It will be exactly a year on Wednesday next (8th April) that I boarded my flight to Singapore and on to Hanoi! It has taken rather longer then I expected to complete this Blog for reasons that I have explained along the way. I hope, however, you will still enjoy reading this Blog and that it brings back happy memories for those who shared this trip with me.
Briefly the itinerary included a couple of days in Hanoi – the capital of Vietnam – followed by a cruise overnight in Ha Long Bay before taking a 1,000 mile flight (A first shock in just how big Vietnam is) down to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to join the RV AmaLotus for a 7 night cruise up the Mekong, crossing the border into Cambodia at Tan Chau – not that I knew much about that for reasons that will become clear – and disembarking at Kampong Cham, visiting Phnom Penh –the capital of Cambodia en route and taking an additional unplanned visit to the International SOS Hospital in this city (I won’t spoil that thrilling little adventure for you just now). The final leg of the tour involved a 5 hour coach ride to Siem Reap – the tourist capital of Cambodia – for a visit to Angkor Wat to see the sun rise above this World Heritage Site, another of those places on the list of ‘Must See’ tourist sites.
I feel privileged to have visited these two countries, ravaged as they have been by wars and repressive regimes but which have emerged in recent years to become ‘must visit’ tourist destinations and to have experienced at first hand the amazing tenacity and resilience of the peoples and their cultures.
And how will I ever forget the thrill of a motorcycle ride through the traffic of Saigon and the more sedate, and regal elephant ride, among the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat!!
So hang on and off we go!!
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