Trip Report: Timeless Wonders of Vietnam, Cambodia & the Mekong (Uniworld) 12/20/15

[deec]

Good info about day mosquitoes. Thanks for the positive comment about the tour of the tunnel as we wondering if it would be a good choice.

thanks

[Damaris1900]

Two posts in two days! I'm on a roll!

 

More videos of cute kids in this post!

 

Angkor Ban Village Visit & An Unruly Guest

 

I've been enjoying your blog, and appreciate all the details that you've included. My DH and I have been thinking that we may need to add a Mekong cruise to our ever-increasing list of things we want to do, and Uniworld sounds as though they do a good job with the itinerary.

 

So sorry to hear about the unpleasant fellow passenger--whew. It all goes to show that even one bad apple can have a huge effect on your travel experience.

[Mark_T]

Re the 'unruly guest', we've been fortunate enough not to have this problem on a river cruise, but it is something we've seen on ocean cruises.

 

There is more formality and more 'security' staff available on the ocean cruises and in similar circumstances we've seen the guest left at a port to find their own way home after they had ignored several warnings.

 

Somewhat counter-cultural for the staff on this particular cruise so hard to imagine them doing more than they did, but it is a great shame when it causes upset to other guests.

 

Re the malaria question, we did not take anything nor was anything recommended for the destinations on our Viking cruise which did not include a tunnel option.

 

We were told that it is not a problem as long as you stay away from the mountains.

[jpalbny]

Wow, that story about the guest is just crazy! What an uncomfortable situation for the staff and other guests.

[ewizabeff]

The next installment is up!

 

A Day in Phnom Penh: Royal Palace, Cyclo Ride, National Museum of Cambodia, Cooking Class, Orphanage Dance

 

In the blog, I didn't include the part about how the "unruly guest" from the prior day got up before the dance performance and made what appeared to be a sincere apology for his prior behavior....

[Floridiana]

Looks delicious!

Beerlao is NOT bad, a light and refreshing lager. I must admit, however, that I have had better beer before.

[OBX Cruisers]

Have really enjoyed your trip reports. We will be on similar itinerary in March 2017 but on AMA Waterways. We think we are adventurous eaters and Asian dishes are among our favorites but you beat us by a mile. Looking back through your food Picts which top 5 have your mouth watering most. Trying to decide which to be sure we try[emoji3]

[ewizabeff]

Looking back through your food Picts which top 5 have your mouth watering most. Trying to decide which to be sure we try[emoji3]

 

In Cambodia, I really enjoyed all the sweet/sour soups that we had, and the prohok and fish amok in Siem Reap. In Hanoi, it was pho with all the fixings (including lime juice and chili) and the bun cha (bbq'd pork soup), although everything we had on our street food tour was excellent. In Ho Chi Minh City, which we haven't gotten to yet, we went on a street food tour where I tried about a dozen dishes I never would have tried, and all were fantastic! The most memorable was a wasabi oyster. I'll get to those soon, hopefully. :)

[salbags]

Hi banditoo,

 

Are you by any chance going with Scenic?

We are and just wondered if you are on our ship.

 

Cheers:)

 

We are thinking of a Mekong cruise with Scenic and was wondering if you could give some feed back.

 

Many thanks

[ewizabeff]

I have a new post up, but there's nothing fun about it.

 

Memories of Khmer Rouge Genocide in Phnom Penh

[ewizabeff]

Another quick post about an afternoon of cruising. Also, when I got sick.

 

Mekong River Vietnam Border Crossing

Edited August 13, 2016 by ewizabeff

[deec]

Liz,

Thanks again for your insightful and entertaining posts. Can you recommend the reading you did to prepare for Cambodia ? Our trip is the end of October .

[ewizabeff]

Liz,

Thanks again for your insightful and entertaining posts. Can you recommend the reading you did to prepare for Cambodia ? Our trip is the end of October .

 

My favorite book was a memoir of a Khmer Rouge survivor - When Broken Glass Floats. A similar book I read was Alive in the Killing Fields: Surviving the Khmer Rouge Genocide

 

I also read The Sacred Willow, which is an excellent but very long historical memoir of a Vietnamese family.

 

I just finished Ghosts In The Forest - a "kindle single" about a Cambodian family that lived in the woods for decades after fleeing the Khmer Rouge, but it's not very good.

 

To learn more about food in Vietnam, I read (and loved) Eating Viet Nam: Dispatches From A Blue Plastic Table.

[deec]

thanks for the reading suggestions!

 

How were the restrooms while on your excursions? Deciding if I need more skirts for ease of pit toilets....

[ewizabeff]

thanks for the reading suggestions!

 

How were the restrooms while on your excursions? Deciding if I need more skirts for ease of pit toilets....

 

I never had to use a pit toilet (everywhere we went if there was a pit toilet, there was also a western option, you just might have to wait a bit longer). I was, however, very thankful that I carried tissues and hand sanitizer. Toilet Paper often wasn't available, and some of the hand-washing facilities were questionable. Our guide often was standing outside the restrooms with hand sanitizer for us, but I'm glad I carried my own.

 

This wasn't just the case in Cambodia - even in some restrooms in Hanoi, Vietnam.

[Floridiana]

Definitely bring toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Although there were more western style toilets than in China, the lines for them were long if you were with an excursion bus full of western women. I switched to the pit version in those cases.

[Mark_T]

Yes, our Viking guide was ever present with the hand-sanitizer, and in fact he was a full service traveling pharmacy it seemed :)

 

He had the right remedy for every possible type of insect bite or upset stomach anyone might encounter. It was actually quite comforting as although most of us had no need for his services, those who did all recovered promptly with barely any down time.

[deec]

Thanks everyone.

I am getting better at pit toilets but much easier in a skirt!!! :)

[ewizabeff]

Next post is up!

 

Vietnam Mekong Village Visit (Tan Chau)

[Floridiana]

Thank you! You are a real trooper!

[ewizabeff]

Two posts in one day! After this, I have our three days in Ho Chi Minh City to write about, and then our trip home, which included long layovers in Hong Kong and Narita.

 

Vietnamese Markets & Industry: Sa Dec and Cai Be

 

In this post I reveal another ailment, drink snake wine, and treat you to a video of a Vietnamese band that sings covers of American pop songs.

[Mark_T]

I see you got to meet 'Monty' as well :)

 

Re the insect bites, as I mentioned earlier our guide had a remedy for pretty much anything and everything that could go wrong, not 'traditional' but local pharmaceutical grade products which seemed to out perform anything any of us had brought with us when it came to things like bug bites etc.

 

He had specific solutions depending on the type of bite as well.

 

We had no issues on the ship itself, but a few people did pick up a bite or two after attending the monastery where we received the blessing and got showered with flower petal, we figured the bugs came free with the petals :)

 

The snake 'wine' was an interesting experience, I think we had slightly more takers than you, but not a lot more.

[jpalbny]

Hi Ewizabeff - I just saw a post in my FB feed this morning with a picture of two people enjoying a cruise and thought, "Those two look familiar." It was a link to your blog, that Uniworld is promoting on their FB page! Looking forward to catching up.

[westcoasttech]

Just wanted to add my thank you for your blog postings - spent a very enjoyable morning reading through them. I too consider myself a foodie, but some of your more adventurous food tastings might have been too much for me!

 

Had a chuckle when I saw your list of past sailings, one of my first cruises was on the Monarch of the Seas and I'm going to "graduate" to river cruises later this year, with a slightly more "ordinary" Rhine trip (on Viking)! However I have been tempted by the more exotic routes and your blog has inspired me to definitely look into it - budget and time allowing!!

 

Thanks again - I know how much time these reviews can take to do well and yours is excellent!

[ewizabeff]

Hi Ewizabeff - I just saw a post in my FB feed this morning with a picture of two people enjoying a cruise and thought, "Those two look familiar." It was a link to your blog, that Uniworld is promoting on their FB page! Looking forward to catching up.

 

I shamelessly promote my posts to them on social media. One of the reasons I created the blog in the first place because I felt like I couldn't find enough in-depth information online about Uniworld trips (other than posts here, which don't always seem to come up on search engines).....so I'm working to fix that.