VIETNAM-CAMBODIA
Vietnam is a Southeast Asian country known for its beaches, rivers, Buddhist pagodas and bustling cities. Hanoi, the capital, pays homage to the nation’s iconic Communist-era leader, Ho Chi Minh, via a huge marble mausoleum. Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) has French colonial landmarks, plus Vietnamese War history museums and the Củ Chi tunnels, used by Viet Cong soldiers
Welcome to Hanoi – Vietnam! The tour guide & driver will be welcoming you at Tan Son Nhat International Airport and meet our tour guide and driver who will take you to the hotel, and do check-in then. If time allows, we will take you around the city in the afternoon. Dinner at local restaurant. Relax in Ho Chi Minh City at night
Wake up and have breakfast at your hotel before starting a sightseeing tour. Proceed to the Reunification Palace, the staying of the southern president before the year of 1975. Visit French Colonial architectural constructions, the Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica, one of the few Remnant Catholic Buildings in Saigon, and the Ancient Post Office, designed during the French colonial period. Have lunch at a local restaurant. Continue to Buddhist Temples, such as Thien Hau temple, Quan Am temple and Emperor Jade Pagoda. Arrive at the War Remnants Museum. Walk around Ben Thanh Market, one of Saigon oldest bustling market to buy lots of local handicrafts and arts, taste hawkers’ dishes with Vietnamese style and experience how to bargain for a product. Have dinner on your own. Be free at night.
Head to Tay Ninh Province, where you have chance to step in a famous sacred temple dating back to 1926, named Cao Dai temple. Have a look at the prayers joining worshipping on sessions daily. The religion is a unique mixture of Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Christianity. Have lunch then. Head to the must-visit historic base, Cu Chi Tunnels and discover an incredible network of 200-km plus underground labyrinths utilized by the Vietnamese guerrillas, also known as Viet Cong (VC) during the Resistance War against American. Not simply a kind of air-raid shelter, you might be lost in immense maze with narrow routes passing through meeting rooms, hospitals, kitchens, weapons and food storage. Besides, some evidences of vicious battle, like bombing destruction and relic, have been displayed to witness. After experiencing a part of Vietnamese soldiers’ life, our bus will drive you back to Ho Chi Minh City. Be back to Ho Chi Minh City. Have dinner on your own.
Have breakfast at your hotel. Start to discover a part of the Mekong Delta. Arrive My Tho Province. While riding a boat on peaceful canal named Bao Dinh, you have chance to gaze plenty of fruit orchards and stilt houses staying on the bank sides. Stop by My Tho wholesale fruit market. Have lunch in the heart of the rural plantations located on Tortoise Island. Take a next boat riding through Tan Thach canal – Ben Tre Province in the shade of water coconut trees. Pay a visit for an idyllic family to witness the local business. Walk through many fruit trees on Thoi Son Island then take a deep breath of fresh air while rowing a boat along the river. Hop on a motor boat to come back to My Tho Province. Head to Can Tho – a peaceful city located in the southwest of Vietnam. Stay overnight in Can Tho city. (Optional Homestay as your request)
Have breakfast in the early morning. There are two markets operated on branches of the Mekong River. Cruise to Phong Dien floating market, the first one to visit. Pass through small canals then find out a rice noodle local factory. Challenge yourself to across “Monkey Bridge” – a typical symbol of the south in the Mekong Delta. Continue to the second one – Cai Rang floating market. Witness how the locals do trade in many different farm products right on their vessels. Break time with lunch. Come back to Ho Chi Minh City.
Breakfast at hotel. Check out. Transfer to airport for flight to Siem Reap. Upon arrival, welcome by tour guide in Siem Reap, transfer to Indian restaurant for lunch then hotel for checking-in, then you pay a visit to West Baray Big Pond, a “baray” is a water reservoir built by the ancient Khmer people. Next stop is Wat Bo founded in the 18th century, a highly respected pagoda contains very unique wall paintings of the Reamker (Ramayana) that are said to be late 19th century. Dinner at Indian restaurant. Overnight in Siem Reap.
Breakfast at hotel, explore South Gate of Angkor Thom known as Big Angkor, 3km2 walled and moated royal city and was the last capital of the Angkorian Empire, The famous Bayon Temple was an architectural muddle, in part because it was constructed in a somewhat piecemeal fashion for over a century. Terrace of the Elephants is an impressive, two and a half meter tall, 300 meter long terrace wall adorned with carved elephants and gradual that spans the heart of Angkor Thom in front of Baphuon – huge temple mountain in the heart of Angkor Thom, Royal Palace Area and Phimeanakas – impressive rite and sandstone pyramid. Terrace of the Leper King is at the north end of the Terrace of the Elephants, a double terrace wall with deeply carved nag as, demons and other mythological beings.
Afternoon visit Angkor Wat temple, the founder of the temple was Suryavarman II who reined Cambodia from 1113 to 1152 and built the five towers in the 12th century to dedicate to the Hindu God Vishnu. The plan of the pyramidal conception of the temple combined with spaces, alleys, ditches is an ancient masterpiece of architectural design and construction. Have funny time at bars and pubs at Angkor night market. Lunch & Dinner at Indian restaurant. Overnight in Siem Reap.
Breakfast at hotel, Start to explore Angkor Archaeological park. You’ll visit some of peaceful and quiet temples on the grand circuit and a pink sandstone temple with most intricate carvings of Hindu main Hindu Gods, it’s known as woman’s temple. One the way to Banteay Srey temple you’ll see beautiful villages or stop to experience and taking photos.
Morning : Preah Khan, Banteay Prei, Neak Poan,Ta Som and East Mebon temple.
Afternoon: Banteay Srey, Banteay Samre and Pre Rup .This is a typical itinerary for this product.
We’ll start this tour after breakfast around 8am in the morning to start the short drive to the Angkor Archaeological Park. The first stop on this circuit is Preah Khan. This 12th century temple translates into English as “Royal Sword” and was built by King Jayavarman VII and dedicated to his late father. It’s located 1km north of ancient city of Angkor Thom and has been largely left to the elements with the jungle literally growing through the middle of the structure.
Duration: 2 hours Stop At: Neak Pean, which is another 12th century temple built by King Jayavarman VII. This temple means the “Entwined Serpents” in English and it is a Buddhist temple built on a man-made island in the middle of Preah Khan baray.
Duration: 1 hour Stop At: Ta Som, another temple built by the prolific King Jayavarman VII in the 12th century.
Duration: 1 hour Stop At: Eastern Mebon, We’ll go to visit East Mebon temple. It is good examples of early Khmer architecture and were built in the 10th century.
Lunch: at local restaurant along the way.
Duration: 1 hour Stop At: Banteay Srei, then head out to Banteay Srey temple. It is known as the Citadel of the Women and is a unique temple built during the Khmer empire. This temple contains many fine carvings which are said to be carved by a woman because only the delicate hands of a woman could carve something so fine! The pink sandstone make Banteay Srey a truly unique experience.Duration: 2 hoursStop At: Banteay Samre, Siem Reap, Siem Reap ProvinceOn the way back from Banteay Srey, we’ll stop at Banteay Samre temple and Pre Rup.
Dinner at Local / Indian Restaurant.
Overnight in Siem Reap hotel.
After your enjoyable breakfast at hotel, begin your wonderful day to Mahendraparvata, known by today people as Kulen Mountain. The mountain is consisting with ever green forests as a hug habitat for hundred wild lives and species. Moreover, it is one of the most famous archaeological parks that all international visitors should not miss.
By the day your tour begins, you will discovery thing that you have never been experienced before. Along the way traveling to Hahendraparvata, you will see a lot of people selling organic wild red banana and might have a great chance to taste it once. Visit the a 16-meter reclining Buddha or known in local as Preah Ang Thom that built in the 16th centuries. Continue to see 1000 lingas river, where over 1000 lingams and Yuni are carving under the stream to transform the river into holy water by that time. Explore the most interesting history of Mahendrapavata and a former state of Cambodia in the early 9th century.
Transfer for lunch at a local restaurant next to the waterfall.
After lunch, have your own self free and easy the Kulen waterfall, a 25-meter high waterfall located just about 2km away from Mahendrapavata. The waterfall is a former royal bathing for the king and queen during the early 9th century. Relax with the deep fresh air waterfall there until transferring back to your hotel.
Transfer for dinner at a local restaurant.
Overnight at hotel in Siem Reap
After your enjoyable breakfast at hotel, begin your wonderful day by transfer to Koh Ker temple for about 1h30min , the remote Angkor capital of Koh Ker is an Angkorian site in northern Cambodia 70 miles northeast of Siem Reap; it was briefly the capital of the Khmer empire between 928 and 944 under king Jayavarman IV and his son Hasavarman II. After the Khmer empire had been established in the Angkor area (Roluos), Jayavarman IV moved the capital in 928 to Koh Ker. Here a vast number of temples were built under his reign, until his successor returned to the Angkor area about twenty years later. The Koh Ker site is dominated by Prasat Thom, a 30-meter-tall temple-mountain raising high above the plain and the surrounding forest. Great views await the visitor at the end of an adventurous climb. The area was only recently de-mined and the road improved. This makes Koh Ker very attractive for anyone who would like to experience what Angkor must has been like half a century ago.
Lunch at local restaurant nearby and relax for a bit , then continue to the next destination.
Travel to the lost temple of Beng Mealea, the titanic of temples, a slumbering giant lost for centuries in the forests of Cambodia. It is the most accessible of Angkor’s lost temples, a mirror image of Angkor Wat, but utterly consumed by the voracious appetite of nature. Constructed by Suryavarman II (1113-1150), the builder of Angkor Wat, the forest has run riot here and it is hard to get a sense of the monument’s shape amid the daunting ruins. Here it is possible to enjoy an Indiana Jones experience clambering about the vast ruin. For those who want a more gentle adventure, there is also a sturdy wooden walkway running right into the heart of the temple. It is also possible to visit a nearby Angkor-era quarry from where stone was cut to build these massive monuments.
Transfer for dinner at a local restaurant.
Overnight at hotel in Siem Reap
Breakfast at the hotel. Check out from hotel. Begin your day to visit Tonle Sap Lake-the world’s 2nd largest lake, take a boat ride along the river and can see the floating village life. It has provided them with natural resources and industry for centuries. 75% of the country’s freshwater catch is from the Tonle Sap, and fishing communities have existed for as long as there has been fresh fish in the lake. The lake provides water to nearby communities, and assists in providing nutrients for billions of crops in the surrounding countryside. The lake is a beautiful sight, and a haven for photographers, especially at sunset. There are huge communities who have adapted their way of life to living out on the lake, living in floating villages and working hand in hand with nature. Go to souvenir shop.
Lunch at Indian restaurant.
Afternoon overland trip to discovering the most interesting lifestyles of Cambodian people in Siem Reap. Start to visit Artisan D’Angkor where a group of local artisans provide their skill and techniques making local products to appreciate their culture. Those artisans are collected from all parts of Siem Reap by a non-governmental organization (NGO) with purposes of provide them skills to enhancing their own economic and encourage them to appreciate as well as have a sense of cultural belonging. There, explore how local do sculpture, proceed silk productions and so on in traditional ways! More than this, explore the final productions which had done by the local artisans there. Later, visit the local market including the night art market and old market where various local production is displaying and selling. Those included, the silk production, spice productions, brown and silver productions, cloths and so on. Pick up your favorite stuffs as a gift for you loved one, family or friends until time for lunch and transfer back to airport.
Transfer to airport for flight back home.