CRUISE ASIAN RIVERS DESTINATIONS


Asian Rivers


I’ve already bumped around in the back of an ox cart and braved a tuk-tuk ride around the bustling streets of Phnom Penh on this cruise. Travelling in a box on two wheels, pulled along by a bloke who thinks he’s Bradley Wiggins, is just another first to tick off the list. There were plenty such experiences on this cruise, a seven-night journey that linked Siem Reap with Ho Chi Minh City and included a few days in each city at the start and end with everything – excursions, meals, tips – included in the price. We were treated to sunrise over


Angkor Wat with a glass of fizz in hand, blessed by monks, and given the chance to taste rice wine laced with snake, dubbed ‘Vietnamese viagra’ by the guides (to be honest, I passed on that, but a few brave souls stepped up to the mark). In Phnom Penh, a poignant Killing


BELOW:


Sabaidee Pandaw


Fields tour unmasked the brutalities of the Khmer Rouge regime, which tortured and murdered millions of Cambodians between 1975 and 1979. River cruise lines including


CroisiEurope, AmaWaterways, Scenic, Pandaw and Avalon Waterways offer


Travelling in a box on two wheels, pulled along by a bloke who thinks he’s Bradley Wiggins, is just another first to tick off


Mekong cruises between Siem Reap and Ho Chi Minh, and the experiences they offer are just as memorable. But APT has a trump card up its


sleeve, namely Luke Nguyen, a top Australian Vietnamese chef who is not just a whizz in the kitchen, but also created the menu in Indochine, a speciality restaurant on AmaLotus, and owns Vietnam House Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, where APT passengers dine on the last day of the holiday. The food in both was exceptional


– as was the service. A tasting menu in Indochine includes rice cakes, roast pork belly, tea-smoked duck and grilled sirloin. In Vietnam House, there’s meat, fish, noodles and rice dishes, as well as salads and soups, to choose from, so the smart thing is to


let the waiters pick for you, or you’ll be there all night – as indeed we were! Book it: From £4,395 for a 15-day Vietnam and Cambodia Highlights cruise-and-stay holiday departing September 12, including flights. aptouring.com


 UPPER MEKONG My conversation is going something like this: “We’ll never fit. Oh, apparently we will.” “He’ll never make that turn. Ah, OK, he has.” We’re cruising the Upper Mekong in Laos on Pandaw’s Sabaidee Pandaw and the ‘he’ in question is the captain, who is skilfully navigating us through a testing course of white water dotted with fierce-looking rocks. Shooting rapids on a river cruise


boat is a new one for me but Pandaw did promise that this trip, from Chiang Saen in Thailand to Vientiane, in Laos, would be an adventure. We’ve ‘poled’ our way through


shallow water (the sailors dipped a pole in the river to check the depth), scrambled ashore over muddy banks in the pitch dark, and visited remote jungle villages with no electricity, running water or paved roads.


14 March 2019travelweekly.co.uk47


PICTURES: SHUTTERSTOCK; SANCTUARY RETREATS; SIMON TOFFANELLO


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