9-Day Cambodia and Bangkok Tour from Ho Chi Minh with Angkor Wat

1

Day 01

Arrival in Ho Chi Minh City

• Welcome on board and kick-start your tour by meeting your tour leader and fellow travel companions at 6 pm.
• Then, get acquainted over an included dinner featuring authentic Vietnamese fare.

2

Day 02

Ho Chi Minh City Tour and Street Food Experience

• Ho Chi Minh City's pulse and character reflect a bewildering mix of cultural influences and classes that have shaped its history through the ages. Trade relations with the Chinese, French, Malay, Thai, and Indians enriched its own Khmer customs, creating a cultural crucible that becomes immediately noticeable as you step out for this morning's city tour.
• Walk past some of the elegant colonial buildings around Paris Square before entering the Reunification Palace, which feels eerily like a slice of history arrested in time, with its tunnels, war rooms, radio transmitters, and card tables seemingly waiting for the clock to start ticking again.
• Continue to the General Post Office, tinged with Gothic and Renaissance influences, and then visit the War Remnants Museum for a more personal understanding of the Vietnam War as well as the First Indo-China War through exhibits, photographs, documents, and much more.
• Later in the evening, head out on a street food tour where a variety of local dishes sizzle, pop, and crackle, competing for your attention just as loudly as the vendors themselves.

3

Day 03

Journey to Phnom Penh

• Buckle up for a 6-hour journey by public bus to Phnom Penh as you leave Vietnam and enter Cambodia's capital.
• If you have some time on your hands this evening and are itching to get a taste of the city, hop aboard an eco-friendly cyclo - a remnant of the colonial past - as it gently negotiates Phnom Penh's roads and lets you breeze past some of the city's most popular landmarks.

4

Day 04

Remembrance in Phnom Penh

• Today is a day for remembrance and reflection.
• After breakfast, cycle to S-21 and then onward to Choeung Ek, two sites that chronicle a grim past. Yet as difficult as these stories are, they need to be told, heard, and preserved for generations to come because they stand as a reminder and a testament to Cambodia's brutal history. Tuol Sleng, code-named S-21, was originally a school that was converted into an interrogation centre where no fewer than 12,000 people were tortured and murdered on the orders of Pol Pot after the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia in April 1975. Sometimes graphic and almost heartbreaking, the museum houses photographs, accounts, and tools used to torture detainees here.
• Much of that dark history follows you as you continue to the Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre, or the Killing Fields, where prisoners from S-21 and elsewhere were taken to be exterminated. Rows of bones and human skulls appear in this surprisingly well-kept field, underscoring the irony of all human intentions.

5

Day 05

Overland to Siem Reap via Local Landmarks

• This morning, board a private vehicle for the journey between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Although the drive typically takes 6 hours, several pit stops along the way offer a wide variety of experiences to keep things interesting.
• Stop at the Skun Spider Market, set right at the intersection of two highways and known for local delicacies that include locusts, tarantulas, and other creepy crawlies. Test your squeamish quotient and perhaps make a bet or two with your travel companions.
• Then, make your way up the 809 steps to Phnom Santuk, where reclining Buddha images, pagodas, and recalcitrant monkeys look out over a kingdom of exposed boulders and green forest cover.
• Kick up some dust as you walk across the Dragon Bridge spanning the muddy Kampong Kdei River, your final stop before reaching Siem Reap.
• Marvel at the 12th-century engineering that has kept it standing through rough wars and weather.

6

Day 06

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

• If there is a single memory that lodges itself in the minds of people travelling through Cambodia, it is the sight of the sun crawling cat-like across the ancient stones of Angkor Wat, breathing life into them once again just as it has done for centuries.
• Rise in the early morning hours to witness this brilliant spectacle and sink deeper into the historical, religious, and cultural associations of the monument that has come to define Cambodia more than anything else.
• Though gigantic in scale, walk through this fascinating complex and take in the little details that hold such pride of place in the Cambodian heart.
• Finish the tour with a picnic lunch, then return to the city centre and enjoy the rest of the day at your leisure.

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Day 07

Angkor Complex and Quad Bike Adventure

• As impressive as Angkor Wat is, the other sites around the Angkor complex are equally remarkable.
• Weave your way through the giant silk-cotton trees that wrap themselves around Ta Phrom like constrictors reluctant to let go of their prey, and explore Angkor Thom, lined with busts of gods, bas-reliefs, and stone towers.
• As you go, discover the independent architectural details and history of each site.
• Later in the day, take a guided quad bike tour just outside Siem Reap and catch impressions of daily life beyond the cities.

8

Day 08

Bangkok Grand Palace and Rattanakosin Walk

• Leave Cambodia today and catch a flight to Bangkok. Before you have time to settle your hair in place, you will be riding the super-efficient sky train and heading straight to the Bangkok Grand Palace, the number one site to visit in the country's capital. A stunning amalgam of Thai and European architecture, the palace dazzles with its beautiful grounds, gilded buildings, detailed murals, and its crowning glory, Wat Phra Kaew, also known as the Emerald Temple.
• Take time to soak in the palace complex, and once you are done, head to your hotel.
• For the latter half of the day, follow your tour guide through the riverside enclave of the Rattanakosin district, or old quarter, where side streets lined with weathered buildings and 16th-century temples still recall the era when the first monarch of Thailand's present ruling dynasty founded the kingdom in 1782.
• Pass the ghosts of colonial buildings and open your senses to the smells of flowers, fruits, and incense as street vendors sell their wares from hole-in-the-wall cubicles.
• Later in the evening, raise your glass and settle in for one final meal with your tour leader and fellow travel companions as the tour comes to an end.

9

Day 09

Departure from Bangkok

• It is now time to bid farewell to your tour leader and new friends, but not without a backpack full of memories.
• Departure transfers are included on the day. Please consult your tour leader or the hotel desk to confirm the check-out time.