Overland Indochina

Day 1: Saigon

Your trip starts today with your arrival in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). No activities are planned until your evening group meeting, so you may arrive at any time. Please check the noticeboard in the hotel lobby, located on the ground floor, for a notice containing details of your tour. This will advise you of your tour leader’s name, telephone number and the time and location of your group meeting. Normally this meeting takes place around 6pm. Until your meeting we encourage you to get out and discover the delights that Vietnam has to offer. Make sure that you take a hotel business card so that you will be able to find your way back to the hotel.

Day 2: Saigon - Cu Chi Tunnels

Take a spare shirt with you this morning because we’re literally going to ‘get down and get dirty’. Our little excursion to the north of Saigon would have been considered risky business indeed 30 odd years ago, but today the peaceful farming communities around the former VC stronghold of Cu Chi Tunnels belie the horrors that took place here during the Vietnam War. First dug by the Viet Minh and later expanded by the Viet Cong, Cu Chi’s tunnels were constructed to conduct covert operations and then quickly hide from the enemy. There are reputed to be around 200 kilometres of underground tunnels within the area, and in some places they even managed to penetrate the perimeters of nearby US military bases. We’ll actually be given the opportunity of crawling through a section of the tunnels while we’re here, and learn how the brave men and women of Cu Chi built underground hospitals, kitchens and meeting rooms during their struggle for a unified Vietnam. After lunch back in Saigon, we can spend our last afternoon in Vietnam shopping in the city’s main business district, or take a fascinating cyclo ride through the busy city streets to Saigon’s Chinatown district, Cholon.

Day 3: Phnom Penh

When we look at a map of Indochina, it hardly seems that far at all from Saigon to Phnom Penh, but it’s still going to take us the best part of the day to drive there. Time permitting, we may stop along the way at the place where the young girl, Kim Phuc, was tragically burned with Napalm during the Vietnam/American war. There is a video continuously running in the family shop that outlines the remarkable recovery Kim has made. Once we reach the border, we say farewell to our Vietnamese tour leader and cross over to meet up with our new Cambodian leader. We are soon crossing the Mekong River before continuing on to Phnom Penh, arriving mid to late afternoon. In the 1950s and 1960s, Phnom Penh was one of the finest cities in South East Asia. Despite the wide-scale destruction that took place after the Khmer Rouge emptied the city in 1975, Phnom Penh still manages to exude some colonial charm from a bygone era. Particularly down on the palm-fringed riverfront where a number of French-era shops and villas still exist and the spires of the Royal Palace pierce the skyline. Shortly before dinner this evening, your Cambodian tour leader will hold a brief group meeting to outline the tour programme over the next five days.

Day 4: Phnom Penh

This morning we travel by cyclo for a sightseeing tour of Phnom Penh to include the Royal Palace and the infamous Tuol Sleng Prison. Also known as Security Prison 21 (S21), Tuol Sleng is a former high school that was transformed into a detention and interrogation centre. An estimated 14,000 to 20,000 Cambodians accused of being traitors were tortured to death or sent to their execution from here. We then join our bus to visit another reminder of the Khmer Rouge atrocities. Just as horrifying, the Choeung Ek killing fields are situated 15 kilometres southwest of Phnom Penh and an estimated 17,000 people met their death at the hands of the Khmer Rouge here, most clubbed to death to save ammunition. A stupa-like tower of skulls was erected here in 1988 as a reminder of the atrocities that took place. After this sobering morning we visit the Russian Market - a good place to look for clothing or sarongs before having the rest of the day exploring Phnom Penh city by ourselves. There’s plenty to see including the Silver Pagoda, the temple of Wat Phnom, the National Museum and the French Quarter. There are also ‘bargains galore’ waiting to be picked up at another of the city’s most popular markets - the Central Market is where you will find the cities best gold and silver jewellery merchants.

Day 5: Siem Reap

We leave Phnom Penh this morning by private bus and make our way to Siem Reap. We follow the Tônlé Sap River passing through fishing villages before crossing over and travelling through farming communities. The Tônlé Sap River flows into the shallow Tônlé Sap Lake, the largest of Southeast Asia’s lakes. Numerous streams feed it and it then drains by the Tônlé Sap River west to the Mekong River. During the wet monsoon season of June to November, the high waters of the Mekong River reverse the flow of the Tônlé Sap River and increase the size of the lake from about 2,600 to 10,400 square kilometres. As it begins to recede again, the lake’s huge stocks of fish are easily trapped in nets and bamboo traps or simply caught in the branches of trees. Late this afternoon we catch our first glimpse of what we’ve come here for when we drive out to the magnificent Angkor temple complex to watch the sunset from Phnom Bakheng.

Day 6: Siem Reap (Angkor)

The magnificent Angkor complex of temples is without doubt one of the most astounding archaeological sites in the world. Scattered over an area of 200 square kilometres, only Egypt’s Nile Valley can compare to this vast array of ancient monuments. The ancient city of Angkor served as the royal centre from which a dynasty of Khmer kings ruled one of the largest, most prosperous and sophisticated kingdoms in the history of South East Asia. With a history covering over 600 years from 802AD to 1432AD, at the height of their power the kings of Angkor ruled over a territory that extended from the tip of the Indochina peninsula, northward to Yunnan and from Vietnam, westward to the Bay of Bengal. Our local tour guide will take us on an informative day-long tour of Angkor visiting the South Gate of Angkor Thom, Bayon, Elephant Terrace, Baphoun, the Royal Enclosure, Phimeanakas, Terrace of the Leper King, Ta Prohm and, of course, fabulous Angkor Wat. At the end of the day, we return to our hotel in Siem Reap.

Day 7: Siem Reap

Today has been set aside to allow us to do some exploring on our own. We have the option this morning of visiting the rose-coloured Banteay Srei Temple or returning to Angkor to wander through the ruins at leisure. Banteay Srei is located about 30 kilometres north of Siem Reap over a very rough and dusty road and is considered to be the best preserved of all of Cambodia’s temples. But if you are feeling a bit ‘templed-out’ you might like to consider hiring a local guide and go out into the countryside to discover facets of rural life that have changed little since the kings of Angkor ruled over the land. A local guide won’t cost you much and he or she will take you around the villages and explain local industries and the peoples’ way of life. Ask your tour lo help to arrange any of the above optional tours. Siem Reap has its own interests and an enjoyable afternoon can be spent wandering around the town visiting its market, shops and restaurants.

Day 8: Siem Reap - Bangkok

This morning we sling our packs (and ourselves) into local mini-vans for an adventurous and bumpy road journey to the Cambodian/Thai border town of Poipet. After we’ve made the crossing and shaken off the dust, we continue on to the Thai border town of Aranya Prathet and stop for lunch. The final leg of our overland journey is made in the relative comfort of the local bus to Bangkok. The drive from Aranya Prathet to Bangkok should take us no more than 4½ hours and we will arrive late afternoon.

Day 9- 10: Bangkok

Bangkok is home to some of Asia’s most elaborately adorned temples and the modern city’s sights and attractions are so numerous you won’t know where to begin. So we’ll give you a helping hand and introduce you to some of Bangkok’s most famous sights on a short walking tour, including a visit to the impressive Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha. The remainder of the day is free for us to further explore this vibrant city and the new, elevated ‘Skytrain’ service now makes it easier than ever to get around the city centre by avoiding the nasty traffic snarls in the streets below. Needless to say, Bangkok is a great place to shop for bargains and the city has a mind-boggling array of exotic restaurants and nightclubs for you to relax in and reflect on your journey. Your tour ends after breakfast on Wednesday morning.

Tour Grade: Walking