Saigon from Mekong Waterway to Angkor Wat With Le Cochinchine 7 Days/6 Nights

08:00 AM: Pick up from your hotel and depart to Mekong Delta. Arrival Mekong Delta, and embark our cruise and welcome drink on boat. We take a morning junk trip to Dong Hoa Hiep Island and go ashore to visit the French Gothic Cathedral and colourful port area, with its colonial buildings, delightful flower gardens and local coconut candy and rice paper manufacturers. We explore evergreen islands and visit the former Imperial residence the traditional House, where surviving members of the Kiet family will welcome us with tea, and we can wander in the fruit orchards around the house. The Le Cochichine boat set sails torward Sadec and moor midstream for the night. Diner and overnight on board.

 

Rising up early for another nice day we contemplate sunrise while having breakfast on board. Visit the Sadec local market , following the tracks of French novelist Marguerite Duras. Walks/Cycle amongst the ever blossoming Sadec flower village and local industries. Visit bricks and tiles kilns and the manufacture of earthenware pots on a bank of river. Back to boat and enjoy welcome back drink while lunch is served. The Le Cochinchine set sails through the canals of Lapvo with a magnificent landscape that come along the river banks: rural walks, farming, nursering farm, fishing, boating, smiling school children all in full swing. Visit Sugar craft factory. Enjoy traditional herbal foot massage on boat. Diner and while Le Cochinchinecruises towards Chaudoc.

 

Breakfast Explore the long Xuyen market one of the most bustling floating markets in Mekong Delta with hundreds of small boats barging and jostling for space as owners attempt to sell their goods. Visit OngHo Island and enjoy the scenery and walk /cycle to visit villages the island, passing by farmers, children, villagers tendering their daily load. See local farmers trading their produce on the water as they have done for centuries. You will have a unique opportunity to discover a side of Delta life that few travellers experience. Enjoy lunch on boat while our cruise carry on our journey through Chomoi, HoaHao and Chaudoc

Boat Cruise through the floating fish-farm village producing tons and tons of fish beneath hundreds of floating houses, discover the ethnic Cham village with famous Mubarak Mosque and observe local women at their traditional weaving. Enjoy the aperitif on the sun desk and taking in view of the the river. Diner and overnight on boat.

 

This morning we will have a boat ride from Chau Doc to Phnom Penh departing at 8am. The boat takes us along the Mekong River. It continues on to the Vietnamese (Vinh Xuong) - Cambodian (Kaom Samnar) border and then to Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia. The journey takes approximately 4 hours. Arrival transfer our hotel in Phnompenh, the capital of Kingdom of Cambodia. A visit to Phnom Penh is a very interesting experience indeed. It is a city with an interesting pulse and it gives you a very true taste of Asia. We will visit the Wats Phnom, National museum, silver Pagoda and Royal Palace. Overnight at Sunway hotel**** in Phnom Penh.

 

This morning there will be a transfer to Phompenh airport to Siemriep FT 990 0645 0735. Arrival Siemriep, transfer to the hotel .Visit Prasat Kravan with its unique brick sculptures and Ta Prohm. One of the area's most beautiful temples, Ta Prohm has been relatively untouched since it was discovered and retains much of its mystery. Its appeal lies in the fact that, unlike the other monuments of Angkor, it was abandoned and swallowed by the jungle, looking very much the ways most of the Angkor temples appeared when European explorers first stumbled upon them. Visit as well Takeo, Chau Say Tevoda and Thommanon.
Dinner and overnight at Prince d’Angkor hotel. .

 

Breakfast at hotel.
In the morning, visit the most famous of all the temples on the plain of Angkor: Angkor Wat. The temple complex covers 81 hectares and is comparable in size to the Imperial Palace in Beijing. Its distinctive five towers are emblazoned on the Cambodian flag and the 12th century masterpiece is considered by art historians to be the prime example of classical Khmer art and architecture. Angkor Wat's five towers symbolize Meru's five peaks - the enclosed wall represents the mountains at the edge of the world and the surrounding moat, the ocean beyond.

Afternoon visit the ancient capital of Angkor Thom (12th century). See the South Gate with its huge statues depicting the churning of the ocean of milk, the Royal Enclosure, Phimeanakas, the Elephants Terrace, the Terrace of the Leper King and Bayon Temple (unique for its 54 towers decorated with over 200 smiling faces of Avolokitesvara), until sunset. Tonight we will enjoy diner with traditional Khmer folk performance of Apsara.Overnight at Prince d’Angkor hotel in Siemriep..

 

Breakfast at hotel.
At leisure to visit the market or "Les Artisans d'Angkor - Chantiers Ecoles" of Siem Reap (if time permits). Transfer to Siem Reap International Airport for your departure flight.