Day 1 – Departure → Bangkok

Today you leave from your departure city for Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

Earth Trip can arrange for an earlier flight if you wish for a few days in Bangkok prior to the Mekong journey.

Day 2 – Bangkok → Chiang Rai

On arrival you change plane for your domestic flight to Chiang Rai (90 minutes). Alex and our local expert guide will meet you at Chiang Rai airport and transfer you to your hotel for check-in. You have the rest of the day at leisure – to wander around the city centre, pamper in the spa or relax by the pool.

Situated on the Kok River – a tributary of the Mekong, Chiang Rai is one Thailand’s great capitals – founded by the king of Lanna Mangrai, as his royal capital in 1262. Thailand’s most venerated Buddha image – the Emerald Buddha (now in the Grand Palace in Bangkok) was discovered here in the 1400s – when an earthquake cracked a stupa to reveal the brilliant green statue. The city is famous for its exquisite temples, including one of Asia’s most famous and spectacular: the ornate, brilliant-white Wat Rong Khun, designed by renowned Thai artist Ajarn Chalermchai Kositpipat. Chiang Rai is an important centre of hill tribe culture.

In the evening we will have a welcome meal at Lu Lam, one of the best traditional regional restaurants in Thailand. Its tables are set on rafts on the Kok river and we will have our first glimpse of the streams of the Mekong which define our journey. Alex will brief you what’s ahead and you will have the chance to talk with him about any photography and writing tuition or tips you would like over the next few weeks.

After supper we explore Chiang Rai’s lively night market where we will browse for hill tribe crafts and enjoy music and dance performances and sample local street food.

Overnight at Mora Boutique

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Dinner

Day 3 – Chiang Rai, Thailand – Tribal villages, Tribal Museum & The White Temple

After breakfast we explore stunning Wat Rong Suea Ten or the Blue Temple and then leave for Doi Pangkhon mountain and Ban Pangkhon, an Akha and Yaow hill tribe village set in rolling mountains and surrounded by coffee plantations. We will take light hikes in the hills around the village, learn about how the community sustains itself and sample some of their celebrated Pangkhon coffee in a local home.

We will then journey to the tea-growing area of Singha Park and take lunch in natural surrounds at the Bhubirom Restaurant, whose tables are perched over sweeping view of the lush countryside and which specialises in Northern Thai Lanna cooking, made with locally-sourced, mostly organic ingredients.

In the afternoon we visit Wat Rong Khun also, the White Temple – one of the architectural highlights of Northern Thailand where you will learn about the history of Buddhism in Thailand and about Buddhist temple architecture. In the late afternoon we visit the Chiang Rai Hill Tribe Museum and Education Center: where you will discover the story of the hill tribe people of the Golden Triangle. The museum offers well-curated exhibits showcasing the traditional lifestyles, crafts, and customs of six major hill tribes: Akha, Lahu, Yao, Karen, Lisu, and Hmong. With its authentic artifacts and educational displays, this museum provides a deeper understanding of these communities and their contributions to the region.

In the evening we will dine in a lovely French-inspired restaurant on the river serving local and Western food and with live music.

Overnight at Mora Boutique

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 4 – Chiang Rai → Mekong River Cruise → Laos

It’s an early start this morning – for the Mekong and our date with the spectacular Anouvong Cruise. After passing through Laos immigration you will be transferred to your cabins on board the boat – decked out in lush teak wood and with wall-to-ceiling glass windows affording sweeping views of the Mekong, the mountains and the village life that we pass on our journey downstream. En route to our first stop, our expert guide will host an interesting lecture about the intricate tapestry of ethnic groups who live on and around the Mekong River. Over the next few days, you will get to know all these fascinating varieties of different cultural lifestyles, characteristics, and traditions in real life.

The landscapes are beautiful. The Mekong is a fast-flowing mountain river – cutting through lush covered in forest, winding around spurs and passing long, golden sandy beaches. After passing the meeting of Mekong and the Nam Tha river we visit to a Tai Lu indigenous village of fewer than a thousand people. As well as Laos, the Tai Lu live throughout the hilly regions of North Thailand, Yunnan, Burma and Vietnam. We will participate in a traditional Baci ceremony with them, which includes being blessed by monks and village elders.

We then continue downstream to our overnight spot, moored on a long, sandy beach at Huay Ting, at a sharp bend in the Mekong, where we enjoy a welcome to the cruise cocktail and celebratory dinner before watching the stars and retiring to our cabins.

Overnight on Anouvong Cruise

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 5 – Mekong River Cruise in Laos

Early risers can enjoy morning yoga at sunrise on the boat’s terrace deck – when the mist rises from the rainforest with the Mekong’s landscapes as a backdrop, bathed in golden light.

After breakfast we reach the tiny local town of Pakbeng and Laos’s best-managed, ethical elephant sanctuary. We have the privilege of visiting these magnificent creatures in an almost complete natural habitat. All the elephants residing here were born once in Laos and toiled mostly as logging elephants. Since finding refuge in this sanctuary, they’ve been embraced by peace and security, living in very natural territory. As working animals they’ve lost their ability to thrive in the wild. Sanctuaries like these – which rely on tourist visits ensure that they can live to a ripe old age in surrounds as close to the wild as possible.

If we have enough time, we will take you up to the hilltop vantage point located at Pakbeng town (by vehicle) that offers breathtaking panoramic views of the rugged forest-swathed hills that watch over the rushing Mekong.

After lunch you have the option of learning how to weave a bamboo basket in the traditional Laos manner as the boat continues to a village where all three principal Laos ethnic groups of the Highland Hmong, lowland Lao Loum and foothill Khmu live side by side. Each have their own unique history, traditions, ways of life, family dynamics, and housing styles.

We venture into the village to a family home where representatives from each of these ethnic groups are going to show and explain to us their differences and characteristics in day-to-day life – giving life to the lecture you heard the evening before. If time permits and the season allows, we may offer a glimpse of the organic gardens where villagers nurture their crops (and we can try one or other local produce).

Before dinner, villagers will join us on board to perform some traditional Lao music played on a Kene flute, with accompanying dance. After dinner, feel free to come to the lounge for a cosy cinema showing of the film Chiang (Lao for elephant). This cinematic gem was shot in this very region in 1927.

Overnight on Anouvong Cruise

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 6 – Mekong River Cruise in Laos

After optional dawn yoga on deck and breakfast we continue our cruise and stop at a Khmu village, whose bamboo huts sit on stilts in golden rice fields. We will visit a family home and learn how they live off the rice harvest and how their life has changed little in centuries.

Returning to the boat for lunch, we continue along the river, through some of the most beautiful landscapes along the Mekong, eventually docking at our overnight mooring spot at the 200-year-old village of Ban Khok Phou, perched over a powdery white sandbank in a bend in the river. Inhabited predominantly by the ethnic Lao, this hamlet is a lovely spot to observe and photograph villages life. If time permits we will walk up the hill to a small temple, where you can meet the local monk and novices and join them in meditation.

We spend our evening on the beach sandbank with cocktails and a farewell dinner as the sun sinks over the water.

Overnight on Anouvong Cruise

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 7 – Mekong River Cruise → Luang Prabang, Laos

On the final day of our four-day cruise we reach the spectacular Pak Ou Caves – set in a sheer cliff that towers over the Mekong, and packed with some 40000 Buddha statues.

Guests then have a choice of a kayak tour along the serene Nam Ou River or a visit to the nearby village of Ban Muang Keo, known for traditional silk weaving Lao whisky distillation. We will also have the opportunity to meet the villager healer (if time and availability permits) who explains how villagers use rainforest herbs and plants.

As we head downstream to Luang Prabang guests take a Lao cooking class from chef before an early lunch of traditional Laos food. During our final stretch of sailing our on board guide talks hosts a presentation exploring the complex history of the Golden Triangle – a name coined by the CIA when the region was the epicentre of the opium trade.

We arrive in Luang Prabang mid-afternoon. After check-out Anouvong cruise, our guide will meet and greet to pick you up and transfer to your Luang Prabang hotel.

Overnight at My Ban Lao

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 8 – Luang Prabang, Laos

Today we spend a full day exploring one of South East Asia’s loveliest small cities, the teak-wood mansion and temple-filled former royal Laos capital of Luang Prabang.

We wake early for a very special dawn visit to witness the monks leaving their temples to receive alms from the locals – as offerings of food placed into their alms bowls. The opportunities for wonderful pictures are myriad. We then visit Luang Prabang’s morning market before returning to the hotel for breakfast.

After breakfast we drive through the countryside to the Kuang Si Waterfalls, which drop in tiers in lush rainforest. We will have time at leisure here (and to visit the Sun Bear rescue and

rehabilitation centre on site), and Alex is on hand to help you with your photo skills. We take lunch at the waterfalls and on the way back to Luang Prabang stop at a Hmong village.

In the afternoon we visit Luang Prabang’s National Museum and former Royal Palace – a beautiful Indochinese French beaux-arts mansion in the centre of the old town, preserved just as it was when the royal family last lived here. We visit the royal temple and the gold, silver and bronze Prabang Buddha which gives the city its name and which is the most venerated and precious Buddha effigy in Laos. After visiting the palace guests have the option to wander the night market or the craft shops of Luang Prabang where beautiful, intricate hill tribe textiles, indigo and silk scarves and sarongs, silverware and art are available for sale. It’s one of the best spots on our journey to pick up souvenirs. Or you can climb to the top of  Phousi hill for the loveliest sunset view in Laos – of the day darkening over the temple town and the sun sinking over the Mekong and the mountains.

Overnight at My Ban Lao

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 9 – Luang Prabang → Siem Reap, Cambodia

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast

Day 11 – The Koh Ker Ancient City and Beng Melea Reserve, Cambodia

It’s time to get off the beaten track and explore the extraordinary ruined city of Koh Ker, which has only opened up to tourism recently and whose vine-encrusted temples which are every bit as spectacular as Angkor, receive only a fraction of the visitors.

Koh Ker is a superb location to see rare birds. The dry, deciduous forest habitat is completely different from the Angkor rainforests and as there are far fewer visitors birds are present in even greater numbers.

After lunch and on the way back to Siem Reap we visit Beng Mealea – a vast 12^th Century temple complex surrounded by a near mile-long moat it has been almost completely absorbed into the jungle. It’s an astonishing spot for pictures and is rich in wildlife.

Overnight at Lynnaya

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 12 – Siem Reap → Battambang on the backwaters of the Mekong

We are back on the rivers Mekong today for tranquil private boat ride through the wetlands and backwaters of the Sangkae river to the sleepy town of Battambang. We will pass riverine villages, Ramsar-protected wetlands filled with water birds and cruise through the heart  of rural Cambodia – past little villages that seldom if ever see a tourist and fields of golden rice paddies, arriving in Battamabang in the late afternoon.

Battambang was once an important provincial city – governed by the French, the Thai (whose huge, opulent governor’s mansion sits next to the winding river) and then wrested back in the mid-Twentieth Century by the Khmer people. It’s a quiet spot today, it’s main river street lined with crumbling old French colonial town houses. There are some fascinating sights nearby which we will explore tomorrow.

Overnight at Cambana La Riviere

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 13 – Battambang

It’s time for an unforgettable and unique short railway journey – on one of Southeast Asia’s transport treasures – the Khmer Bamboo Train. These astonishing makeshift locomotives comprise two bogeys, a bamboo platform and an engine harnessed from a long tail boat outboard. Passengers sit on the platform as the train whisks through paddy fields and pasture land, deftly captained by a local in a conical hat. Leaving early allows us to see the villagers tilling the fields and harvesting rice, the beautiful landscapes and the tiny villages along the railway side. The photographs are extraordinary.

After our ride, we drive to visit one of the Ancient Khmer Traditional houses, and meet the house’s owner who receives us warmly with a snack and tea before we return back to the hotel for breakfast.

After a tour of the town and the fruit markets we visit the striking hilltop pagoda of Phnom Sampeau – a huge limestone outcrop honeycombed with caves, some of them containing unexpected and poignant reminders of Cambodia’s turbulent history. On the top of the hill, we can view the surrounding countryside, a tapestry of villages, buffalo pastures and shimmering rice paddies, punctuated with sugar palm trees. We walk downhill back to the foot of the mountain at dusk to witness thousands of bats leaving their roosts as it gets dark  and to enjoy a bottle of cold beer or one soft drink before we get back to the hotel in Battambang, and dinner at the local restaurant.

Overnight at Cambana La Riviere

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 14 Battambang → Phnom Penh

This morning we leave Battambang and drive back into the Mekong Basin, to the village of Kampong Luong – one of the largest floating villages on Tonlé Sap – Southeast Asia’s largest lake. This is Asia’s Okavango – a huge wetland created by the spilling of the Mekong River into Cambodia’s central basin, forming the shallow lake, seasonal floodplains and freshwater swamps fringed with lush rice fields and grasslands. During periods of rainfall, the Mekong River overflows, expanding the size of the lake by up to five times and creating a delta, which provides habitats for myriad species. We should see plenty of birdlife (and if we are lucky

mammals en route) – many of the 225 bird species that live within the reserve (of which 17 are endangered worldwide) alongside macaques and if we are fortunate, hairy-nosed otters.

At Kompong Luong floating village we will have the opportunity to discover the everyday life of Cambodian families on the Tonlé Sap Lake. The families live in floating houses with a constant movement of boats that brings people and goods to the village. On our return to the mainland we have lunch at a local restaurant and then continue to the small riverside town of Kampong Chhnang, it is famous for its beautiful landscape and local villages that produce pottery in the midst of the rice fields. Visit this community and learn how the community makes pottery the traditional way and observe how sugar is collected from the sugar palm trees. In the late afternoon we continue to Phnom Penh and check-into our hotel.

In the evening we enjoy a bespoke motorbike tour of Phnom Penh’s markets, street food and alternative culture.

Overnight at Palace Gate

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 15 – Phnom Penh

Today we enjoy a full day exploration of Cambodia’s capital. It’s a fascinating place – with a beguiling mixture of colonial French architecture, glittering Theravada temples, Royal Palaces and shimmering glass towers. In between are rushing food markets, arts and craft fairs, pulsing clubs and bars and sleepy, leafy streets. Ochre-coloured colonial buildings housing trendy cafés sit on frangipani-lined boulevards, locals trade everything from ducks to raw silk in teeming markets beneath glittering pagodas and all is squeezed between the spreading vastness of the Tonlé Sap and Mekong Rivers as they converge in the city’s heart.

We will set out on a city tour to visit the National Museum, which houses the world’s most important collection of Khmer art and sculptures from different periods of Cambodian history and the silver- and gold glittering Royal Palace. This magnificent building of stupas and cloisters painted with spectacular murals was the home of King Norodom. At its heart is the famous Silver Pagoda, glittering with over 5000 silver tiles.

We will also visit the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, where the Khmer Rouge tortured thousands of Cambodians under the Polpot regime and the Killing Fields. Both are a must for visitors keen to understand this beguiling country.

Overnight at Overnight at Palace Gate

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 16 – Phnom Penh → Mekong Delta, Vietnam

After a morning at leisure to explore Phnom Penh further we are back on the Mekong. We have taken a team wood luxury cruise, a private wooden boat ride through the backwaters; now it is time to whizz down the river where it becomes expansive – spreading out towards the delta, on the public fast boat.

This brings us to the busy Mekong Delta town of Chau Doc in Vietnam – where Cambodian, Vietnamese and ancient Cham cultures meet and mingle.

Overnight at Chau Po

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 17 – Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Today we explore life on the Mekong Delta – watching daily life unfold along the 90 kilometre long, hand-dug canal, created by a superstitious Vietnamese king who ordered its excavation in order to create an extra stream to the Mekong. The king believed that it was unlucky for the Mekong to split into only eight streams at its delta. We visit the stilted Cham village that spans the canal; built by the descendants of what was once one of the greatest civilisations in Southeast Asia. And we take lunch in a local Cham restaurant.

In the afternoon we transfer by car to the little town of Can Tho where we have dinner in a riverside restaurant.

Overnight at Iris Hotel

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 18 – Mekong Delta → Saigon

We wake early to take a dug out boat onto the Mekong River to visit the region’s greatest floating market at Cai Rang. It’s a wonderful spot for people watching and for pictures – with locals trading everything from pumpkins to pigs across boats and barges. We try some local food – a stuffed Banh Mi Vietnamese baguette and some mangosteen and loquats before stopping off at a local noodle bar to try some Mekong Delta sweets. We then head back to the hotel for breakfast and check out.

Back on the Mekong, we visit Vinh Long island and a pottery kiln where locals produce ceramics using traditional methods which are centuries old. We walk to the local village to visit a small rice paper craft centre and then climb on a dug out where we are rowed by locals through backwaters which take us deeper into the countryside on smaller canals and rivers.

We then travel right across the Mekong River to An Binh Island to a local home where we enjoy some specially prepared local food before a sedate bike ride or slow walk on village paths across the island to see the local daily life: the fruit orchards, local schools, churches, pagodas and traditional houses. We make some stops to see how baskets, bags, hats, wallets and shoes are crafted from floating water hyacinth. We then take the boat back to the mainland and transfer by car Ho Chi Minh city, or Saigon where we stay in the legendary Rex hotel, which was home to the press bureaux during the Vietnam War.

Overnight at Rex Hotel

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 19 – Saigon

After breakfast we visit the Vietnam War sights, which were the backdrop to the war correspondence undertaken by Alex’s grandfather, BBC correspondent Daniel Counihan. These include the Cu Chi tunnels – a vast underground village never discovered by the Americans; whose vicinity was carpet bombed by the Americans in the 1960s when Cu Chi was a Free Target Zone. We watch a short introductory video showing how the tunnels were constructed before entering them and for those who wish to, a chance to try shooting with real guns used during the conflict. We then return to Saigon taking lunch along the way.

You have the afternoon at leisure before being picked-up for our Saigon by night tour. We will pass by the stately French colonial Opera House, Cathedral and government buildings in the city centre before stopping at a sky bar to enjoy a stunning view of the twilight, neon twinkling city, cocktail in hand. Then it is time to enjoy one of the best local traditional Vietnamese club sandwiches at a Saigon family-run institution who have been crafting them for forty-five years. We then continue to the night flower market before taking dinner at a popular street style seafood restaurant. We wrap up the evening at a live music bar popular with Vietnamese locals rather than tourists.

Overnight at Rex Hotel

Mid-range

Uganda

Haven Lodge Buhoma – Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Experience Haven Lodge Buhoma in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, offering cozy accommodations, stunning mountain views, and...

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Days 20 – Saigon

You have this morning at leisure to shop in Saigon’s Ben Tanh market, visit the War Remnants Museum or simply to relax.

In the afternoon we take a tour to Saigon’s Chinatown – which has a long and distinguished history. With incense-heady temples, markets, old shop houses and little back streets, the area is wonderful for people-watching, street photography and for buying quirky souvenirs. We visit the brightly coloured 18^th Century Thien Hau pagoda and Binh Tay – one of the biggest wholesale markets in Vietnam and a great spot to browse for souvenirs.

After Chinatown we will enjoy some live music accompanied lotus tea, Vietnamese style coffee and biscuits and take a guided tour of an art gallery showcasing Vietnamese fine art and textiles. We finish with sunset cocktails and Saigon at our feet at Landmark 81, the tallest building in Saigon and one of the tallest in Asia. The views are extraordinary.

Our farewell dinner is at the extraordinary Noir Restaurant, where we experience dining-in-the-dark with disabled staff, many of whom are secondary victims of the Vietnam War. The restaurant serves various multi-course meal options with an extensive range of chef-recommended dishes inspired by modern European, Asian and Vietnamese cuisines.

Overnight at Rex Hotel

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 21 – Saigon → Return Home

Today you have time at leisure until your return flight home or to another destination in Vietnam or Cambodia.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast