Timeless Wonders of Vietnam, Cambodia & the Mekong

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Hanoi’s elegant boulevards are lined with trees and handsome buildings, as you’ll see on today’s fascinating tour of the city. At the same time, this lively cultural center—Vietnam’s capital city—is replete with bustling streets, food vendors, museums, and historic sites, making for an intriguing study in contrasts that rivals any other metropolitan destination.

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Enjoy free time in Hanoi before your included flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia, where you will be transferred to your luxury hotel, the Sofitel Angkor Phokeethra Golf & Spa Resort.

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Today is a bucket list kind of day as you explore the ancient temples of Angkor Wat, a gigantic religious complex that is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Today you will enter the spectacular remnants of Angkor Thom, the royal city. Built during the heyday of the Khmer dynasty in the 12th century, this extraordinary complex of Hindu and Buddhist monuments was once lost to the world for many years, hidden under dense jungle vines.

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Today, you’ll have free time to explore Siem Reap, a place name that means, literally, “Defeat of Siam”—which tells you something of its history. It is the gateway to Angkor, the legendary archaeological site. Later check out of your hotel and transfer via executive motorcoach to Kampong Cham where you’ll embark on the beautiful Mekong Jewel—your elegant home for the next seven nights—and set sail on the beautiful Mekong.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s busy capital, sits at the junction of the Mekong and Tonlé Sap rivers. It was a hub for both the Khmer Empire and French colonialists. On its walkable riverfront, lined with parks, restaurants and bars, are the ornate Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and the National Museum, displaying artifacts from around the country. At the city’s heart is the massive, art deco Central Market.

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Today is a celebration of Cambodia’s bright future. You’ll meet young children at a local school and friendly villagers in their homes, and have a rare opportunity to receive an unforgettable water blessing from local Buddhist monks.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s busy capital, sits at the junction of the Mekong and Tonlé Sap rivers. It was a hub for both the Khmer Empire and French colonialists. On its walkable riverfront, lined with parks, restaurants and bars, are the ornate Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and the National Museum, displaying artifacts from around the country. At the city’s heart is the massive, art deco Central Market.

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Today, you’ll discover the thriving capital of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. It stands at the juncture of three captivating rivers and represents a dizzying blend of architectural styles—French colonial, Khmer, modern, and everything in between. Here, you’ll find an alluring riverside esplanade amid numerous bewitching Buddhist temples, palaces, and artifacts.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s busy capital, sits at the junction of the Mekong and Tonlé Sap rivers. It was a hub for both the Khmer Empire and French colonialists. On its walkable riverfront, lined with parks, restaurants and bars, are the ornate Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and the National Museum, displaying artifacts from around the country. At the city’s heart is the massive, art deco Central Market.

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Today’s featured excursion may be the most profound and memorable experience of your entire journey. You’ll learn about the infamous Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge and visit a former school-turned-prison that is now a genocide museum.

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You leave Cambodia behind and cross into Vietnam today, delving into a region where traditional and modern lifestyle elements mingle: Agriculture may still reign supreme, but TV satellite dishes dot rooftops of houses built on stilts. You’ll visit the local island village of Hong Ngu, a major producer of the traditional Khmer scarves located not far from the Vietnam-Cambodia border. Since they’re woven in many homes around the village, you’ll have the opportunity to see the process first-hand. You’ll also stop at a local temple dedicated to a unique religion founded in this area of Vietnam, Hoa Hoa.

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Following breakfast, you’ll venture to Gieng Island, where you’ll experience how a local family makes incense sticks and the conical hat. Later, your journey continues via sampan, where you’ll observe the daily routines of the villagers in Sa Dec and visit a colorful temple, the home of Mr. Huynh Thuy Le.

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Today, you’ll witness the hustle and bustle of delta river life on a unique excursion created exclusively for Uniworld guests, where you can see how local farmers weave sedge hats, decorate bonsais, and more.

Romantically referred to by the French as the Pearl of the Orient, Ho Chi Minh City today is a super-charged city of sensory overload. Motorbikes zoom day and night along the wide boulevards, through the narrow back alleys and past vendors pushing handcarts hawking goods of all descriptions. Still called Saigon by most residents, this is Vietnam’s largest city and the engine driving the country’s current economic resurgence, but despite its frenetic pace, it’s a friendlier place than Hanoi and locals will tell you the food—simple, tasty, and incorporating many fresh herbs—is infinitely better than in the capital.This is a city full of surprises. The madness of the city’s traffic—witness the oddball things that are transported on the back of motorcycles—is countered by tranquil pagodas, peaceful parks, quirky coffee shops, and whole neighborhoods hidden down tiny alleyways, although some of these quiet spots can be difficult to track down. Life in Ho Chi Minh City is lived in public: on the back of motorcycles, on the sidewalks, and in the parks. Even when its residents are at home, they’re still on display. With many living rooms opening onto the street, grandmothers napping, babies being rocked, and food being prepared, are all in full view of passersby.Icons of the past endure in the midst of the city’s headlong rush into capitalism. The Hotel Continental, immortalized in Graham Greene’s The Quiet American, continues to stand on the corner of old Indochina’s most famous thoroughfare, the rue Catinat, known to American G.I.s during the Vietnam War as Tu Do (Freedom) Street and renamed Dong Khoi (Uprising) Street by the Communists. The city still has its ornate opera house and its old French city hall, the Hôtel de Ville. The broad colonial boulevards leading to the Saigon River and the gracious stucco villas are other remnants of the French colonial presence. Grisly reminders of the more recent past can be seen at the city’s war-related museums. Residents, however, prefer to look forward rather than back and are often perplexed by tourists’ fascination with a war that ended 40 years ago.The Chinese influence on the country is still very much in evidence in the Cholon district, the city’s Chinatown, but the modern office towers and international hotels that mark the skyline symbolize Vietnam’s fixation on the future.

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Experience how ancient history melds with the boisterous present in Vietnam’s largest city, where skyscrapers tower over ancient temples and motorbikes putter along picturesque alleys.

Romantically referred to by the French as the Pearl of the Orient, Ho Chi Minh City today is a super-charged city of sensory overload. Motorbikes zoom day and night along the wide boulevards, through the narrow back alleys and past vendors pushing handcarts hawking goods of all descriptions. Still called Saigon by most residents, this is Vietnam’s largest city and the engine driving the country’s current economic resurgence, but despite its frenetic pace, it’s a friendlier place than Hanoi and locals will tell you the food—simple, tasty, and incorporating many fresh herbs—is infinitely better than in the capital.This is a city full of surprises. The madness of the city’s traffic—witness the oddball things that are transported on the back of motorcycles—is countered by tranquil pagodas, peaceful parks, quirky coffee shops, and whole neighborhoods hidden down tiny alleyways, although some of these quiet spots can be difficult to track down. Life in Ho Chi Minh City is lived in public: on the back of motorcycles, on the sidewalks, and in the parks. Even when its residents are at home, they’re still on display. With many living rooms opening onto the street, grandmothers napping, babies being rocked, and food being prepared, are all in full view of passersby.Icons of the past endure in the midst of the city’s headlong rush into capitalism. The Hotel Continental, immortalized in Graham Greene’s The Quiet American, continues to stand on the corner of old Indochina’s most famous thoroughfare, the rue Catinat, known to American G.I.s during the Vietnam War as Tu Do (Freedom) Street and renamed Dong Khoi (Uprising) Street by the Communists. The city still has its ornate opera house and its old French city hall, the Hôtel de Ville. The broad colonial boulevards leading to the Saigon River and the gracious stucco villas are other remnants of the French colonial presence. Grisly reminders of the more recent past can be seen at the city’s war-related museums. Residents, however, prefer to look forward rather than back and are often perplexed by tourists’ fascination with a war that ended 40 years ago.The Chinese influence on the country is still very much in evidence in the Cholon district, the city’s Chinatown, but the modern office towers and international hotels that mark the skyline symbolize Vietnam’s fixation on the future.

Day programme:

Today’s featured excursion provides a fascinating glimpse of the Viet Cong’s vast network of incredibly narrow tunnels dating back to the Vietnam War.

Romantically referred to by the French as the Pearl of the Orient, Ho Chi Minh City today is a super-charged city of sensory overload. Motorbikes zoom day and night along the wide boulevards, through the narrow back alleys and past vendors pushing handcarts hawking goods of all descriptions. Still called Saigon by most residents, this is Vietnam’s largest city and the engine driving the country’s current economic resurgence, but despite its frenetic pace, it’s a friendlier place than Hanoi and locals will tell you the food—simple, tasty, and incorporating many fresh herbs—is infinitely better than in the capital.This is a city full of surprises. The madness of the city’s traffic—witness the oddball things that are transported on the back of motorcycles—is countered by tranquil pagodas, peaceful parks, quirky coffee shops, and whole neighborhoods hidden down tiny alleyways, although some of these quiet spots can be difficult to track down. Life in Ho Chi Minh City is lived in public: on the back of motorcycles, on the sidewalks, and in the parks. Even when its residents are at home, they’re still on display. With many living rooms opening onto the street, grandmothers napping, babies being rocked, and food being prepared, are all in full view of passersby.Icons of the past endure in the midst of the city’s headlong rush into capitalism. The Hotel Continental, immortalized in Graham Greene’s The Quiet American, continues to stand on the corner of old Indochina’s most famous thoroughfare, the rue Catinat, known to American G.I.s during the Vietnam War as Tu Do (Freedom) Street and renamed Dong Khoi (Uprising) Street by the Communists. The city still has its ornate opera house and its old French city hall, the Hôtel de Ville. The broad colonial boulevards leading to the Saigon River and the gracious stucco villas are other remnants of the French colonial presence. Grisly reminders of the more recent past can be seen at the city’s war-related museums. Residents, however, prefer to look forward rather than back and are often perplexed by tourists’ fascination with a war that ended 40 years ago.The Chinese influence on the country is still very much in evidence in the Cholon district, the city’s Chinatown, but the modern office towers and international hotels that mark the skyline symbolize Vietnam’s fixation on the future.

Day programme:

If you have arranged a Uniworld departure transfer, you will be transferred to Tan Son Nhat International Airport for your flight home. Or continue your tour with an extraordinary optional extension program.