Mekong River Cruise in Low Water Season

[orchide-blue21]

Has anyone done a Mekong river cruise in the low water season? We are looking at a river cruise with the Heritage line sailing upstream from Ho Chi Minh to Siem Reap, in February 2018. I understand this is low water season.

 

I compared the low and high water season itinerary and the only difference is the last day (although I believe this is a BIG difference) The high water cruisers sail up the Tonle Sap Lake to Siem Reap (which I hear is magical) whereas the low water cruisers have to take a 6 hour bus ride from Kampong Cham to Siem Reap - this doesn't sound nearly as magical...

 

If anyone has done the cruise in low water, I would love to hear from you. Is the bus trip boring and long? Are we really missing something by not cruising the Tonle Sap? Just wondering if we should re-schedule to high water season.

 

Thank you!

[Mark_T]

We did this at a time when we couldn't sail the lake and we actually quite enjoyed the bus trip. We made two stops, one for a bathroom break and a nice spot by a lake with a restaurant and small shop, and a 2nd stop at a rubber plantation where our guide demonstrated how the rubber is collected.

 

Even when you are not in the low water season it is still not always possible to navigate the lake as the period between too low and too high is not all that long...

[gnome12]

Ama no longer even suggests that you will sail across Tonle Sap. Their itinerary is very clear that you will be bused. I went in early November. The bus trip wasn't too bad.

 

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[orchide-blue21]

Thanks for your advice! Is the bus ride really about 6 hours? hopefully some nice scenery along the way!

[roaming_kiwi58]

We did this trip in low water season, Christmas 2014. Our bus ride was 7 hours. There were endless road works (the Chinese building new roads) and it was a very rough trip. Extremely dusty, driving through lots of villages.

We had 2 stops. The first was at a spider farm at Skun. There were lots of complaints because there were only some squat toilets. We had another stop about 2.5 hours before reaching Siem Reap, which was slightly more civilised. A lot of people complained about this trip, particularly because most of us had not been warned we would likely not be able to sail across Tonle Sap.

This was 3 years ago, so hopefully the road has improved since then, making for a much smoother trip! It is now also more widely advertised that usually the sailing across Tonle Sap is not possible.

We still had a great trip - loved Cambodia, Angkor Wat, the marvellous hotel in Siem Reap (the Sofitel). Would have loved to have stayed longer.

[ewizabeff]

I found our bus ride to be very comfortable, and it only took four hours. We also stopped to learn about the rubber trees.

[Host Jazzbeau]

I found our bus ride to be very comfortable, and it only took four hours. We also stopped to learn about the rubber trees.

 

When we cruised by the Lorelei rock we were serenaded with Fischer-Dieskau singing the Lorelei song. Did this stop include Frank Sinatra?

;p

[vada_9]

We cruised with Heritage line in 2010 - but in the opposite direction in early August - start of the wet season - It was still low water. We had 2 buses between the guests so plenty of room to spread out. We made 3 stops - first at a marble carving village, where we met the buses coming the other way from previous cruise and local guides came on with individual prepacked picnic boxes. Didn't get out of the bus here as it was a quick changeover, but could see all the carvings as it was done on the roadside. 2nd stop had a large clean toilet block and cafe/gift shop. 3rd stop was at Spider village with a market and local toilet. Some folks didn't leave the bus because of the spiders. The local children were selling fruit and would put a tarantula on your chest. We were dropped off then transfered by tuk tuk the last kilometer to the riverbank where boat was moored at the silver smith village. We thought it was an interesting day seeing the country side.

[orchide-blue21]

Thanks everyone! I'm feeling a lot more comfortable with the bus ride now although I am hoping that any road works have been completed since December 2014!

[gnome12]

I did this in early November and I don't remember any particular road works. AMA had 2 stops; the first at a big shopping place (with nice washrooms) and the second for lunch (box lunches had been provided by the hotel in Siem Reap) at a spot behind a market (where you could, if you wish, try eating bugs and spiders). Not as nice washrooms.

[orchide-blue21]

Thanks for the info on the spiders! I think I might pass on that one...and good to know you didn't encounter any roadworks. All the roadworks are in Sydney now I think - everywhere, everyday.