with a vast majority of Kinh (Viet) and some Khmer Krom

Khmer Krom

The Khmer Krom are Khmer people living in the Mekong Delta and the Lower Mekong River area. Under the Khmer Rouge regime- according to the conservative estimates are that 150,000. Under the rule of Vietnam from 1979-93, Cambodia may have lost 20,000 Khmer Krom...

.

Economy

Châu Đốc is famous for its variety of fish sauce

Fish sauce

Fish sauce is a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in numerous cultures in Southeast Asia and the coastal regions of East Asia, and features heavily in Thai and Vietnamese...

s (nước mắm) and mainly "mắm tai", a kind of anchovy. The local economy is based on culture of basa catfish

Catfish

Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...

 export and on tourism. The town is a busy trading center due to its border position with Cambodia.

Landmarks

The Phuoc Dien Temple

Phuoc Dien Temple

Phước Điền Temple is a temple in Châu Đốc, An Giang Province, southwestern Vietnam. It is an official historic monument, proclaimed on July 10, 1980 by the Ministry of Culture and Information of Vietnam....

is located in Chau Doc. It is an official historic monument of Vietnam. The Victoria Hotel is the only notable hotel in the area. There are other hotels that are situated near Nui Sam. There are a couple of new hotels on the road to Sam mountain. A worthwhile option to consider is a night (or two) on one of the floating hotels (there are 2, one reachable via footbridge, the other via boat).

Sam Mountain is a famous mountain in Chau Doc, about 7km from the city. Its summit is about 1000 meters above sea level.

Towns and villages in Chau Doc District

• Ap Dong Hoa
• Ap Ha Bao
• Ap La Ma
• Ap Phuoc Quan
• Ap Phuoc Thanh
• Ap Phuoc Tho
• Ap Tay Hung
• Ap Vinh An
• Ap Vinh Dong
• Ap Vinh Hoi
• Ap Vinh Phu
• Ap Vinh Tay
• Ben Da
• Cay Mit
• Chau Doc
• Chau Phong
• Vinh Te
• Xom Bai Mia