Fish and chips are the famous dishes which you can enjoy in Mekong Delta through Cambodia and Vietnam
The waterway is a floating supermarket, with boats packed full of everything from potatoes and perch to clothes and candy.
There are a lot of beautiful sights in the Mekong River trips through Vietnam and Cambodia such as Angkor Wat.
And it’s try before you buy. After opening up at 5am, vendors hand out samples hanging on bamboo poles to buyers pulled up beside them.
The goods are then taken off to villages and towns to be sold in markets together with less appetising food, such as frogs, eels and skinned rats.
Fortunately, those “delicacies” weren’t on my menu as I sailed along the Mekong — just the delicious fresh fish, fruit and veg prepared by a cruise ship chef.
I joined AmaWaterways’ Charms of the Mekong just outside Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, in the middle of a three-week trip living out of a suitcase.
You don’t forget to enjoy chips in floating markets
A great decision as my husband and I were thoroughly spoiled for seven nights on the 124-passenger AmaDara, with its luxurious balcony cabins, wooden sun deck with a pool, top-class food, fun entertainment, spa treatments and the most friendly and helpful staff ever.
We didn’t have to think for ourselves, apart from choose what we wanted to eat and drink from a superb buffet breakfast and lunch, and a la carte dinner.
Oh, and to choose what night we wanted to eat in the Chef’s Table speciality restaurant.
All complimentary excursions are led by fantastic local guides, so we learned about each country’s history and people who had survived brutal wars and dictatorship.
There are many exciting activities to join on the cruise such as a pool, top-class food, fun entertainment and spa treatments
Split into small groups, we were taken by bus, boat or tuk-tuk to landmarks, monuments and temples or walked from the ship up the river bank to remote villages.
AmaWaterways supports local communities, and cruise manager AK always gets a warm welcome.
On a tender, we passed Cai Be floating market. Then we disembarked to see coconut candy being made and taste snake whisky, poured from a bottle containing vipers and the odd scorpion.
We toured the small town of Tan Chau by trishaw — a cycle rickshaw — and bought gorgeous hand-woven silk and rattan table mats for a few pounds.
Furthermore, local people is really kind and friendly, so you will feel warn when visiting the place.
Thirteen miles upstream, we crossed the border into Cambodia and sailed on to Phnom Penh.
The French-built capital boasts spectacular buildings including the Royal Palace, housing a pagoda with 5,000 floor tiles made out of silver.
Inside are hundreds of antiques, art and sculpture and a 90kg Buddha encrusted with more than 2,000 diamonds and a ruby as big as a plum.
Try to visit Phnom Penh before its beautiful riverfront and skyline are spoiled by skyscrapers built with Chinese money.8
Moreover, there are many wonderful and amazing dishes which will make you love in the first time such as snake whisky, and the odd scorpion
The city is still recovering after being ravaged by the Khmer Rouge regime, which killed around two million people from 1975-79.
Walking through the Killing Fields and S21 torture HQ, we met one of the few survivors of Pol Pot’s evil rule, which brings the shuddering horrors of it all that much closer.
Around 95 per cent of Cambodians are Buddhists and there are temples, pagodas and statues everywhere, together with orange-robed monks ready to bless you for a dollar or two.
I like to see what’s going on, so I sat cross-legged directly facing chanting monks at the country’s largest Buddhist monastery in Oudong.8
Whenever, you want to leave from busy and noisy atmosphere of Saigon, you don’t forget to visit the cruise to create mekong delta location in map.
Big mistake. Halfway through the ceremony, they took handfuls of jasmine buds floating in water and lobbed them at the congregation.
I was well and truly blessed — and wet. I dried out, but not for long.
We took an ox-cart ride and, there I was again, sitting right in line of the bony beasts when one sneezed all over me. I resisted the temptation to say “bless you”.
The locals laughed, but everywhere we went, we were met with smiles as wide as the Mekong — from village schoolchildren to the 89-year-old woman repairing a fishing net on tranquil Evergreen Island.
Mekong Delta Tours is the online travel service platform operated by the professional travel consultants. Mekong Delta Tours specializes in providing travel services in Mekong Delta regarding to superior, deluxe, luxury mekong cruises, mekong river tours, transportation and hotels. To be a local tour operator, we always keep the true value with real information and recommendation for your desire. Your smiles are our success! Travelling with the happiness, satisfaction and joyfulness are the most important things we want our customers have. Just tell us what you need, where you want to go, we believe that we can deliver the best options for you in Vietnam.
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