Now Vietnam and Cambodia… what a life-changing trip! Our travels commenced with a flight on Air Asia X and a stopover in Kuala Lumpur. Our airport transit hotel was conveniently located across the road from arrivals, making the morning preparation for the flight to Siem Reap quick and comfortable. Hot tip: Always carry American Dollars (US$) to Siem Reap as you need to arrange and pay for a tourist visa. The USD made the process streamlined and fast - a great way to enter a country!
Siem Reap province is in northwest Cambodia. It's the closest city to the world-famous temples of Angkor. We stayed at the Angkor Miracle Resort and Spa for three nights. The room was comfortable, large and equipped with a balcony swing! The hotel location is a five minute drive from the centre of Siem Reap, via tuk tuk the transit fee to visit the town centre was $2US. Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We arranged an Angkor Wat sunrise experience with the hotel, driven by a local driver and it was such an amazing sight. We then ventured to Ta Prohm temple – famous for the movie 'Tomb Raider' and we were in awe of the 12th century-built temple. Our remaining time in Siem Reap we spent relaxing at the resort, going to the local markets, enjoying dinners and finding the most amazing Italian restaurant in a side ally.
The next eight days we spent on the Majestic Mekong La Margueite River Cruise by Travelmarvel. We cruised downstream from the Holy Angkor to the Mekong Delta. We were then transferred to the ship by TravelMarvel from Siem Reap to Kampong Chhnang and welcomed in the Saigon. The welcome included a lounge with drinks, a short briefing and then dinner in the Mekong restaurant as we set sail on the mighty Mekong. I thought some of the highlights over the next seven days were unique and memorable and wanted to share them.
We joined a small boating excursion near Kampong Chhnang and travelled through the wetlands. The wetlands form the mouth of the Tonle Sap River and we passed several floating villages that were scattered with diverse birdlife. We headed back to the ship and then after lunch, we took an ox-cart ride from the riverbank through the rice fields. We then travelled by coach to the Oudong, the former capital of Cambodia. We visited the spectacular Buddhist monastery where we were able to partake in a Buddhist blessing ceremony – such an incredible experience and one I will never forget.
We explored Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, visited the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda with TravelMarvel and then had plenty of leisure time to visit local markets on the riverbank. If you are brave enough, you can try the delicacy of fried tarantula and crickets at these markets. Safe to say I was not brave enough yet, maybe next time.
After another superb lunch on board, you could join an excursion that led you to the Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum on site of the Khmer Rouge’s Security Prison 21 (S21). This is an experience that thrusts you into Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge history. I found it confronting so did not partake in the tour however, others that attended said it was very interesting and sad. It was a pleasure this evening to enjoy a special Khmer folk performance by local dancers and we all joined in – lots of fun and a nice way to finish off the evening.
We cruised towards the Vietnamese border and after an onboard fruit carving and spring roll making demonstration we arrived in the town of Tan Chau, a small river town virtually untouched by tourism. We were fortunate enough to be able to tour the village by local rickshaws only found in this area of the Mekong.
The following day, we woke up in Sa Dec where the French writer Marguerite Duras met her Vietnamese lover Huynh Thuy Le. We toured their old house and the Cao Dai Temple. Plenty of free time in the afternoon to relax and enjoy our last night onboard and farewell dinner.
After disembarking the ship we bid farewell to our new friends and transferred to the airport where we boarded our flight to Da Nang and our next three nights of absolute luxury and relaxation. Fusion Maia was our hotel destination, an all-private villa resort and spa with a minimum of two spa treatments per person per day. It was fabulous.
Moving on from the relaxing three days, we made the short journey to Hoi An for another few days of exploring the region. Hoi An is a city on Vietnam's coastline and is known for its Ancient Town with canals and lantern-lit streets at night, nestled along the riverbank. It was such as thrill riding push bikes provided by the hotel through the ancient town as no motor vehicles are permitted inside the city walls.
Sadly, our time in Cambodia and Vietnam had to end, but we will go back as there are so many more destinations in these countries we want to explore. This journey was educational, relaxing and unique and I would highly recommend everyone seeing this part of the world.