SIEM RIEP - SAIGON ON RV AMADARA CRUISE

Today you will check in your Amadara river ship at Tonle Sap Lake, the biggest fresh water lake that has dominated Cambodia from the mighty Mekong River and its people for centuries. Following the informative Welcome Briefing and meeting with our friendly crew, a Cambodian theme dinner is served in the Mekong Restaurant. Overnight in Kampong Cham.

After breakfast, a local boat will take you into the lakeside wetlands that form the mouth of the Tonle Sap River. Kampong Chhnang is a busy rural port town with bustling markets. Mooring mid-stream, take a truly wonderful motorboat excursion into the lakeside wetlands that form the mouth of the river. Enjoy a stunning variety of birdlife, and of considerable interest are local life and floating village, see numerous great fish traps, some over a half-mile long.
In the afternoon, we will take a short tour to the Koh Chen village. You will also visit home workshops specializing in silversmithing and coppersmithing.

Have a breakfast on board. Transfer to Oudong, the former capital of Cambodia, and tour a monastery where you will receive a special Buddhist blessing. In Kampong Tralach, you will have a truly memorable excursion – an oxcart rides through the rice paddies surrounding a small village. Back to ship for lunch. Laterly your ship departs for Phnom Penh, the official capital of Cambodia, where an afternoon walking tour will give you a wonderful introduction to the city. Return to the ship for dinner and an onboard Khmer Apsara Dances are presented by local skillful artists. The Amadara moors overnight in Phnom Penh.

After breakfast on board this morning, guests meet their cyclo driver for an exciting morning city tour of Phnom Penh. You are gently transported by your driver along the riverfront to the Royal Palace complex. Here guests enjoy a leisurely walk through the grounds viewing Throne Hall and Moonlight Pavilion, before visiting the famous Silver Pagoda, home of Cambodia’s Emerald Buddha and Maitreya Buddha encrusted with more than 9,000 diamonds. Guests return to their cyclos for the short ride to the National Museum ending the morning with a comprehensive tour of the many Angkorian period artifacts excavated at the Angkor Temple complex at Siem Reap.
After lunch onboard, you will take an afternoon excursion to Cambodia’s infamous Killing Fields, and also visit the Khmer Rouge’s grim Tuol Sleng S21 detention center (Genocide Museum) just outside the city. An overnight on the waterfront provides an opportunity to dine on your own in one of many nearby restaurants, if you so choose.

Following clearing formalities crossing the border, guests witness a fascinating change in the architecture along the riverfront as they are now in Vietnam. After lunch, guests board beautiful sampans for a panoramic cruise of Tan Chau harbor with its traditional Vietnamese floating market. Your vessel moors at the small town of Tan Chau, Vietnam.

Today, you will take a small local boat through narrow channels to several scenic locations, including a small village known as “Evergreen Island”. Later, you will see Tan Chau from the vantage point of a traditional “xe-loi” (trishaw) that will take you around to all the sights, with stops at a silk-making workshop and another that produces rattan mats and slippers. This afternoon, your ship cruises to Sa Dec, where it will moor overnight.

Following breakfast this morning, we board sampans to navigate the narrow canals of the Mekong. Guests observe daily routines of the villagers en route to the historic town as Sa Dec. we stop en-route at a local brick factory where guests can view the complete process of brick-making by local men and women utilizing clay form the Mekong River.
We continue to the town as Sa Dec, where a short visit will be made to the home of Mr. Huynh Thuy Le, who inspires Marguerite Duras’ novel, L’Amant (The Lover) as well as a fascinating walk through the town’s market experiencing the sights and smells of the colorful fresh produce, meat, live fish and seafood being sold.
After returning to the ship for lunch, guests enjoy an afternoon cruise to Cai Be. We pass the city’s beautiful French Gothic Cathedral then tour the historic An Kiet House with its beautiful surrounding gardens. Following we board our sampans to visit a traditional rice factory where workers produce rice paper, rice wine, popped rice, and many varieties of traditional candies.
We then set sail towards My Tho enjoying a Lounge and elegant Vietnamese theme dinner as we bid farewell to the magnificent Mekong.

Following breakfast guests disembark the vessel and transfer to Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. Extend excursions in Ho Chi Minh.