Part 2: Mekong River Cruise Excursions in Cambodia & Vietnam We Loved

Continue our excursions journey with us, starting mid-cruise, from Day 4 of our Riches of the Mekong River cruise with AmaWaterways (Charms of the Mekong in reverse) to the vibrant Ho Chi Minh City. We are sharing exactly what to expect from this cultural journey through Cambodia and Vietnam - if you haven’t listened to Part 1 yet, you don’t want to miss it! Additionally, our episode about our onboard river cruise experience on the AmaDara along the Mekong River will enhance your knowledge. 

We explore the rich cultural tapestry of Southeast Asia, from the bustling streets of Phnom Penh to the serene landscapes of Vietnam. Discover the unique experiences that make this cruise unforgettable, including the breathtaking views from Oudong Hilltop and a wet market where you won’t believe the live proteins for sale. Don't miss the end, when we share a life-changing visit with APOPO HeroRats in Siem Reap that left a lasting impact on us and why.

• For additional information about this cruise, read our AmaWaterways Mekong River Cruise Review: 30 Unexpected Surprises.
• Pack a handheld rechargeable fan for your excursions! It’s hot and you’ll be grateful you have one. Our favorite fan is in our Mekong River Cruise packing list on Amazon.
• We stayed at The Courtyard Marriott in Siem Reap & Le Meridien in Ho Chi Minh City.
• Book this full-day, private tour in Siem Reap. You won't regret it!

Thank you to our sponsor, Riverside Luxury Cruises. Find out more about our experience with this outstanding river cruise line, providing guests with the luxury of choice.

Chapters

• 1:17 Continue Our Riches of the Mekong River Cruise Excursions With Us
• 2:59 Day 4: Spiritual Experiences & Exploring Phnom Penh, a City of Contrasts
• 10:06 Day 5: Border Crossing between Cambodia & Vietnam
• 10:55 Day 6: Experiencing Local Life in Vietnam
• 14:38 Day 7: Vietnamese Cultural Experiences
• 17:44 Day 8: Entering Ho Chi Minh City & Post-Cruise Touring
• 19:30 Giant Rats: A Unique Not-to-Miss Experience in Siem Reap

Transcript

Dan (00:35)

Welcome to Small Ship Cruise Talk.

Mikkel (00:37)

Today is part two of our two-part series on the Mekong River Cruise excursions. Last week we started in Siem Reap and ended mid cruise. Today we are picking up where we left off mid cruise and ending in Ho Chi Minh City. Listen all the way to the end because we have one of Dan's absolute favorite things that we did during the entire time in Southeast Asia that is really, I would say stunning, unique, spectacular and has to do with rodents. So you're not going to want to miss out (right?) on that. 

If you are looking for information about the cruise onboard experience - so the crew, what the food was like, the spa, if you are looking for information about the flights, the visas, currency - we talked about that in our previous episode. Not part one, but the episode titled "Mekong River Cultural Journey: Cruising Cambodia to Vietnam," discussing all of those things and more that I'm gonna link in the show notes about our Riches of the Mekong experience. So if you are considering this cruise or you have it booked, do not miss that.

Mikkel (01:46)

Last week we ended on somewhat of a somber note, talking about the Genocide Museum and Killing Fields that you are able to go on an excursion to with AmaWaterways. It was very telling and revealing of the history of Cambodia - a dark time for Cambodian people, but of course vital to learn about nonetheless. Today we are diving back in on a happy note, talking about what else we did in Phnom Penh.

Mikkel (02:15)

Let's get back into things.

So to celebrate life after this, we were able to enjoy the ship and move on to a brighter morning on day four in Oudong Buddhist Temple.

So on day four, this was exceptionally memorable and not just visually stunning, but really a feast for the senses in terms of the chanting that the monks were doing for this blessing and the songs and the scent of the flower petals that they were throwing on us on everybody, throwing like confetti, you know, in a great way. And if this makes you uncomfortable, you do not have to participate in this. Basically you all sit on the floor and they start this blessing.

And because you know more about Buddhism than I do, what did you think about this? I was looking forward to this for you, like very much.

Dan (03:06)

Alright. Yeah, it was really powerful. So there was two monks, they were chanting, they gave us a blessing. And then during the blessing, they were tossing a mixture of lotus petals and lotus flowers, like the buds. They almost looked like popcorn. They were white and you know, and then some, some water that was mixed in there. So you were getting flowers and a little bit of a water blessing at the same time.

And for me, I had my eyes closed listening to it and when they started throwing the petals I was jarred awake as I got pelted in the head with a lotus pedal. But it was very powerful, very moving, and you felt the love, really.

Mikkel (03:42)

Yeah, inside was painted just gorgeously. So it was a nice place to kind of cool off from the hot sun, but also to just sit in awe and looking around at the Buddha sculpture before you. And you have to look up, left, right, down. Like there's just gorgeous paintings everywhere inside of there. Afterwards, we opted to do the active walking tour

Dan (04:11)

Yeah.

Mikkel (04:16)

to see the panoramic views from Oudong Hilltop. And it was a little concerning because it said it was a hilltop and it was active. But we're here to tell you, if you can walk a couple hundred steps. I think it wasn't even that much. I mean like, walking up to the top of ⁓ the cupola in a church in Europe is more daunting than this.

It's open air, you're not enclosed, you're like Rocky in Pennsylvania just walking up the steps to the top of this, to the top of this Buddhist hilltop. And the view from there as views from a vista are always was very much worth it.

Dan (04:43)

Right. I would just add that once you get to the top, there's a stupa up there and you can walk around it and then you get a great view of how big the Buddhist complex is. I think the tour guide said it was either the biggest or one of the biggest complexes for monks and schooling to learn about the Dharma in Cambodia.

Mikkel (05:07)

It certainly looked like that. When we were watching season three of White Lotus, Parker Posey is all, "Buddhism" and they like go to see the Buddhist temple. The one we saw felt like a five-star one compared to that. 

Dan (05:34)

Right, yeah. I almost put it in an application while I was there.

Mikkel (05:37)

Yeah, I wouldn't have been surprised.

So we did an ox ride after that, just for a little more culture, I would say.

Dan (05:46)

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And we say ox it was literally an ox ride. Not on the ox, but there was a cart behind we climbed in.

Mikkel (05:53)

And AmaWaterways arranged this so they take groups of people from the cruise and go around and it's supporting the local economy. They obviously pay these men who are doing this. And they use these oxen for transportation. Is oxen the right word?

Dan (06:11)

I think so, yeah.

Mikkel (06:11)

Okay, so they use them for transportation and to do, you know, farm labor and everything called the "Riches of the Mekong" or "Charms of the Mekong" itineraries. But that really is what it is: Enrichment in every sense of the word.

That afternoon, we had another form of transportation. We got on more modern tuk-tuks. So, little carts, if you don't know what they are, that are all over Southeast Asia, including in Cambodia. And this was a tuk-tuk ride through Phnom Penh. And what you can expect is that it's four people per tuk-tuk. 

So it was us and another couple that we grew to befriend on the cruise. And it was a tour through... We stopped along the way. So we got off of the tuk-tuk and then the guide was able to give us a little bit of a tour and then everybody got back on the tuk-tuks without the guides and the drivers took us to the next location which was obviously pre-arranged.

Dan (07:02)

We were able to see a lot of the highlights of Phnom Penh. And then we stopped at a couple temples and just got a different perspective, kind of a street level. Prior we had gone through on a bus and so this was really - we were in the heart of it. And feeling the heat from the pavement and hearing the chatter and the horns and smelling the smells.

Mikkel (07:21)

obviously. Yeah, yeah. I mean, this is like the heart of the urban environment, the capital of Cambodia. And we were able to see the juxtaposition between the Angorian architecture and the French colonial architecture and the tree-lined boulevards.

Really every excursion just gives you stark contrast in like a really beautiful and profound way if you stop to think about it and discuss it back on the ship through meals with other cruisers. And, you know, that was very obvious during this tour versus what we had in the morning and the day before even. We went on our own to Phnom Penh's famous landmark Wat Phnom. That's P-H-N-O-M. P-H is silent. Wat Phnom.

You can go as part of the AmaWaterways tour options, but we just went on our own, which we were happy to do after. When we finished the tuk tuk asked the guide how to get there and we easily walked from where we were. Phnom Penh is big, but it's very walkable, actually. 

And if you have some cash, you can use US currency there, which we touched on in our last episode that's linked in the show notes about our Mekong River cruise. It's very easy to pay somebody to take you on a tuk-tuk ride to get from point A to B. The next day, after all of this urban landscape in Phnom Penh, and we actually - I should say - we also had free time on our own that night. We went to this rooftop bar that the crew recommended that was just incredible, very modern.

My drink was amazing. I had this banana flower infused - like the huge banana flower from banana plants - vodka or whatever the spirit was. The view was amazing. The drink was delicious. We felt very cosmopolitan. So again, just another juxtaposition there. We didn't really dress up even. We were just wearing day clothes, and they welcomed us with open arms.

Dan (09:13)

Right, well it was because we got the blessing from the monks earlier in the day. They could feel the, yeah.

Mikkel (09:16)

Yeah, they could see that we were extra special. Yeah. So again, another juxtaposition. 

Day five was simply the border crossing day. I would liken this to a “day at sea.” You're obviously on the river, but you have visas for Cambodia and a different visa for Vietnam. We touched on this in that last episode that's linked for you guys. 

And, they basically have the authorities come on to check all those. You're not involved in this. The crew organizes this, but because of that, it is a full day on the ship, which I absolutely always love. This is where those spa treatments come into play. You want to make sure that you listen to our other episode about the spa treatments. I'm not going to go into it here. I'm just going to say that you need to check out that episode because you need to get your spa treatments in. You can enjoy the pool.

Dan (09:57)

Mm-hmm.

Mikkel (10:12)

Anyway, that's day five.

Let's move on to day six when we got into Vietnam after that border crossing and were able to make landfall, should I say?

Dan (10:21)

Hmm. Yeah, that border crossing was interesting. It felt like a traffic jam and we had to sit for a while, but like.

Mikkel (10:25)

Right, yeah, it was interesting to see all of the commercial boats on the river too that they all have to go through the same crossing checks.

Dan (10:33)

Right. But day one in Vietnam, day six on the cruise: we started off on the tenders and we got on smaller boats and then went in and visited a farming village.

Mikkel (10:45)

Yeah, I know why you're saying that. It was kind of like a tender. It was almost like more of what you picture on postcards about Vietnam with these boats that are transportation for Vietnamese people to take them from point A to B. So the long boats, thank you. Yes, exactly.

Dan (10:58)

The long boats, like a long boat, yeah. With the face painted on the front, you know?

Mikkel (11:04)

Right, right, right, which is literally there for a spiritual reason and to keep people safe on the river. So this was in Tan Chau and this is a small town on the Mekong River unspoiled by tourism. So there were three this morning. One was the trishaw ride around town with stops at the silk making and rattan mat workshops. Another one did that, but also there was an Evergreen Island tour. 

So we did Evergreen Island first and then were taken by rickshaw to the craftsman workshop. Actually, we might have even walked there from where we were there. And then the third alternative, which we did not do so we cannot speak to this is the intimate tour through the Trà Sû forest and sanctuary. 

So the Evergreen Island tour, again, we were able to stop into Vietnamese people's homes, which I thought were so funny (in a very respectful way, I say that) but they really living quite modestly. But the thing that they did have, and this is why I think it was funny, was, oh, they had Wi-Fi. Yes, they had Wi-Fi. They were able to get connected digitally. So really rustic, a rural area, farming everywhere around us. And then we were able to ask questions to the homeowner, translated through our now Vietnamese guides, as opposed to the Cambodian guides that got off our ship at the crossing, we said hello to our new Vietnamese guides.

Dan (12:30)

So after visiting the homes we took the boat and then picked up some trishaws and went to a silk manufacturing. This actually felt more like a factory. There was machines and also in Vietnam silk is a big deal and part of the economy and

Mikkel (12:40)

Yes. Yeah.

Dan (12:47)

A big export for them. So we visited the silk factory and also "shopportunities" there.

Mikkel (12:53)

Shopportunities. Yes, I love it.

Dan (12:56)

We also drove around the city, the town a little bit.

Mikkel (12:59)

Yeah. I liked that part of it. I would say if you're considering this tour and you have already gone to the Silk Village in Cambodia, I didn't enjoy this one as much. So I would say if you're between the two that I would skip this. I really like the Evergreen Island. I like that part. I liked being able to see the small city, I would call it, in the trishaw, how you would say. But I was disappointed with the silk...

What did you call it? ⁓ Factory. Yeah. We didn't see anybody working on the stuff, but they did take us in the back to show us

Dan (13:27)

factory.

Mikkel (13:32)

The machines, which were amazing. I cannot imagine how hot it is in there when they are using loud and hot with all of the kinetic energy from the motion of those machines. But it was just disappointing because it felt like a lot of dead time and like we had seen it already. So if you're going to skip anything, I would say kind of skip that one just to be helpful.

Dan (13:36)

Or how loud? Yeah.

Mikkel (13:52)

And then we cruised to Sa Dec in the afternoon.

Dan (13:56)

Right. So that takes us right into day seven already. The cruise is flying by. Yeah.

Mikkel (14:01)

and it did fly by.

Dan (14:04)

That morning was interesting. Definitely a slice of Vietnam and a slice of everyday life. I think that was a Sunday morning, if I remember correctly, because we visited a wet market.

Mikkel (14:12)

Hmm. Okay.

Dan (14:16)

If you don't know what a wet market is, it's, uh, it's, there's a lot of animals. Yeah.

Mikkel (14:20)

It could be jarring. It could be jarring. Yeah.

Dan (14:22)

There's a lot of animals and a lot of animals you wouldn't normally expect to see for sale. And it's not the pre-packaged meat department at Publix. It is, um, it's a little jarring. Yeah.

Mikkel (14:34)

Yeah. And I would say to clarify, if you're a little confused listening, it's proteins to eat, to kill and eat if you are a carnivore. There are frogs there. There's some fish. There's other forms of meat. The meat was already butchered, like from bigger animals. Yeah, cows.

Dan (14:51)

Right, from the bigger animals, there were live snakes, live frogs, live turtles. Oh yeah.

Mikkel (14:56)

You saw snakes? Oh, thank god I didn't see that. I would have freaked out. ⁓ But there's a lot. There's so much. It's so stimulating. There's so much to see and the guide was amazing. There were some vegetables I had never seen that actually we were able to order at a restaurant in Vietnam when we stayed there. It was almost like the lotus root, I think. That was something that stood out.

Dan (15:18)

Right? Yeah, yeah.

Mikkel (15:21)

I love vegetables, I love a farmer's market. So there were a lot of vegetables. Don't be scared to ask questions, it's encouraged. Don't be shy, I should say. So that was really cool. And then we were on a tuk-tuk to get back to the ship. Actually, the tuk-tuk or trishaw, whatever it was, took us back to the boat to get back to the ship. 

Oh, and we also stopped at a temple on the way. The temple was really interesting because it is a unique religion called cow d- Caodaism, if I'm saying it right, in southern Vietnam. It's a fusion of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and if that's not enough, also Confucianism.

Dan (15:58)

And it seemed like there was a little ancestor worship in there too, cause it was just random, like a random author was a saint and like, I can't remember if it was like James Joyce or something, it was just like a patron saint.

Mikkel (16:05)

Right, that too, that too. So again, building really worth seeing and learning about this part of Vietnamese culture. 

Another thing we did that day that was really interesting in the afternoon in Cai Be, we went to this candy and rice paper making workshop, another shopportunity.

We were able to taste it free of charge. AmaWaterways arranged this for us and help in making some of these things. They asked for a volunteer or two at both stations there. That was amazing. And then we were also able to see a historic house, I would say from, I'm pretty sure it was from the 19th century, but gorgeous wood, inlaid Mother of Pearl. It's called the historic Kiet Old House. And I thought that was worth seeing because it really added something we hadn't seen before during this river cruise.

Dan (16:59)

Right, yeah. That was day seven, and then day eight was disembarkation.

Mikkel (17:04)

Wa waaaa....

No more amazing broth noodle soups for breakfast on the cruise. But the good news is you can extend your trip pre and post. So because we did the riches of the Mekong going from Cambodia to Vietnam, we were able to disembark in My Tho, which is the marina. It's actually the most modern marina we saw the entire trip. Really beautiful.

Dan (17:26)

Yeah, it's beautiful.

Mikkel (17:27)

And we transferred, it was about a two hour bus ride to get from there to Ho Chi Minh City to the Sofitel Hotel. And the rest stop was really modern. It was kind of like a rest stop you would see along I-95.

Dan (17:40)

Yeah, yeah. And get coffee, check wifi that was available and bathrooms.

Mikkel (17:44)

Yeah.

Remember they had that gorgeous garden we walked around? Yeah. Yeah. So that was fun. And they dropped us off at the Sofitel Hotel. We booked our own post-cruise trip a couple of nights in Ho Chi Minh City and stayed at the Le Meridien Marriott. We actually were able to book Concierge Level all on points because it's so affordable. And Dan and I on our own did 

Dan (17:48)

All right. Yes. Yeah.

Mikkel (18:12)

a day tour that we booked. We stopped at Independence Palace. And actually, do you remember we were like in the windows and we're looking down and you're like, "I think that's our cruise." And there were people that were doing the post cruise tour. So we did that. We stopped at the historic train station there. And we also went to the War Remnants Museum for the Vietnam War. As you have mentioned to me, it's very different - the victor writes the history books. So it was not kind to the Americans, but also important to see.

Dan (18:21)

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, it was just a different perspective than we were used to and a different side of the story, but I think it's important to be exposed to it.

Mikkel (18:47)

Yeah. I also want to highlight something we haven't had a chance to talk about. So let’s close with something ultra unique and one of your favorite things

Mikkel (18:58)

at the start of our trip. So we also extended on our own. Not only did we do the pre-cruise extension in Siem Reap to go see Angkor Wat with AmaWaterways. But we stayed a few days beforehand at the Courtyard Marriott, I believe it is, in Siem Reap, which is not like Courtyard Marriotts here. It's way nicer. The restaurant was great. The pool was amazing. We were there in August, so we had it by ourselves because it's low tourist season and it's in really great area to walk around, more so than

Because the Sofitel in Siem Reap is kind of isolated almost. Like we could walk to a 7-Eleven or something from there, but that was kind of the only thing there. It's almost like a more ritzy area, but the Courtyard Marriott we were able to walk to more places. And that was the APOPO Rat Center. And I'm going to kick it off to you because this was something that you were so moved by that you ended up, it became a part of your life afterward.

Dan (19:52)

Yeah.

Yeah. So think of giant rats. They're African rats about... well, bigger than a a football. Right. ⁓ So like almost think raccoon size rat. And they are trained to sniff out TNT because Cambodia, because of the history of wars and skirmishes and disagreements with their neighbors,

Mikkel (19:59)

huge. A stuffed animal size.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dan (20:18)

there's a lot of landmines that are still in the ground - like millions of landmines that are still in the ground - and it's a problem. And they're still going off and they're still injuring people today and farmers. And there's a large portion of the country that is uninhabitable and unfarmable because of these landmines. 

So cut to the rats. What do they do? Because the weight of the rat is low and they're small, they can walk on the landmines and not detonate them. But because they're so smart, they're trained to sniff out and indicate when they find TNT buried in the ground so that the cleaning or the clearing crews can then mark where the landmine is and safely remove it out of the ground. This is all non-profit and they work within Cambodia, but they're also working in other countries.

And they also train dogs and rats to sniff out tuberculosis. So it's not just landmines and they're truly working globally.

Mikkel (21:21)

And I also want to add to that that during this experience you get to hold the rat which I was kind of like, "Ahhh!"⁓ you know, like, "Oh my God, my God..." But you hold the rat. 

Dan (21:28)

Ha ha ha!

Mikkel (21:31)

I have to say it's almost like holding - I don't know a kitten, dare I say. You actually have to, because they care for the rats, they make sure that you wash off any sunscreen on your hands and your arms before you hold the rats because it can make them sick. And these are, like you said, highly intelligent rodents. 

Mikkel (21:50)

It’s not only a great photo opportunity, it's an incredible educational opportunity. And they're truly not just saving lives of the people that live in these villages affected by these landmines, but also the limbs. I mean, these people, if they don't lose their lives, if a landmine goes off, they are losing limbs from this. So it really is life changing. Yeah, yeah.

Dan (22:13)

And that is something we saw. We saw a number of people with missing limbs because of landmines.

Mikkel (22:18)

Yes. Yes.

And we did this on our own as part of a bigger day tour. We hired a private guy to take us around that day. And this was the last stop that he took us to. And when we got home, unbeknownst to me, you were so moved by this, you now donate to them on a monthly basis. Is that correct?

Dan (22:38)

Yeah, I did. I adopted a rat and... Right. Right. So I set up monthly donation and it was something that really moved me and

Mikkel (22:41)

Yes, you could adopt a rat. I forgot we have a rat child.

Dan (22:52)

I encourage you to check out the site. We'll put the link in the show notes but c  heck it out for yourself and if you're as moved as I was, please donate.

Mikkel (22:59)

On that rat note, let's wrap up this episode. I'm so glad that you were able to come along with us on the excursions, part two of our two-parter on the Mekong River cruise excursions. If we have missed anything you are wondering about, please reach out to us. We are very much contactable.

You can message us in our social media or you can send us a text message if you are listening through Buzzsprout or it's very easy to get in touch with us, so please do so. And I'm looking forward to next week's episode when we talk about our five essential things that we always pack for a river cruise. You are not going to want to miss this. I would say they're life-changing items that have really made our travels better.

Dan (23:43)

Yeah, I would agree.

Mikkel (23:45)

Alright, talk to you next week.