There are so many places that I've wanted to visit in this part of the world that I couldn't make up my mind what to include in one trip, the itineraries just got too long. Then I saw this cruise on the Orion II, a small expedition ship and one of my favorite ways to travel - the itinerary cherry picked a couple of destinations that were high on my list, I wouldn't have to pack and unpack every 3 days or be in/out of airports, and the dates meant we could effectively miss the Christmas madness. I was in!
There's no way to sugarcoat 17 hours of flying but thankfully our miles bought us business class seats (after months of religious phone calls). Asiana Air was a reminder that - at least in business - flying can still be a pleasure. And they have real silverware, including knives!!
The trip began in Hanoi where we had 3 days to acclimate and sightsee on our own, and 4 nights at the wonderful Metropole Hotel - located in the heart of the city, it's an historic luxury hotel built in 1901 in the French colonial style. Everything about this property is excellent, our room in the original building was lovely and had the sense of another time without sacrificing any amenities. The staff were all so nice, the gentleman at the front desk lending me his own cable for my Ipad charger when I couldn't find mine and then phoning a store to make sure they had one before giving Jim a map of how to get there. And the foot massage in their spa made an hour go by in what seemed like minutes!
Hanoi has a lot of charm, tree lined boulevards and scenic lakes - also 7
Eating on the street is a very typical activity and it's part of the culture. I had arranged for a street food tour through the Old Quarter of the city with a local chef because I like to learn about how people live. Each street sells something, so it's the pots and pans street or the vegetables street or the noodle street etc. The smells and sounds are coming at you from all directions and I loved it, it was chaotic and
challenging to our western sensibilities and probably not for everyone
From there we flew to Saigon where we would be boarding the Orion II. What a temperature change, it was in the 60's in Hanoi and here it was hot and sweaty. Coming in the day before allowed for time to tour the city which wasn't nearly as interesting or attractive as Hanoi- you can see the highlights easily in a 3 hour tour. It's a bigger city, more people and more motorbikes, a lot more big highrise buildings while Hanoi still retains more of a cultural sense.
Once onboard in our very spacious cabin, we headed out to see who our shipmates would be for the next 7 days. Most of them were Aussies, not a suprise since it's an Australian ship and they make for really fun trip mates. Our first stop was Can Tho, the biggest city on the Mekong Delta. We disembarked on to local boats to travel upriver to the floating markets where you can buy just about any kind of produce from boats that look like they shouldn't float. The most memorable hawker was a little boy and his bananas, he was too cute not to buy from. That night the South China Sea was pretty sloppy and we unfortunately had to miss the Captain's Cocktail party as neither of us felt confident that going from horizontal to vertical would be a good thing!
The next day's landing was the island of Phu Quoc, Vietnam. What was an island of sleepy fishing villages is now targeted for development by the government. We offloaded into our trusty zodiacs and went ashore, traveling by bus to a pretty beach where locals and tourists congregate. The water was kind of rough so we didn't swim but it was pretty regardless of the ever present plastic bags and styrofoam trash that seems to be everywhere. When we returned to the zodiacs to go back to the ship, it was sunset and the locals came out to take pictures of us for a change!
In contrast to the cities on this trip, the next day we enjoyed experiencing some of the natural beauty of Southeast Asia on Ko Kut island, Thailand. In the morning traveling by boat up a mangrove river to a small waterfall, white sand beaches on the coast where we spent the afternoon swimming and snorkeling topped off by the boys from the ship coming out to disperse ice cream - it's a hard life.
And then on to Bangkok (can you say horrific traffic?)......starting our temple tour day with the famous reclining Buddha, a statue so big it's impossible to photograph the whole thing. Then on to the Grand Palace complex which is also too huge to capture in photographs, an overwhelming architectural wonder of golden stupas, palaces, and pillars encrusted in colorful mosaics.. Our two cheery guides educated us in Thai courtesies and greetings which we all promptly forgot. It was an exhausting day in the tropical sun and worth every minute.
Saving the best for last, we flew to Siem Reap for two days of exploring in Angkor Wat. I didn't realize how huge the site was, it's monumental and awe-inspiring. A UNESCO World Heritage site, it's 170 square miles of more than
a hundred 9th-15th century temples and one of the most impressive archeological sites I've ever been to.
Our first temple complex was Ta Prohm which is being slowly reclaimed by the jungle. Enormous gum trees have grown over buildings and carvings, with giant roots that look like dripping candle wax. (it's actually where Tomb Raider was filmed). About 15 minutes away by tuk-tuk is Angkor Wat, lost in the jungle until it was rediscovered in 1860 and the world's largest religious building. Our last visit was Angkor Thom, completely different than the others, with huge stone faces on the stone towers. Being here took my breath away, it's impossible to describe. It's hot and sweaty and dusty and definitely worth doing. We spent 2 days and could easily have spent a week here exploring further and enjoying the town of Siem Reap. But big tip - there are thousands of tourists daily so getting there at 5:30am when the site opens is worth doing to see more without hordes.
This trip was like an appetizer plate, giving me a taste and an appreciation of 3 countries and leaving a desire to return to both Vietnam and Thailand. We had reasonably good weather as it's always hot and humid so our winter is the least of that, although the north of Vietnam was in the mid 60's - it got hotter and stickier as we went south. The people everywhere were very friendly, we had guides everywhere so language wasn't a problem. The younger people are learning English, and sometimes kids would come up to us and want to practice. At the Reunification Palace in Saigon, a group of young women wanted to be photographed with Jim - he's so tall and they're so little, they didn't speak English but it didn't matter, it was a giggle fest!
