The Mekong Reveals True Story of Vietnam and Cambodia

The infectious smiles of the children of Tan Chau, among the top highlights of my trip to Cambodia and Vietnam. (All photos by David Cogswell)

There are moments in life that are so perfect, so full to overflowing that it seems like they could never end. And maybe they don’t. Treasured travel moments live within you forever, to be returned to in moments of reverie for the rest of your life.

My trip down the Mekong River in Cambodia and Vietnam must stand near the top of my store of travel memories, a truly enchanted moment in a timeless place. Let me attempt to explain, with the help of photographs that say so much that words cannot express.

AmaWaterways’ Vietnam, Cambodia and the Riches of the Mekong river cruise program begins in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, with a land tour of Hanoi followed by an overnight cruise on Ha Long Bay in a traditional wooden junk.

Guests are then flown to Siem Reap for two days, with tours of Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm Temple as well as Angkor Thom and Banteay Srei.

In Siem Reap you board the river cruise ship for the trip down the Mekong through Cambodia and into southern Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon.

You can also sign on for the river cruise by itself, knocking the first four days off the trip, which is 16 days long totally from departure to return.

When booking the trip, 16 days out of the office seemed too long, so I opted for the river cruise only. But for those who may be considering this trip, I urge you not to make the same mistake.

Once you’re out of the office, the world assumes more realistic proportions, and the value of those days in the office versus spending the extra time in Vietnam just doesn’t measure up.

Take the whole trip. Once you have flown half way around the world, you will not want to miss Hanoi and Ha Long Bay.

My passage to Indochina was via Korean Airways, from New York to Seoul and then on to Siem Reap. Because of flooding on the Mekong we were forced to travel on land to our departure point, a trip of five hours which knocked out the chance of seeing Angkor Wat.

I don’t even want to think about the absurdity of flying from New York to Siem Reap and not seeing Angkor Wat, but such are the vagaries of nature. Be sure and leave yourself adequate time, take the full trip. I urge you.

But if one forgets what one may have seen and just focuses on what one is actually seeing, the trip lacked for nothing. The AmaWaterways ships are splendid little jewels providing maximum comfort and congeniality in their wooden interiors.

The drive to our new departure point at Kampong Cham provided a chance to see the countryside of Cambodia. The Southeast Asian sights instantly transport you to a different reality, an enchanted world.

Much of the area was flooded, but people seemed relatively unfazed by it. The casual attitudes of the people and the houses on stilts were clues that flooding is not uncommon in the area.

At Kampong Cham we boarded the AmaLotus, the floating hotel which was to be a congenial home for the next week or so.

The ship’s interior is gloriously wooden in construction, with wood floors and paneling and furniture in the public areas and in the guest rooms.

Because of how much wood was used in the construction, the non-smoking ban is no joke.

Every day except days in transit was enriched with shore excursions that took us into fascinating places alongside the Mekong, some of which were more or less beyond the reach of highways, but accessible from the river.

One of the first shore excursions took us to the silk weaving village of Chong Koh, where we got a glimpse of the way the local villagers live in small dwellings on stilts.

The Cambodian countryside where villagers live simply is also richly populated with fantastically ornate temples and religious monuments, astonishing to look at and perhaps even more bewildering in contrast to their pastoral surroundings.

They seem to crop up out of nowhere. We saw many of them, more than one can assimilate, and more than can be pictured here.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, is a major city of more than 2 million population, with major traffic and hundreds of times more cycles than cars.

Many of the cyclists are intrepid young women. In most places if you want to cross the street you cannot wait for traffic to stop, because it won’t.

You just have to venture out into the street, not fearing the oncoming traffic. Try to get eye contact with some drivers and just continue with great determination across the street.

They will not stop, but they will go around you.

While in Phnom Penh we visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, the former S21 detention center, which was one of the horrific remnants of the murderous Pol Pot regime, which ruled Cambodia from 1974 to 1979 until it was deposed by the Vietnamese.

The museum provides grim details of the horrors that went on there, and it’s one of the most sickening stories you will ever hear. Not fun, but important history.

The tour also went to one of many of the infamous Killing Fields of the Pol Pot regime, which held power from 1975 to 1979 and killed from 1.4 to 2.2 million people.

It is now the Cheoung Ek Genocidal Center, a monument to the victims and a museum showing vivid evidence of what happened there. I will spare you the pictures of that for now.

On a lighter note, we saw Royal Palace, the home of the Cambodian king. Most of the palace grounds are open to the public.

After crossing the border to Vietnam our first stop was in Tan Chau, a fishing village where the inhabitants live in houses that are open in front and they subsist on fishing.

As we approached the shore in a small landing craft we were welcomed by a group of exuberant, fun-loving and friendly children, all impeccably dressed in colorful, sporty clothes.

They were irresistibly charming and provided the warmest welcome to Vietnam imaginable. The adult villagers too were astonishingly welcoming.

In Sa Dec we visited the former home of Marguerite Duras, author of “The Lover.” It is now a museum.

In Cai Be we went to the local market, a lively and colorful scene humming with fascinating people and activity.

In Cai Be we also visited a rice paper making mill where they made coconut candy and other delicacies and sold a variety of fascinating foods, including snake wine, which can be good for what ails you.

Our last stop, Ho Chi Minh City, or the legendary Saigon, came far too quickly. It is an frenetic, cosmopolitan city of 7 million with a rich multicultural and troubled history.

Our stay there was very brief. It would have been a good place to extend the trip for a few days to explore its restaurants, museums and neighborhoods.

The trip was over far too soon.