Indochina Discoverer Itinerary

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Itinerary

Day 1: Hanoi
Your trip starts today with your arrival in Hanoi. No activities are planned until your evening group meeting.


Day 2: Hanoi
After breakfast, we’ll take a half-day walking tour of the city, showcasing some of Hanoi’s most interesting attractions. We’ll begin by visiting the One Pillar Pagoda near the dour, Soviet-inspired mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh. From here we’ll walk to the Temple of Literature, a wonderful name for a wonderful place. Finally we’ll visit the Hoa Lo Prison, probably better known to most of us as the ‘Hanoi Hilton’. The remainder of the afternoon is free for us to wander around town and check out the lifestyles of Hanoi’s people. This evening we board the Reunification Express for our overnight train journey down to Hue.


Day 3: Hue
We reach Hue in the early morning. After disembarking from the train, we’ll take a short spell to refresh in our hotel rooms before mounting our local ‘shopping’ bikes, as they’re known here, and cycling down to the riverside. Here, we’ll place the bikes on board our ‘Dragon Boat’, and enjoy a leisurely cruise up the timeless Perfume River to visit the Thien Mu pagoda, one of the oldest and most significant pagodas in Hue, the religious capital of Vietnam. You have the choice of cycling back into town from here, approximately 8kms, or staying on the boat to head back down river to the Citadel. We can spend a couple of hours exploring Hue’s massive walled citadel and the Forbidden Purple Palace enclosed within. The bikes are ours for the remainder of the day, and you may choose to cycle out to one of the Royal tombs such as the tomb of Emperor Tu Duc (1847-1883), one of the best remaining examples of its kind. Alternatively today, your tour leader may opt to arrange a motorcycle tour of the sights in Hue and some surrounding villages.

Days 4-6: Hoi An - Nha Trang
On Day 4, the morning is at leisure, then we have an enjoyable four-hour drive to Hoi An in the afternoon, through a region of Vietnam that’s blessed with magnificent rural and coastal scenery. Shortly after passing through pretty Lang Co Beach, Highway One begins its winding ascent through Hai Van Pass or, ‘Pass of the Ocean Clouds’. On the other side we drive through the busy streets of Danang and pass by the massive former US airbase that was, in 1968, the busiest airport in the world with all manner of aircraft coming and going in support of South Vietnam’s war effort.After a walking tour of Hoi An, we get to enjoy free time because there’s such a broad choice of things to see and do, and they can all be discovered and experienced without difficulty. We can rent bicycles and set off to explore the surrounding countryside, take a boat trip on the river, relax on the nearby beach, enjoy the wonderful cuisine on offer at some of the town’s numerous cheap cafes or have some clothes made up. . If you’d like to venture further a field, it’s only a short motorcycle trip up the road to Vietnam’s world famous ‘China Beach’ and the adjacent Marble Mountains. If you’d like to learn more about the Kingdom of Champa, the ancient ruins at My Son can be visited inside half a day. Depending on the train schedule, we plan to leave Hoi An on Friday mid-morning and drive back into Danang to then take the day train from here to Nha Trang. (N.B: Vietnam Railways often changes the departure time of this local train, so it may operate as an overnight sleeper instead.


Days 7-8: Nha Trang - Island Cruise
We’ll have plenty of time to worship the sun during our two full days in Nha Trang, and we’ll head out onto the water for the day to cruise around the islands. Bring your towel and swimmers because there’s a stack of time for swimming and snorkelling. At lunchtime our crew will serve up a sumptuous feast of freshly caught seafood and other delights for non-fish eaters. On Sunday evening, we board the Reunification Express for the final time and make our overnight journey to Saigon.



Day 9: Saigon
We wake to the sounds of frenzied activity this morning as our train rolls to a halt at Saigon railway station. Officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City after reunification in 1975, most people still prefer to use the old name Saigon, and they don’t seem to mind if we do as well. Once referred to as the ‘Pearl of the Orient’, Saigon, with its unofficial population nearing 8 million, is Vietnam’s largest city. Our hotel is centrally located and convenient to all of the city’s best restaurants, bars, nightclubs and most interesting sights. Reunification Palace, the War Remnants Museum, Ben Thanh Market, Notre Dame Cathedral and the adjacent Gustav Eiffel designed Central Post Office are all within walking distance of each other. But to make the most of your time, you might like to consider hiring a ‘cyclo’ (bicycle rickshaw) for touring the city sights.

Day 10: Saigon - Cu Chi Tunnels
Take a spare shirt with you this morning because we’re literally going to ‘get down and get dirty’. Our little excursion to the north of Saigon would have been considered risky business indeed 30 odd years ago, but today the peaceful farming communities around the former VC stronghold of Cu Chi Tunnels belie the horrors that took place here during the Vietnam War. We’ll actually be given the opportunity of crawling through a section of the tunnels while we’re here, and learn how the brave men and women of Cu Chi built underground hospitals, kitchens and meeting rooms during their struggle for a unified Vietnam. After lunch back in Saigon, we can spend our last afternoon in Vietnam shopping in the city’s main business district, or take a fascinating cyclo ride through the busy city streets to Saigon’s Chinatown district, Cholon.



Day 11: Phnom Penh
When we look at a map of Indochina, it hardly seems that far at all from Saigon to Phnom Penh, but it’s still going to take us the best part of the day to drive there. Along the way, we pass the place where the young girl, Kim Phuc, was tragically burned with Napalm during the Vietnam/American war. You may be aware of the novel about her life story, “The Girl in the Picture”. Once we reach the border, we say farewell to our Vietnamese tour leader and cross over to pick up our new Cambodian leader. After crossing the Mekong River we drive on to Phnom Penh, arriving mid to late afternoon.

Day 12: Phnom Penh
This morning we travel by cyclo for a sightseeing tour of Phnom Penh to include the Royal Palace and the infamous Tuol Sleng Prison. We then join our bus to visit another reminder of the Khmer Rouge atrocities. Just as horrifying, the Choeung Ek killing fields are situated 15 kilometres southwest of Phnom Penh and an estimated 17,000 people met their death at the hands of the Khmer Rouge here, most clubbed to death to save ammunition. A stupa-like tower of skulls was erected here in 1988 as a reminder of the atrocities that took place. After this sobering morning we visit the Russian Market - a good place to look for clothing or sarongs before having the rest of the day exploring Phnom Penh city by ourselves. There’s plenty to see including the Silver Pagoda, the temple of Wat Phnom, the National Museum and the French Quarter. There are also ‘bargains galore’ waiting to be picked up at another of the city’s most popular markets - the Central Market is where you will find the cities best gold and silver jewellery merchants.



Day 13: Phnom Penh - Siem Reap
We leave Phnom Penh this morning by private bus and make our way to Siem Reap. We follow the Tônlé Sap River passing through fishing villages before crossing over the river and travelling through farming communities. Late this afternoon we catch our first glimpse of what we’ve come here for when we drive out to the magnificent Angkor temple complex to watch the sunset from Phnom Bakheng.




Day 14: Siem Reap (Angkor)
The magnificent Angkor complex of temples is without doubt one of the most astounding archaeological sites in the world. Scattered over an area of 200 square kilometres, only Egypt’s Nile Valley can compare to this vast array of ancient monuments. Our local tour leader will take us on an informative day-long tour of the Angkor complex, visiting the South Gate of Angkor Thom, Bayon, Elephant Terrace, Baphoun, the Royal Enclosure, Phimeanakas, Terrace of the Leper King, Ta Prohm and, of course, fabulous Angkor Wat. Bring plenty of film - you’ll need it! At the end of the day, we return to our hotel in Siem Reap.



Day 15: Siem Reap
Today has been set aside to allow us to do some exploring on our own. We have the option this morning of visiting the rose-coloured Banteay Srei Temple or returning to Angkor to wander through the ruins at leisure. Banteay Srei is located about 30 kilometres north of Siem Reap over a very rough and dusty road and is considered to be the best preserved of all of Cambodia’s temples. But if you are feeling a bit ‘templed-out’ you might like to consider hiring a local guide and going out into the countryside to discover facets of rural life that have changed little since the kings of Angkor ruled over the land. Siem Reap has its own interests and an enjoyable afternoon can be spent wandering around the town, visiting its market, shops and restaurants. You may wish to have a therapeutic massage by the local blind association - a great way to relax after a day or two of exploring!




Day 16: Siem Reap to Bangkok
Just when you thought it was time to relax, we sling our packs (and ourselves) into local mini-vans for an adventurous, and bumpy, four-hour road journey to the Cambodian/Thai border town of Poipet. After we’ve made the crossing and shaken off the dust, we continue on to the Thai border town of Aranya Prathet and stop for lunch. The final leg of our overland journey is made in the relative comfort of our private bus to Bangkok. The drive from Aranya Prathet to Bangkok should take us no more than 4-5 hours.




Days 17-18: Bangkok
We’ll introduce you to some of Bangkok’s most famous sights on a short walking tour, including a visit to the impressive Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha. The remainder of the day is free for us to further explore this vibrant city and the new, elevated Skytrain service now makes it easier than ever to get around the city centre by avoiding the nasty traffic snarls in the streets below. Needless to say, Bangkok is a great place to shop for bargains and the city has a mind-boggling array of exotic restaurants and nightclubs for you to relax in and reflect on your journey. Your tour ends after breakfast on Wednesday morning.

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