Majestic Mekong Cruise

Your journey begins today amid the vibrant bustle of Ho Chi Minh City.

Upon arrival in the city, be met at the airport and transferred to My Tho Port where you will board your boutique river ship, the RV Apsara.

Tonight, enjoy a special Welcome Dinner on board and get to know your crew and fellow travellers. Stay Seven Nights: Mekong River, RV Apsara (L/D)

Visit Cai Be and its surrounds by tender boats as you view local life on the river and along its banks. After, go ashore to see the French Gothic cathedral. You'll then visit a manufacturer of rice paper to learn how it's made. Afterwards, take a boat ride to the charming town of Sa Dec for a guided tour. Voyage by small boat to the old house of Huynh Thuy Le, once the lover of French writer Marguerite Duras, who penned her best-selling novel, The Lover, about their affair. (B/L/D)

Go ashore for a rickshaw tour of Tan Chau, a sleepy town almost untouched by tourism. One of the largest silk-weaving centres in Vietnam, you can observe how silk is woven in the local workshops. After, take a small-boat ride to discover rural life on Evergreen Island. Later, navigate narrow channels by local boats and pass by floating fish farms and stilt houses that defy gravity and lean haphazardly upon each other.

The rest of today is then spent on board. This afternoon, perhaps attend a fruit-carving demonstration or learn the art of creating Vietnamese spring rolls while border formalities are carried out. Cross into Cambodia and cruise overnight towards the capital, Phnom Penh. (B/L/D)

Today begins your exploration of the city of Phnom Penh. After breakfast, learn of the atrocities inflicted upon Cambodians during Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s. Explore the Killing Fields, where you'll find the Memorial Stupa, a glass monument erected in memory of the thousands of Cambodians who lost their lives. You'll also visit Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. After lunch on board, disembark and visit the spectacular Royal Palace, delighting in its dazzling white and gold architecture. Then head to the glorious Silver Pagoda, set on the southern side of the palace complex. (B/L/D)

Travel by coach to Oudong, the former capital of Cambodia, for your unique Insider Experience. Afterwards, you will visit Koh Chen and explore the open-air copperware workshops. Return to the ship and enjoy a free afternoon in fascinating Phnom Penh, or perhaps enhance your time by choosing one of Travelmarvel's select experiences. Options include a tuk tuk ride to uncover the sights and sounds of Phnom Penh, or a trip to gain a greater appreciation of the local beers at the Khmer Beverages. (B/L/D)

Insider Experience: Visit a Buddhist monastery in Oudong where you will have the opportunity to partake in a Buddhist blessing ceremony.

After breakfast, you'll awake in the town of Oknha Tey. Disembark and board a local tuk tuk for a village tour. Discover village life from the local homes to the rice fields and the faces of the friendly locals. Disembark your local transport and continue on foot for a more in-depth exploration of the village. Enjoy lunch on board as the ship sets sail for Angkor Ban. In the afternoon, as you sail along the mighty Mekong, enjoy some time at leisure. (B/L/D)

This morning, enjoy an guided tour of Angkor Ban, a village awash in stories of Cambodia's cultural history, and one of the few traditional villages that survived the Khmer Rouge regime. After lunch, enjoy your Insider Experience. (B/L/D)

Insider Experience: This afternoon you will enjoy an authentic tuk tuk tour of the agricultural island of Koh Pen.

Disembark in Kampong Cham after breakfast in the Mekong Restaurant and transfer to the airport in Siem Reap for your flight home. (B)