Day 1: Ho Chi Minh City - Pick up- check in Hotel (Meal: No )
Vietnam Travel Top pick up you from the Tan Son Nhat Airport - Ho Chi Minh city. Transfered to city center by private car and stay overnight at the most touristic area of Ho Chi Minh City.
Day 2: HCMC haft day city tour and Cu Chi Tunnel tour (Meal: B, L )
AM: City tour:
We start the trip by visiting Notre Dame Cathedral, the historic Central Post Office, followed by exploring the Reunification Palace, and the remarkable site of the War Remnants Museum,
PM: Cu Chi Tunnels
Located 60km from HCMC, Cu Chi is now a popular spot for both Vietnamese & foreign tourists - the network of over 200km of tunnels became legendary when they played a vital role in the War. In their heyday, the tunnels were functioning underground cities including numerous trap doors, specially constructed living areas, storage facilities, weapons factories, field hospitals, command centers & kitchens. Today, ducks and water buffalos happily co-exist in the rivers along the side of the road. However, the peaceful rural rice paddy scenery belies the area’s violent history. Visitors will find it hard to imagine the destruction, damage & defoliation over this whole area, caused by bombing and mines. There is plenty of evidence of the fierce battle that took place here during the 1960s when Cu Chi was a "Free Target Zone".
Start our tour in the morning, before entering the tunnels visitors can watch a short introductory video showing how the tunnels were constructed. You will spend the next hour exploring the tunnels.
Afterwards, enjoy tea, cassava (guerrilla’s food during the war). Return to Sai Gon.
18:30 Arrive in your hotel in Ho Chi Minh City.
Day 3 HCMC - Mekong delta - Cai Be Floating Market - Vinh Long tour (Meal: B, L )
8:00 Picking up from hotel/stay.
08:15 Starting drive to Cai Be. Short time to take photos at Tan An town over the flat rice fields.
10:30 Start the motorized boat to visit the Cai Be Floating market, experience how people exchanging goods, fruit and many other commodities on their vessels. Visitors then roam into the small villages to visit the orchard, fruit plantation. Keep cruising to Vinh Long through small canals to enjoy the charm of the Upper Mekong Delta. Visit some handmade family business products such as the coconut candy mill, the crispy rice popcorn.
Arrive in Binh Hoa Phuoc village the green pearl of Vinh Long town where you can indulge yourself into the nature.
Have lunch with fresh river food served in the heart of the garden. Enjoy the southern Vietnamese traditional folk music. Take a nice walk through the bonsai garden, in Vinh Long. Head home to Ho Chi Minh City.
18:30 Arrive in your hotel.
Day 4 HCMC – Bus to Phnom Penh –Cambodia – Check in hotel (Meal: B )
Bus start at 7.00 am and drive to Moc Bai border gate to enter Cambodia (bus time 6 – 7 hours). You will get visa on arrival with the help of bus crew (on request) for you to pass Cambodia. . Bus station pick up and Check in V Hotel Phnom Penh in Phnom Penh.
Upon arrival Phnom Penh then pick up by local guide speaking guide to installation hotel before starting a charming capital of the Kingdom of Cambodia. We will visit Wat Phnom, the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda, and the National Museum, with many pre & post Angkor artifacts.
Visit the notorious Tuol Sleng Museum This former school was used as a prison by Pol Pot’s security forces and became the largest center for detention and torture during the rule of the Khmer Rouge. We will also have some time to explore the Russian Market.
Day 5: Phnom Penh - Koh Dach (Home of Silk) (Breakfast)
Have breakfast at hotel. You'll climb aboard the quirky form of local transport known as the Motoremork, or Tuk Tuk, to Koh Darchh Island, where you'll have a local's eye view of life on the river. Stroll around the village, and pay a visit to a community craft workshop.
Besides fishing and farming, the people here guard many arcane skills in arts and crafts, put to excellent use in their high-quality products sold in the local markets. After perusing these fine items, have a fine time stretching out on a hammock under the thatched roof of a water bungalow. Dinner not included; overnight at hotel in Phnom Penh
Day 6: Phnom Penh – Siem Reap by public bus (Breakfast)
Breakfast at hotel – transfer to Giant Bus to Siem Reap (08h45-14h00), welcome by local driver and transfer to check in hotel. Free leisure by your own time in Siem Reap city. In the afternoon, after bit relax then we will visit Angkor Silk Farm and Artisan D’angkor where is the school for training young people for handicraft work had been launched by Chantier-Ecoles, cooperated with Provincial Office of Education, Youth and Sport. Then will visit Western Baray where is the manmade lake from 11th century to hold the water for irrigation and now a day is a famous site for Cambodian’s family picnic as well as will visit Old Market...
Overnight in Siem Reap.
Day 7: Siem Reap Angkor Wat Temple Tour ( B/L/D )
After breakfast, enjoy a full day excursion to discover Angkor Thom and Temples. Firstly, you will visit the wonderful Angkor Thom (the Great City) including the Southern Gate, famous Bayon temple (12th century in the centre of city remains one the most enigmatic temples of the Angkor group composed of 54 gothic towers decorated with 216 smiling faces of Avalokitesvara. Baphuon temple is lying just to the north of Bayon a pyramidal representation of mythical Mont Meru. Terrace of Elephants used as a giant reviewing stand for public ceremonies and served as a base for the king’s grand audience hall ; Terrace of the Leper King a platform 7m high, with statue and temple walls covered in emerald-green moss intertwined with roots which many deem the most charming of all, Ta Prohm.
Lunch is Khmer style in a local restaurant. Regain your energy enjoying a sumptuous Khmer feast near Sras Srang, the Royal Pool of Ablutions, originally reserved for the King and his consorts. Enjoy a spread of great local food followed by a nap lazing in a hammock, or explore to see the traditional way of life and say hello to the Cambodians near here.
Afternoon, it is time to visit the wonderful Angkor Wat Temples – one of the seven greatest architectural wonders of the world, as a temple and mausoleum forKing Suryavarman II at the peak of the Khmer empire in the first half of 12th. Angkor Wat is probably the best-preserved of the Angkorean temples, with a central tower surrounded by four smaller towers. The central monument represents the mythical Mount Meru, the holy mountain at the centre of the universe, which was home to the Hindu God Vishnu. The whole complex covers 81 hectares, a rectangular wall measuring 1025 meters by 800 meters borders the inner edge of the moat, and temple's greatest sculptural treasure is its 2 km-long bas-reliefs around the walls. In the late afternoon, visit to the Phnom Bakheng temple, is the first temple in Angkor region build by the Yacovarman I King in the first of 9th century, located on a slope gently hill where thousands tourist are grouping on the hilltop to catch a memorable time of life when viewing the marvellous sunset, the distant Angkor Wat in the jungle. This evening, enjoy buffet local dinner with Cambodian Cultural Performance including Apsara Show
Day 8: Siem Reap – Koh Ker – Boeung Mealea ( Breakfast )
In the morning after having breakfast then we continue to drive two hours to north east, your first stop is the 10th century capital of Koh Ker. Whilst there are known to be over 200 temples within the boundaries of this ancient city, only 96 have been discovered thus far and in fact most of your morning is likely to be spent at just one; Prasat Thom, much of which is partially buried. Whilst the visitor numbers vary from one day to another they are always low, and it is not uncommon for you to have the site to yourself. At the far end of Prasat Thom there is towering pyramid, somewhat reminiscent of the Mayan or Inca architecture.
Having seen more of the surrounding temples, return in the direction of Siem Reap, stopping to explore another of the lesser visited temples - Beng Mealea, similar in size to the better known Angkor Wat (both were built by Suryavarman II). Utterly swallowed by jungle, and with minimal restoration work, it is easy to imagine what it must have been like for early explorers discovering these temples for the first time. Return to Siem Reap in the late afternoon.
Day 9: Siem Reap- Tonle Sap Boat Trip- Angkor Silk Farm (Meal : B/L)
Breakfast at hotel, and then visit the floating village of Chong Khneas, located south of 10 kilometers Siem Reap. We take a boat trip in a traditional wooden boat on the Tonle Sap Lake, the "Great Lake" of Cambodia, one of the largest in Asia. We spend the rest of time visiting the "Chantiers Ecoles - Les Artisans d'Angkor" which provides training to young Cambodians in an effort to revive the ancient Khmer traditions of stone carving and wood sculpting. We will drive to the Pouk district about 15 Km in the West of Siem Reap town you visit the silk farm, a fascinating farm/workshop where you can see the entire silk creation process including growing the food for the silk worms, breeding the worms, silk extraction and refinement, traditional kit dying pattern creation and looming. Retail silk and souvenir shop. On the way back, visit the Western Baray (Baray Occidental) measuring 8 km by 2.3 km which provided water for the intensive cultivation of lands around Angkor.
Overnight at Hotel in Siem Reap.
Day 10: Siem Reap - Departure (Meal: B)
Today is on your own leisure until transfer to the airport for your flight to the next destination. End of base tour service.
Note: Finish tour in Siem Reap. Not included flight out ticket.
