From the Mekong Delta to Siem Reap

Meet at the Liberty Central Riverside Hotel restaurant between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Lunch at the hotel. In the afternoon, we will tour the city: Reunification Palace, Notre Dame cathedral and Central Post office. We’ll visit Cholon, the Chinese-influenced section of the city, including its hectic market and Ba Thien Hau Pagoda dedicated to the sea goddess Mazu. After comfortably settling into your cabins, we’ll introduce our crew at a welcome cocktail, have dinner and spend the night on board downtown. 

We’ll leave by coach for the Cu Chi tunnels, an immense network of underground tunnels that Viet Cong soldiers used as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food, and weapon caches. Lunch will be done on board. Visit the Museum of Vietnamese History. We’ll then set out to cross the very narrow Chao Gao Canal. Night on board.

We continue our cruise to My Tho along the magnificent Chao Gao Canal. Visit a bee farm and enjoy some honey tea and exotic fruit. Lunch on board. We’ll discover a brick and pottery factory as well as a traditional factory producing puffed riced, rice-paper wrappers used to make nems, and rice alcohol*. Night on board.

Visit the former house of Huynh Thuy Le, the man on who Marguerite Duras based her book The Lover on. After our excursion, enjoy some free time in Sa Dec. We’ll return on board our ship and have lunch. Sailing towards Cambodia. Night on board. 

Have breakfast, and spend the day afloat, first heading for the Cambodian border, where you must pass through customs during the morning, and continue your journey. Enjoy lunch and dinner on board, and arrive towards the end of the day in Phnom Penh. Late in the afternoon or after dinner, experience a trip in a “tuk tuk”, a motorized tricycle which is the traditional mode of transport in Phnom Penh. Stay in port in Phnom Penh for the night.

Founded in 1434, the capital of Cambodia retains much of its colonial charm, thanks to the rehabilitation of part of its architectural heritage. Visit the Silver Pagoda, a wooden construction from 1892, and subsequently rebuilt in 1962, and the Royal Palace, the symbolic heart of the nation and one of the finest examples of Cambodian architecture in classical Khmer style. Then, visit the National Museum built in 1917 by the French in traditional Khmer architectural style.

Enjoy lunch in a local restaurant, and this afternoon join a visit of Tuol Svay Prey S21 school, the former detention, torture and execution center used by the Khmer Rouge during the civil war. Have free time in the market, overflowing with all types of businesses. In the evening, attend an Apsara dance show by student dancers and musicians. Return on board for dinner, and stay in port overnight.

Visit Koh Chen, a small village where craftspeople specialize in silver and copper work. Lunch on board. Visit the beautiful Vihara at the Wat Kampong Tralach Leu pagoda. To access the pagoda we need to cross the village of Kampong Tralach in ox carts, moving along a small road that runs perpendicular to the river in the middle of magnificent rice fields. Our ship will remain anchored overnight.

Visit Kampong Chhnang, one of the largest fishing ports on Tonle Sap Lake. Here they also have many fish farms. The region is best known for its fine traditional pottery which is a major source of revenue for the entire country. Tasting of some local products. Lunch on board. We'll then continue our cruise on Tonle Sap Lake, the largest freshwater lake in southeast Asia which forms the heart of the hydraulic system of the Mekong. Cocktail and gala dinner tonight. Our ship will remain anchored overnight.

Disembarkation and transfer to downtown Siem Reap. End of our services around 12:00 p.m.
Please do not book your flight before 3:00 p.m.