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Viking - Vietnam & Cambodia - Mekong Cruise


Mark_T
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We have just started our trip and I'll try to keep this thread updated as internet access allows.

 

Our vacation started with flights we arranged ourselves, air miles are handy at times :). So we began with business class flights from London to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific then after a short but comfortable wait, an onward flight to Hanoi are Dragonair.

 

The Flight to Hanoi was in A brand new A320, very comfortable.

 

Upon arrival in Hanoi our bags were waiting on the carousel as soon as we got there, and upon exiting through customs, we quickly spotted the hotel representative who was waiting to escort us to the car we had booked.

 

When you book your our air with Viking you can still opt to take their transfers at an extra cost, but we tend to find you can do better, cheaper with little effort.

 

In this case that translated to a chauffeur driven BMW 7 series which quickly delivered us to the Sofitel Metropole Hotel in the old quarter of Hanoi. The hotel is amazing and we experienced probably the smoothest checkin I've ever had.

 

We were met at the car by a full team of hotel staff who wished our luggage away and escorted us to the reception area where we were asked to sit and relax while their concierge checked us in, she then escorted us to our room and about 2 mins later our bags arrived.

 

Viking had left us a note about timing for the tours which start tomorrow, and where the reps could be found in the hotel if we needed them before tomorrow.

 

All incredibly slick and given it was only 11am it was great to be able to go straight to the room. We were offered a choice between a room in the old original building which has a lot of historic character, or one in the new building which was more recently added. We opted for the new building and couldn't be happier with the room.

 

We took a light nap and after relaxing with a short walk, we headed for dinner.

 

Since we were both tired and on our own for dinner, we opted for the Vietnamese restaurant in the hotel. Excellent food, great service and although expensive by local standards being a hotel restaurant, it was not bad by international standards.

 

So, the yours start tomorrow after a short briefing at 8:30am.

 

More updates tomorrow, and feel free to ask any questions as we go along...

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Day 2 - We started off with a short briefing session from our two guides who will be with us throughout the trip. Plenty of useful information well presented and kept light with banter between the guides.

 

Today is the day for exploring Hanoi, I won't go into too much detail other than to say that things were not quite in the order of the itinerary as the mausoleum only opens in the morning, but all in all a long but rewarding day.

 

All around us we see preparations for the New Year celebrations which begin tomorrow night at midnight. As a onus the streets are a little clearer than usual as many people have returned to their home villages outside Hanoi for the holiday.

 

We returned to the hotel after the morning visits and enjoyed a light lunch at the pool bar on our own, before setting off again in the afternoon to visit the Ethnography museum and the old university and temple. The museum consists of an indoor area, but perhaps more interesting, an outdoor area with actual houses showing the diversity of the living styles of the many ethnic groups in Vietnam.

 

After a brief rest back at the hotel it was time to head out for the 'Welcome Dinner'. This was held in a special dinning room below the Opera House, food style was western, and quality was excellent. 'Fine dinning' style presentation, the French influence on their cuisine remains strong.

 

Back to the hotel for a good nights sleep :)

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Internet still great, so the posts continue :)

 

Glad some are finding them interesting, it is always hard to know what to pick from each day.

 

Day 3 - This morning we had at our of the old quarter using 'green electric car', probably best to think of them as golf carts.

 

A very smooth and stress free way to see the old market area and the surrounding streets. The daily dance of near destruction continued around us as the hundreds of motorcycles and scooters duck and weave between each other, but somehow nobody ever actually hits anything.

 

All the more impressive is what the locals manage to carry on these very small bikes, 3 and sometimes 4 people on one bike is not uncommon, or perhaps 4 large sacks of rice, or at this time of year, a kumquat tree strapped to the back :)

 

The old quarter was very festive with decorations, fruit trees, peach blossom branches and other goods related to the impending New Year festivities. It was also interesting to note the way each street seemed dedicated to particular types of goods or services.

 

We got back to the hotel about 45 mins later leaving us with about an hour to get our bags packed and outside the door ready for our departure for the trip to the airport at noon.

 

Those who have been on the China trip will understand when I say that not having to put your bags out the night before is greatly appreciated :)

 

I won't say a lot about the flight from Hanoi to Siem Reap, it was uneventful in a good way. Hanoi's airport is modern, spacious and the flights run on time (also unlike China). The aircraft used by Vietnam Air are all very new Boing or Airbus planes and the flight crews seem happy to be there and are very welcoming.

 

After arrival and a short transfer we arrived at our hotel, which with the evening setting sun, looked like a small piece of paradise carved out of the jungle.

 

Water everywhere and covered walkways between the main building and the blocks containing the rooms. Fountains and statues at every turn.

 

Just time to see our room then back to the main restaurant for dinner and a local dance performance.

 

Finally to bed, with an early start planned for tomorrow to avoid the midday heat as we go to Angkor...

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Day 4 - Angkor Wat and Angkor Tom today.

 

Another excellent day, a steady and interesting flow of information from our local guide. He spent 8 years as a monk before continuing his education with the help of a German sponsor. An interesting guy, who after the good fortune he received, he went on to found one of the major school charities here in Cambodia to help others get the education that changed so much for himself. He told us nothing of this good work himself though, we got the story from our main tour guide.

 

I'll skip over the details of the sights, as you really need to come and see them for youself :)

 

A few words about food, tips etc. though.

 

Some people on the China cruise complained about the amount of Chinese meals and the lunch time sales stops that went with them. On this trip there is none of that, the lunches are always back at the hotel on the land portion of the trip so you are free to eat what and where you want. There is typically T least 2 hours for lunch so there is time to go out to a local restaurant if you prefer, of just relax by the pool.

 

The evening meals have so far, been heavily French influenced, and of a high standard.

 

On tipping, the proposal from our guides was to give them $50 per person at the start and they then take care of all tipping after that for the various luggage handlers, city guides, bus drivers and other minor tips along the way, excluding the ship and themselves of course.

 

This is working very well and the various service providers along the way seem happy too, with no attempt to solicit further tips.

 

Our guides will give us an accounting of how the tips were distributed and this does make things more relaxing.

 

In restaurants, if you have preceded drinks, they really do not expect tips beyond rounding up to the nearest dollar and seem genuinely puzzled when people try to tip more. There is usually a small service charge (6 or 7%) and tax, that is all they expect.

 

In Vietnam they greatly prefer that you use their own currency, but in Cambodia, the US Dollar is the effective currency. They have their own, but would much rather use USD. The ATMs also give out USD in Cambodia.

 

Mite temples tomorrow and a school visit tomorrow, but for now, time to sleep.

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Sorry for the recent lack of updates, Internet got a bit less reliable once we reached the ship.

 

Re dress code for the temples, it was only necessary to remove shoes, not socks and it was important to wear clothing that covered the knees and the shoulders. In most places women could manage with a scarf over their shoulders, but for the Palace that was not sufficient.

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Viking use only Sofitel Hotels on this trip, so we started with the Metropole in Hanoi, then the Angkor Spa Resort in Siem Reap, we are still a couple of days away from Saigon, at the moment so I'll confirm that one once we get there.

 

All excellent hotels so far.

 

In Siem Reap we had both APT and Vantage staying at the same hotel.

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  • 1 month later...

Mark, thank you so much for taking the time to do this review. We will take Vantage's version of this trip in November. We will have 1/2 day on our own in Hanoi at the end of the trip....we will have done a city tour....do you have suggestion before we have to head to the airport mid afternoon? i am sure the local guide will have suggestions but thought you might have a "be sure not to miss"

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Mark, thank you so much for taking the time to do this review. We will take Vantage's version of this trip in November. We will have 1/2 day on our own in Hanoi at the end of the trip....we will have done a city tour....do you have suggestion before we have to head to the airport mid afternoon? i am sure the local guide will have suggestions but thought you might have a "be sure not to miss"

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I took a quick look at the Vantage itinerary to see what you will be doing in Hanoi, and it looks like there are a few things you might do with your free half-day.

 

I'm not sure which hotel you will be staying in but wherever it is you should be only a short Tuk-tuk ride from the lake in the middle of Hanoi and the old quarter, if you've not already covered this then even an hour would get you to some very picturesque views around the lake and a drive through the old quarter even if you don't have time to stop would be worth seeing.

 

Also as a side note, if you happen to stay at the Sofitel Metropole do try to go on their 'Bunker tour' at some point while you are there. I seem to recall that it only operates in the late afternoon so no good for your final day but you may have time earlier.

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how have you had to dress to visit the temples

 

must you take shoes and socks off?

 

we had to on the Irrawaddy trip always..

 

In Angkor Wat, you don't take off your shoes. The ruins have old stone or sand floors. You are still expected to cover knees and shoulders with clothing, not scarves, but there were so many tourists that they couldn't enforce this rule completely.

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So enjoyed what you wrote of your trip review, as we are planning this tour, and there are not a lot of reviews written about it. I am very encouraged by what you said "if you enjoyed China, you will love this tour". We loved China!

 

So please finish your tour journal -- suggestions, high points, February weather..etc.

 

Thank you!

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More to come for sure if I can just beat the 'work' into submission :)

 

I've kept all the daily schedules we received on the ship to make sure I don't forget anything.

 

I'll toss in a couple of interesting points of difference for those familiar with the Viking China trip to keep things going...

 

In China every meal is included after the first day but on this trip the lunches on the land portion are not included except for the packed lunch provided on the coach trip to the boat.

 

However, this is actually a positive point as unlike the China trip there is no attempt to take you somewhere that offers Viking a free lunch in exchange for a coach load of possible customers :)

 

Net result is we had some great food that cost almost nothing and a chance to genuinely relax between morning and afternoon trips at the hotel if we preferred.

 

Another point of interest for those familiar with the 'official' video of your trip that some cruise lines will try to sell you, on this one the guides provided a great DVD at the end of the trip for free, they also provided an online link to download all the photos they had taken during the trip so if you had missed something you could be sure to find it there for you when you got home.

 

I for one am guilty of returning home with many photos of everyone else and none of myself, but this time there were no complaints as the photos the guides took more than made up for this.

 

While I'm on the subject of 'free' we also received a gift of a traditional Cambodian scarf, along with a lesson on how to use it, from our excellent guide in Siem Reap and further scarves from the hotel there as well. On board ship we were given both Cambodia and Vietnamese hats which came in very useful, although on a small cultural point, you should take care not to wear the Vietnamese hat when visiting the Cambodian Royal Palace as the shape is considered unlucky...

Edited by Mark_T
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Mark,

 

We are in the process of booking this cruise for the end of December. Could you please look over your daily schedule to see if there was any option to see a water puppet show in Hanoi. I heard about this show either on the Travel Channel or HGTV or Amazing Race. It looked very special and I was hoping I could see it when we are there. Thanks so much.

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