8 Days Saigon to Siem Reap Cruising with La Marguerite

Register between 11:00 to 12:00 at Sofitel Saigon Plaza Hotel. Transfer overland by coach to My Tho port for embarkation aboard of Indochina Sails’ ship for journey from the Mekong Delta to Holy Angkor. We embark the ship at 13:30. Welcome drink served in Saigon Lounge for a short briefing followed by a lunch served in Mekong restaurant. Your cabins are ready for check in after lunch. After port clearance formalities captain raises the anchor and cruises towards Cai Be. Join the Cruise Manager at Saigon Lounge for safety demonstration and briefing at 18:00 followed by Captain’s Cocktails. Enjoy the first gourmet dinner onboard with fellow travelers. After dinner join us for the folk performance of Mekong Delta at Saigon Lounge. We moor overnight midstream near Cai Be.

 

After breakfast we take a morning junk trip around Cai Be to see a floating market, and go ashore to visit the French Gothic Cathedral and colorful port area, with its colonial buildings, delightful flower gardens and local rice paper manufacturers. Back to the boat at 12:00. Enjoy lunch while our vessel sails toward Vinh Long - the Vietnam second biggest city by the Mekong river. Visit to the bustling afternoon market. A visually stunning boat ride and walk through the market, where all manner of aquatic life were being sold, as well as a lot of everything else edible and imaginable. Cocktails and briefing from 18:30 followed by a dinner in Mekong restaurant. After dinner the ship raise anchor and cruise to Sadec. Tonight ship moors midstream of the Mekong River near Sadec.

 

After the breakfast follow guides to the hometown of Marguerite Duras’ lover, quaint little city. Visit the old house of Huynh Thuy Le’s, partake in the bantering of local markets along the paved river banks, pagoda and the Fujian Temple, build and donated to the city by Le’s family. You will pass by the home of Marguerite Duras from across the riverbanks. We spend the rest of the day to cruise to Tan Chau. Join the lecture onboard on "Vietnam - The Past & Present". We arrive in Tan Chau - the Vietnamese town on near the border with Cambodia on the Mekong River. Our cruise ship moors safely at the riverbank of Tan Chau. After dinner join us in the Crew Show in Saigon Lounge.

 

Today will truly be a highlight with a visit of Tan Chau - a small town untouched by tourism. Morning excursion start with sightseeing by local boats, navigate narrow channels to visit an evergreen island. You will have a chance to visit floating fish farm and travel along the tiny tributaries where slit houses are haphazardly leaning on one another. Then you will go ashore and have a tour around the town on rickshaw (Xe Loi). Then we will visit a rattan mats and slippers making factories. Go back to the ship and enjoy a lunch while the ships departs for border. In the afternoon Cooking Class performed by our Executive Chef at Saigon Lounge, while the border formalities are going on. We cast off for an overnight cruising the main Mekong channel, an international shipping route to Phnom Penh

 

Today is also busy day with many interesting sightseeing and activities In the morning, we will have sightseeing by bus in Phnom Penh. Royal Palace, the spectacular Silver Pagoda and the National Museum with outstanding displays of the Khmer crafts will be the places that you will visit. Places where you visit in the afternoon will help you know more about a part of Cambodia’s history: the Khmer Rouge’s grim Toul Sleng (S21 detention center) and the Killing Field. If you want to spend more free time for yourself shopping or taking a tour around the city instead, please inform to the Ship Manager. Cocktail hours from 18:30 to 19:30. Dinner is served from 19:30 to 21:00. After dinner, please join the Khmer folk dances and songs at the Saigon Lounge. Before midnight you can hang out in the bars many of which are located just opposite the dock.

 

Early in the morning our vessel will sails towards little known village Chong Koh. After breakfast we go spend time in Chong Koh silk weaving village for a morning walk at leisure. Back to the ship 10:00. Join the lecture onboard “Cambodia - The Past and Present” presented by our tour guide while the ship cruises toward the Prek K’dam, where we start our afternoon tour to Oudong Between 1618 and 1866 Oudong was the capital of Cambodia, built on the top of Phnom Oudong. This hill is made up of a series of stupas and shrines in a variety of conditions. However we do not climb the hill by a steep stairway with 509 steps as we join our tour guides to the Buddhist monastery at the foothill. After Oudong we take 45-minute bus ride to Kampong Tralach, visit to Wat Kapong Tralach Pleu and then take a 20-minute ox-cart ride to the Tonle River traveling through countryside and a small village on a dusty road, past rice fields and amused locals. Go back to the ship and cruise to Kampong Chhnang.

 

Kampong Chhnang is a busy rural port town with bustling markets. Mooring mid-stream, we make a truly wonderful motorboat excursion into the lakeside wetlands that form the mouth of the river. Here a stunning variety of birdlife may be seen, and of considerable interest are local life and floating village. Go back to the boat and cast off towards Prek K’dam - a small village that is around 35km away from Phnom Penh. Time for packing and prepare for Farewell Cocktail this evening. The ship docks overnight in Prek K’dam.

 

Breakfast is served from 6:30 - 8:00 in the Mekong Restaurant. After breakfast, bid farewell to crew and disembark at Prek K’dam at 8:30 AM. We take 5 and a half hour bus drive to Siem Reap with stop at Kampong Thom. We arrive about 13:30 at Le Meridien Angkor Hotel in Siem Reap