9 DAYS WONDERS OF CAMBODIA

DAY 01: Ho Chi Minh

Welcome on board! Kick start your tour by meeting your tour leader and other travel companions at 6 pm and then proceed to familiarize yourself with some authentic Vietnamese fare over an included dinner.

DAY 02: Ho Chi Minh

flavor. Walk through some of the elegant colonial buildings past the Paris Square and then enter the Reunification Palace that seems eerily like a slice of history arrested in time with its tunnels, war rooms, radio transmitters and card tables sitting muHo Chi Minh City’s pulse and character reflects the bewildering mix of cultural influence and class that has brushed its history through the ages. Trade relations with the Chinese, French, Malay, Thai and Indians enriched its own Khmer customs and thus sprouted a cultural crucible that’s immediately noticeable as you step out for a tour of the city this morning. Start from the General Post Office that’s tinged with a Gothic and renaissancetely as if waiting for the clock to start ticking again. Follow this up with a visit to the War Remnants Museum to get a more personal understanding of the Vietnam War as well as the First Indo China War through exhibits, photographs, documents and so much more. Later in the evening, strike out for a street food tour where a variety of local dishes sizzle, pop, crackle and make as much noise as the vendors trying to vie for your attention.

DAY 03: Phnom Penh

Buckle up for a 6 hours journey by public bus to Phnom Penh as we leave Vietnam to enter Cambodia’s capital. If you’ve got some time on your hands this evening and you’re itching to get a taste of the city, hop on board the eco-friendly cyclo – a remnant of a colonial past – as it gently negotiates Phnom Pehn’s roads and allows you to breeze through some of the city’s most popular landmarks.

DAY 04: Phnom Penh

Today is a day for remembrance and reflection. After breakfast we will be cycling to S-21 and thereafter, to Choeung Ek, two sites that chronicle a grim past. Yet as grim as it is, these are stories that need to be told, heard and preserved for generations to come because, they serve as a reminder and a testament to Cambodia’s brutal past. Tuol Sleng, code named S-21, was originally a school that was converted to an interrogation centre where not less than 12,000 people were tortured and murdered on the orders of Pol Pot when his Khmer Rouge movement took control of Cambodia in April 1975. Sometimes graphic and almost always heart breaking the museum hosts photos, accounts and tools that were used to torture the detainees here. Much of that dark history follows you as you head for 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 feature in this surprisingly well kept field underscoring the irony of all human intentions.

DAY 05: Siem Reap

We board a private vehicle to bridge the journey between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap this morning. Although the journey is typically 6 hours, we’ll be making several pit stops in between to get a wide variety of experiences just to keep things interesting. Stop by the Skun Spider Market, plonked right in the intersection of two highways playing host to local delicacies that includes locusts, tarantulas and other creepy crawlies! Make a bet or two with your travel companions by testing your squeamish quotient and then wheeze your way up the 809 steps to Phnom Santuk where images of reclining Buddhas, pagodas and recalcitrant monkeys survey a kingdom of exposed boulders and a green forest cover. Kick some dust as you walk across the Dragon Bridge that hangs over a muddy Kampong Kdei River, your next and last stop before reaching Siem Reap. Marvel at the 12th century engineering that still keeps it standing over rough wars and weather.

DAY 06: Siem Reap

If ever there is a single memory that lodges itself on the mind of people travelling through Cambodia, it is the one of the sun crawling cat-like upon the ancient stones of Angkor Wat, breathing life yet again upon it just as it has done centuries and centuries ago. Rise in the early hours of the morning to catch this brilliant spectacle and then sink deeper into the historical, religious and cultural associations of this monument that has come to define Cambodia more than anything else. Though gigantic in aspect, walk through this fascinating complex taking in the little details as well that warrant a pride of place in the Cambodian heart. Finish the tour with a picnic lunch and then return to the city centre to do as you please for the rest of the day.

DAY 07: Siem Reap

As impressive as the Angkor Wat is, the other sites around the Angkor complex are equally as impressive. Weave your way through the giant silk cotton trees that wrap themselves around the Ta Phrom temple like constrictors reluctant to let go of their prey as well as the Angkor Thom lined with busts of Gods, bas beliefs and a stone tower. Discovering as you do so, their own independent architectural details and history. Later during the day take a guided quad bike tour just outside of Siem Reap and snatch impressions of daily life that resides out of the cities.

DAY 08: Bangkok

We leave Cambodia today and catch a flight to Bangkok. Before you’ve got time to settle your hair in its place you’ll be sitting in the super efficient sky train and heading straight to the Bangkok Grand Palace, the number one site to visit while you’re 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, the Wat Phra Kaew or the Emerald Temple. Take time to soak in the palace complex and after you’re done head for your hotel. For the latter half of the day, follow your tour guide around the riverside enclave of Rattanakosin district or the old quarter where the side streets lined by weathered buildings and 16th century temples still recall a time when the first monarch of Thailand’s present ruling dynasty, founded the kingdom in 1782. Flit through the ghosts of colonial buildings and open your senses to the smell of flowers, fruits and incense as street vendors sell their wares through holes in the wall cubicles. Later in the evening, raise your glasses and settle in for one final meal with your tour leader and other travel companions as the tour comes to an end.

DAY 09: Bangkok

It’s time now 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 with your tour leader or the hotel desk to confirm the check out time.