Part 1: Riches of the Mekong River Cruise Excursions We Loved

We're taking you through the incredible shore excursions from our Riches of the Mekong River cruise with AmaWaterways (Charms of the Mekong in reverse), sharing exactly what to expect from this cultural journey through Cambodia and Vietnam. 

You'll discover the magic of exploring nearly 1,000 temples at Angkor Wat (including how to maximize your “golden ticket” for independent exploration), experience authentic village life in Angkor Ban where locals welcome you into their homes, and learn about Cambodia's complex history through visits to the Royal Palace and difficult but important sites like the Killing Fields. 

We'll share practical tips for navigating the bus transfers, how to prepare for the heat and cultural sites, and how AmaWaterways' Giving Back Asia program lets you make a difference during your visit. 

Whether you're already booked on a Mekong cruise or considering this bucket-list adventure, you'll understand what makes these excursions so transformative and how they connect you with the warmth and resilience of the Cambodian people. This is part one of our two-part series covering days 1-4, with part two continuing our journey into Vietnam.

Be sure to listen to our onboard river cruise experience on the AmaDara along the Mekong River.

For stunning photos and additional information about cruising this spectacular river in Southeast Asia, read our AmaWaterways Mekong River Cruise Review: 30 Unexpected Surprises.

We were grateful we had handheld rechargeable fans for our excursions! Find it in our Mekong River Cruise packing list on Amazon. 

AmaWaterways’ Giving Back Asia program is fabulous. Don’t forget to bring items to donate. (A list o

Thank you to our sponsor, Riverside Luxury Cruises. Find out more about our experience with this outstanding river cruise line, providing guests with the luxury of choice.

Chapters

• 1:17 Excursions to Swoon Over, Off-Ship Along the Mekong
• 4:09 Pre-Cruise: Exploring Siem Reap and Angkor Wat
• 8:00 Day 1: First Day of the Cruise, Transfer to the Ship
• 10:54 Day 2: Cultural Immersion in Cambodian Villages
• 18:39 Day 3: Phnom Penh: A City of Contrasts
• 25:29 Stay tuned for Part 2: Excursions We’re Diving Into Next Week!

Transcript

Dan (00:35)

Welcome to Small Ship Cruise Talk. Last week we were in Alaska. Today we're going to discuss our Mekong River cruise, the excursions, what was included, what really stood out for us, and we'll go into some depth on what you can expect if you've already booked or you're considering booking a cruise on the Mekong River.

Mikkel (00:56)

I love our All About Alaska series because there's such amazing information in there. And as you said, last week we were in Alaska with our guest, Valerie Stymek, and she was incredible and provided amazing insights. I'm so excited to be back on the Mekong River with you this week because it was one of our all-time favorite river cruises. 

So we are pivoting from chilly Alaska to the very warm Mekong River in Southeast Asia. 

Today we are in our second episode about our Mekong River cruise with our AmaWaterways experience. Today we're going to tell you about our excursions, as Dan alluded to. And our onboard experience was phenomenal, but the trip would not have been the same if we didn't do things off-ship, onshore and learn more about the culture and sights and sounds and tastes of Cambodia and Vietnam. 

So that is what we are going to dive in today. If you are interested in learning more about things like our itinerary overview, the best time of year to cruise the Mekong River, what direction we sailed from Cambodia to Vietnam or the reverse and why, even though it's very clear that we're going to talk about Cambodia to Vietnam today in the order of operations for our excursions. 

If you want to know about things to expect on board like the food, what the crew was like, the flights and visas to get to Southeast Asia, the currency you need, what to expect in terms of on board entertainment on the ship, our essential on board spa tips that you do not want to miss, our packing tips for the Southeast Asia weather during a Mekong River cruise and more you're going to want to check out our previous episode titled "Mekong River Cultural Journey: Cruising Cambodia to Vietnam" which we are linking in the show description of this episode so it's really easy to find.

We have so much great information to share with you about these excursions. To do it justice, today is part one of two parts on these Mekong River cruise excursions. So today we're going to go through our pre-cruise Siem Reap tour all the way through day four. In part two, we are going to go through to day eight when we disembarked and our post-cruise extension. 

And also in part two of this, are going to talk about a life-changing visit in Siem Reap that we did on our own that you do not want to miss.

Without further ado, let's dive into today's topic, the excursions, and start with our pre-cruise trip in Siem Reap.

Dan (03:36)

Siem Reap. For me, I loved it. I thought it was such a great city, full of energy, full of life, and really such a great snapshot of Cambodia.

Mikkel (03:46)

And as our entry point, it was such a welcoming culture. The people of Cambodia had such a warmth. It was not only warm on the grounds and in the air as Floridians, it was really warm. But the warmth of the people was just like a big warm hug kind of welcoming us into Siem Reap. 

And the Amawaterways pre-cruise extension, we joined at the Sofitel Hotel, which is just an absolutely stunning hotel. And our first official activity with the cruise - pre-cruise, I would say, if you agree with me - is going to Angkor Wat, which is the number one tourist attraction in Cambodia, in all of Cambodia. And I'm going to say that my preconceived notion or thoughts about Angkor Wat was I just had this in my head that it's one huge temple, which is false.

Dan (04:45)

So, I also had that same notion going into it, but you see the iconic image of the, of the temple and you think, oh it's just that. Right? Because you think of other locations throughout the world that just have that icon, and you're like, "Oh, that's all there is to New York City. It's just a Statue of Liberty."

Mikkel (05:02)

The surprising thing and the fact of the matter that we found out is that the Anger Wat complex, so to speak, is almost a thousand temples and minor sites, but there's approximately 72 major temples within the park. It's impossible to see in one day, even a few days. But the nice thing about the AmaWaterways excursion there was... a few things. Number one, you had an option of what time you wanted to go. So we opted for the sunrise, which was waking up before the crack of dawn. It was still dark outside. 

There was a later time you could do if you're not a morning person, or perhaps you've seen it, you know, during that time and you wanted to go later. And it was a guided tour. You know, you need a guide that's legally allowed to guide you through there and AmaWaterways took care of that from the hotel. So that was really nice. The other thing was that we got our tickets and the ticket is literally your golden ticket to access the other temples if you want to do them on your own. So what I really loved about this was that we could enjoy the guided tour in the morning. It was a couple of hours - even the main temple is very big. And then we were able to do what we wanted at our leisure. 

And we went around in tuk tuks with some other cruisers later that day on our own, we were able to see the famous Lara Croft Tomb Raider temple in Cambodia. I think it's very iconic with the fig tree growing over the masonry of the temple that's crumbling. It's really cool. It was definitely worth seeing.

Dan (06:36)

So, like you said, we did the morning tour, the sunrise tour, then we explored on our own in the afternoon and dinner back at the hotel. And I think that was it for day one, right?

Mikkel (06:47)

Yeah, so just to reiterate, wrap that up:

Make sure you have that ticket. You need to not lose it. It has your picture on it. It's almost like your photo ID. Take that ticket and then plan to, like you said, enjoy the pool at the hotel later. You're going to want to cool off with a nice, relaxing, refreshing dip. The Sofitel is amazing. The dinner at the hotel was fantastic. You can also do dinner on your own. It's really easy to get to other places from there and the hotel is great with their concierge to help you manage that.

And we went to bed, woke up for the official first day of the cruise - not the pre-cruise, the first official start of the eight-day cruise - on day one. And that started with leaving the hotel in a very organized manner. They told us what buses we were on because there were a few buses for about 100 people, little over 100 people. And we transferred. Now,

you are somebody who is like, “I hate bus rides.” I'm gonna level with you: You need to wrap your head around there's a lot of bus rides for this Mekong River cruise because the main sites and attractions are not always right off the river. 

So the nice thing about taking a river cruise is not only do you, you know, like all river cruises, not have to transfer hotels every day and you get to transfer from one city to next in style and the lap of luxury literally, but AmaWaterways arranged all of the buses for us. And not just the buses, but for example, this first bus ride to get to the ship that first day was five hours. Yes, you heard me right, it was five hours.

Dan (08:25)

Yep.

Mikkel (08:26)

boarded the bus to get from the Sofitel in Siem Reap, Cambodia over to Kampong Cham in Cambodia, where the ship is. But really, I was anxious about this bus ride because I didn't know what to expect. I knew there were not bathrooms on the bus, which was also anxiety-inducing, I should say, for me. I always want to know where the bathrooms are going to be. 

But they couldn't have made it more seamless and enjoyable. And they told us some information. We were able to relax, talk to other cruisers on the buses. And also they did the, what do they call them? Happy breaks.

Dan (09:01)

Oh yeah, "the happy room" in Cambodia what they call the bathroom. So, yeah, stop for the happy room.

Mikkel (09:03)

Happy room.

And it was very similar to stopping at, you know, a nice gas station on the interstate in the United States and using the restroom and getting a coffee if you wanted, kind of like at a convenience store. And they also arranged a really lovely stop at a… would you say it was like a souvenir shop? It had like a vista in the back over this beautiful lake with this heart sculpture. You could take photos and they handed us a box lunch.

Dan (09:34)

Yeah, it felt very much like a tourist stop, a gas station, and also a restaurant and local hangout. It was all of those things.

Mikkel (09:45)

Yeah.

And it was a really lovely stop. We stopped there for, I don't know, 45 minutes to an hour, I would say, and had our lunch. We had like a little sandwich in there, an apple, water, and some Lays, kind of like how Pringles would be served in that little can. So that was really nice. And that was day one. We got to the ship, we boarded, everybody was excited. We were saying our hi, hellos to the crew and just getting adjusted to the ship. But since this is about the excursions, let's move on to day two.

Dan (09:50)

Yeah. Yeah.

Day two: So I loved day two in the morning because as we docked, it was very much like we just pulled up to a hill and then like threw the ropes over and we got off in like a dusty village, right?

Mikkel (10:28)

I was gonna say it was dirt. It wasn't dirty. This is, you know, like you said, a rustic port. It's not the European ports that they're all built out. This is the Southeast Asian version of a concrete ramp, I would say into the water, depending on the tide and everything of the river. And we did get off. We did mention in the past episode of this Mekong River adventure that if you are very reliant on a cane or a walker, this might not be the cruise for you. And this was our first, you know, real true indication of that, as you said.

Dan (11:06)

What I loved about this first day is we really got a sense of the community and the villages and the people along the river. For this, we docked, got off the vessel. We were literally in a Buddhist temple. There were statues and monks and villagers all came out to see us and look at, you know, the tall white guy walking through the village.

Mikkel (11:22)

Yeah. Very tall, Dan's very tall. And this was an Angkor Ban village, we should say. That's the name of this village. And it's one of the few villages in Cambodia that wasn't destroyed by the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s. So it's very traditional and really special in that way.

Dan (11:47)

And

walked around the village, we met a lot of locals and they were so eager to share their house and their, just their lifestyle with us.

Mikkel (11:55)

Yeah, exactly.

Dan (11:57)

We were very welcomed and we felt like family immediately in so many of these households. And it was such a great view of how they live and how they go about their day.

Mikkel (12:08)

And I think it really just drives the point home of how important it is to travel because we don't speak their language and they didn't really speak our language for the most part, especially the little kids that were welcoming us there. They kind of, you know, were like saying hi to us from the schoolyard. 

But it was really reaffirming of how friendly and generous and gentle the Cambodian people are. So I really love that as well. And some of my favorite memories from just our simple walk around this village that was guided and I recall there being a more active group, so to speak, and a less active group. And if you have this trip planned, or you are dreaming of it and considering it, the only real difference between those two tours, because the terrain is all the same, is that one was a little longer and another was a little shorter. 

So we went on the longer one. It didn't feel long at all. It was great. And we kind of went a longer route, I would say. It would be like taking the longer neighborhood walk route around your own town versus a shorter one. One of my favorite memories was, well, two: One was when our guide took a handful of peanuts,

they were peanuts that were still on the long… What would you call it, like greenery that they're on? Right, almost like beets would be like on their stems. And I'd never seen that before.

Dan (13:23)

Like a vine? Yeah.

⁓ Right,

Mikkel (13:30)

So that was really cool. And we saw all of the women around the town sorting them who were so sweet. And then another great memory was that we passed by somebody sorting sesame seeds in like a flat basket, kind of shaking them. And she let whoever wanted to take a turn shake the sesame seeds too. 

And that was a really fond memory because I think it's not only do I love spices, let's, you know, also consider sesame seeds a spice, I would say, not just a seed, but it's really those moments of not just ⁓ experiential, but I would say connection, like a human to human connection and just the smile on the person's face and the generosity of her to let people try it, I thought was really amazing.

Dan (14:17)

Yeah, yeah. So another amazing thing I have very fond memories of is our afternoon excursion and that was at the Silk Village and that's a local... we visited a local elementary school and a silk... what would you say? ⁓

Mikkel (14:36)

say it was like it was called Silk Village, that's what the sign said. But it was kind of like a manufacturing village isn't the right word because then you picture like a warehouse manufacturer right it's like craftsman village I would say yeah yeah and this is in

Dan (14:43)

Yeah. I wanted to say factory, it wasn't a factory. Craftsman, crafts... Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mikkel (14:55)

I'm gonna mispronounce it, I apologize for that, but definitely read the transcript for the right spelling or if you're watching on YouTube, it is across the screen correctly, but Ocken... Oknhatey Village? O-K-N-H-A-T-E-Y Village. So that was there.

Dan (15:13)

we visited the elementary school, we got teamed up with a student because they want to practice their English and they want to have conversations. So we got to talk to a little girl about her house and she asked us about our house. And then they sang us songs and they practiced their English.

Mikkel (15:20)

Yes.

Dan (15:31)

chalkboard. It was such a special, fun activity.

Mikkel (15:32)

Yeah.

Dan (15:36)

'Cause they were so excited to see us and so eager to show off their English skills.

Mikkel (15:42)

Mm-hmm. And they wrote English too, so you could see in their notebook kind of what they were writing. And we did not take pictures inside out of respect for the kids, and they ask you not to, so we are always respectful of that. But the memories remain, hearing their little voices sing, "Row, row your boat," was kind of fun. 

Mikkel (16:02)

And AmaWaterways is very humble about this, but I do want to mention that this is part of their Giving Back Asia program, and they tell people if they would like to that you can bring items to donate on this part of the trip.

We missed this for some reason. We had no idea, but I've seen it in AmaWaterways Facebook group and everything. There's a list online of what they need. Simple things really make a big difference. Pens, pencils, notepads, things like that. I am going to put a link in our show description about this Giving Back Asia program. And they are a proud sponsor of the ODA Free Village English School in Siem Reap, in 2001 really made strides to help this school and all of the students and teachers there develop. So I agree that was a highlight for me as well.

Just want to touch on the Silk Village as well for another point. People love their souvenirs, as do we. Silk is a really wonderful souvenir to bring back from Cambodia. And everybody listening who is intrigued by this will be happy to know that there is a shopping opportunity, "shopportunity" might we say, at the end of this little short tour. There are peacocks running around the little area, and there's a really nice indoor shop.

Dan (17:16)

Right, right.

Mikkel (17:25)

Nice in terms of where we were in this craft village. And you also might be happy to know they accepted Visa. They did not accept American Express. So they accepted Visa and cash, of course. And you could buy, what was there? There was shawls. There were silk ties, scarves. Yeah, beautiful. And you can tell them, I want five of these. Can you make a deal? They were so nice and willing to help and unwrap them if you wanted to see the whole thing. So that is a really 

Dan (17:40)

Scarves, ties, yep.

Mikkel (17:54)

unique and special souvenir from the trip. On day three, we are out of all the rural area and villages momentarily and we were in the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.

And I was excited because we're kind of city people, even though we love the juxtaposition and the yin and yang of, you know, opposites attract kind of thing. So you can't have one without the other. It really contextualized things for us. But Phnom Penh, like I said, major city. 

And we took a bus ride giving us the highlights tour of Phnom Penh with our guides. And I should say that the guides in Cambodia are on the ship with you and they travel from place to place. This is unique because if you are on a river cruise in Europe, for example, the guides aren't on your cruise. You get off, let's say in Vienna, and a guide joins you. You travel to Melk in Austria, you get off and there's another guide there. 

That's not the case with this trip. If you are in Cambodia, you have the same guides and they are a wealth of knowledge. They know all about where you're going. When you cross the border into Vietnam, which we will get to momentarily, you have a new set of guides that are with you. So in Cambodia, they're Cambodian and in Vietnam, they're Vietnamese. So in Phnom Penh, guides were able to give us a tour on the bus of the highlights and we arrived at the Royal Palace.

Dan (19:18)

The Royal Palace was beautiful and very expansive, right? Like it took up a lot of space like right there in the city.

Mikkel (19:23)

Mm-hmm.

Dan (19:27)

I would say something you definitely want to see. The collection of art, the collection of royal pieces throughout that really symbolize Cambodia.

Mikkel (19:35)

Yeah.

Dan (19:37)

And then for me, the architecture was really a highlight.

Mikkel (19:41)

Yeah, and I didn't feel like we really saw a lot like this. So like you said, it's definitely not to miss. It was a favorite. If you love photography, don't forget your camera, your iPhone,

have you. Don't forget a handheld fan, because it is hot walking around. And I bring this scarf that I got in Thailand with you years ago at, I would say, kind of religious sites in Southeast Asia.

Dan (19:56)

Hmm.

Mikkel (20:08)

They're not as strict in Cambodia. I didn't feel they were. But I did wrap that around my shorts just to be respectful because there are some religious buildings on the site, I would say. And it really was a gorgeous collection, like you said, of artifacts. 

And I would say to dig deeper into that, paintings on the wall, the wrought iron gates were gorgeous, the sculptures, and the mix of architecture, like you said, and the buildings that were there. And also the grounds were gorgeously kept. The landscaping was really beautiful. Oh, also there's a silver pagoda there that is in the itinerary for AmaWaterways. You do see the silver pagoda, but

I would say it's not as memorable as you would think. It's great, they pointed out, you do see it, it is worth noting, but it's not memorable. And that's just to say that if you're wondering why we're not talking about it more, that's why. But we did go to the National Museum that has an outstanding collection of Khmer artifacts. And I remember taking a picture of you with all the Buddha statues in there, which is really a great memory from the trip.

Dan (21:17)

Yeah, there's no shortages of the statue of the Buddha, that's for sure.

Mikkel (21:22)

Yeah, yeah. So we had a guided tour through there to tell us the significance of some of the pieces, contextualize them in their own time, and then we had some free time as

Dan (21:33)

Then we go into the afternoon. So we had such a wonderful morning. The afternoon was a little heavy because we visited the Killing Fields and Genocide Museum.

Mikkel (21:38)

Mm-hmm.

Dan (21:41)

And it was a serious topic and it was, like I said, a heavy afternoon, but a very important afternoon.

Mikkel (21:49)

And we didn't know, I have to say, anything about the genocide in Cambodia in the 1970s until this trip. And that in itself was mind-blowing to me. We were, full disclosure, born in the late 70s and early 80s, Dan and I. And it would be like going to Europe and not learning about World War II. You have to.

It would be...may I say ignorant not to learn about this. It's such a part of their history and really important to educate yourselves and other people about it, which is why they offer this tour to really understand the history of the nation.

Dan (22:30)

Right. After a short bus ride. started the tour at...

Mikkel (22:34)

The Tuol Sleng S21 Detention Center, They call it for short "The Genocide Museum" now, but it was a detention center. It was a former school for students that the Khmer Rouge regime turned into a detention center. And you can still see the barbed wire on the outside. And our guide was able to take us around and kind of tell us where these

Dan (22:37)

Yeah.

Mikkel (23:00)

prisoners, really. All of the citizens became prisoners in a really terrible way. The cells they were held in. How they converted this school to a detention center and what happened from there. So, like you said, it is heavy. But it was interesting and important to learn about.

Dan (23:17)

I'll also add it was very fascinating that a few survivors were there having conversations and some of them had written books or had literature you could purchase, but you could meet them and an interpreter, ask questions.

Mikkel (23:31)

Yes, that is a great point. And our guide, he was Cambodian, was acting as that interpreter, really encouraged us to ask questions. And those men, those older men that were there, these two people you were speaking of, are there because they want to educate people. So that was really interesting. I'm glad you brought that up.

After that, we were driven out to one of the killing fields. There were other killing fields as well, but this is the one that we were driven to because there are placards and some information and a memorial on site. Again, really heavy, but respectfully, we all visited and the guide was able to tell us more information there. This was chilling in a different way because this is where they were murdered.

Dan (24:16)

The other part of that was during our visit, it was so ominous because it was pouring rain and we were trying to be respectful, move quickly, stay dry. The end of it, the bus ride back to the vessel, we were able to ask a lot of questions and have pretty candid conversation about what happened there.

Mikkel (24:35)

Yes, absolutely. So to celebrate life after this, we were able to enjoy the ship and move on to a brighter morning on day four in Oudong Buddhist Temple.

Okay, so a bit of a cliffhanger. Let's leave it there. Join us next week when we talk about part two, starting or should I say continuing our journey on the Mekong River. You don't want to miss the end of our trip and what we did post-cruise in Ho Chi Minh City and Dan's favorite thing - or one of your favorite things. There were so many highlights of this, but one of your favorite things from our Siem Reap trip that you don't want to miss out on because you should absolutely do it when you are there if you have even an hour of free time.

Talk to you next week for part two.