Cambodia, Laos & Vietnam
Indochina in nine days: sunrises over the temples of Angkor and the floating villages of Tonlé Sap, the dawn alms ritual and the elephants of Luang Prabang, a Mekong cruise to the Pak Ou caves — and Hanoi with the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and the water-puppet theatre.
- Day01
Bangkok → Siem Reap
Arrival in Bangkok at 10:00. You may stop over for a night in Bangkok or fly straight on to Cambodia: the flight to Siem Reap leaves at 14:05, takes an hour and ten minutes and lands at 15:15.
In the evening, sundowners on a private gondola cruise past Banteay Kdei, the “Citadel of Cells”, named for the many monks’ cells within the complex. After the cruise, dinner at a characterful local restaurant.
Next morning at 6:30 a tuk-tuk driver — Cambodia’s favourite mode of transport — and a professional guide will be waiting outside the hotel to accompany you through the temples of Angkor.
- Day02
Sunrise in Angkor: Ta Prohm, Ta Keo, Angkor Thom
Greet the sunrise on the steps of the “King’s Baths” — the Srah Srang reservoir within the Angkor complex. An artificial island once stood in the middle of the water where the king could bathe unseen. Watching the sun rise here is one of the most beautiful traditions of these lands.
Then the famous Ta Prohm, deliberately left in the grip of the giant trees that engulfed Angkor for five centuries after its fall. The roots have grown so organically into the architecture that they seem intended; “Lara Croft” with Angelina Jolie was filmed here. After a light breakfast, Ta Keo, a Hindu “temple-mountain” of 975 dedicated to Shiva: from its 50-metre summit you see over the treetops, and an active altar still stands at the top.
In the afternoon, Angkor Thom, the last capital of the Khmer empire, ringed by massive walls and a moat — something like a Kremlin. You enter through the Victory Gate, used only by the king and his family and by armies returning triumphant. Then the Terrace of the Leper King, the Buddhist temple of Preah Palilay and Phimeanakas, the king’s “Celestial Temple”, where legend says the serpent-woman Naga came to him every night. And Bayon, built in the 12th century, whose towers carry more than two hundred stone faces of the Buddha: nowhere within the temple escapes their gaze.
- Day03
Angkor Wat and the Khmer countryside
Today, Angkor Wat — the jewel of Khmer culture and the largest temple in Cambodia. You walk its main galleries, see the sculpture-filled courtyards, reach the central sanctuary and hear the legends of Hindu mythology.
To see only ruins in Siem Reap would be unforgivable. So next comes living Khmer culture, the story of rice and fishing: a journey into countryside closed to ordinary tourists, an ox-cart ride and the West Baray, an artificial reservoir that once fed the irrigation system of Angkor’s rice fields.
- Day04
Tonlé Sap lake, Banteay Srei → Luang Prabang
Tonlé Sap, “Cambodia’s inland sea”, is the largest lake in Indochina — and people live on it. The only stone building is a Buddhist temple on tall stilts; everything else floats and migrates around the lake through the year. Among the boats and floating houses are a few cafés for travellers and even a Catholic church. The locals, in effect, spend their whole lives on the water.
In the afternoon, two celebrated temples: Banteay Srei and Banteay Samré. Banteay Srei, the oldest surviving religious building in Cambodia, is a pink-sandstone temple of airy, almost lace-like carving, set within a lotus-filled moat. Dedicated to Shiva, it is the only temple at Angkor built not by a king but by a private individual — the royal counsellor Yajnavaraha. The hard, fine-grained sandstone allowed patterns so delicate and deep that they look carved in wood.
In the evening, the flight to Luang Prabang, Laos.
- Day05
Luang Prabang: the alms ritual and the temples
Up at five in the morning — the only time to witness one of the most enchanting and timeless scenes in Laos: the alms ritual, when monks in bright saffron robes collect offerings from the faithful. Then back to the hotel for breakfast and a rest.
Later, Wat Visoun of 1513, the oldest working temple in the city, with its Lotus Stupa — more often called the Watermelon Stupa for its shape — which is older still, dating from 1503. Then Wat Mai of 1796, the largest temple in town, with a beautiful five-tiered roof and a gilded relief of the life of the Buddha in the main hall, a model of traditional Luang Prabang architecture.
End the day on Mount Phousi in the centre of town: narrow stone stairs climb from the Mekong side — 410 steps — past traditional statues that form a single religious ensemble on the slopes. The sunset from the top is worth every step.
- Day06
The elephant village and Tad Sae waterfall
A day with the elephants: the whole day at the Elephant Village on the banks of the Nam Khan river, 20 kilometres from town. Then by boat to the Tad Sae waterfall and, if you wish, a swim in its turquoise cascades.
- Day07
The Mekong and the Pak Ou caves → Hanoi
A boat trip up the mighty Mekong to its confluence with the Nam Ou and the Buddhist cave complex of Pak Ou, filled with thousands of Buddha statues and figurines. Along the way, the serene landscapes of rural Laos and the everyday life of the riverbanks.
In the evening, the flight to Hanoi, Vietnam.
- Day08
Hanoi
A sightseeing tour of the Vietnamese capital: the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and Ba Dinh Square, the Presidential Palace, the Temple of Literature and the city’s other landmarks. You see the One Pillar Pagoda: legend says that a thousand years ago the childless emperor Lý Thái Tông dreamt of the goddess of mercy Quan Am seated on a lotus in the middle of a lake, after which a son was born to him — and the grateful father built a pagoda in the shape of a lotus.
In the evening, a performance at the Water Puppet Theatre celebrating the rice harvest.
- Day09
Hanoi — departure
Breakfast, a free morning in the Old Quarter and transfer to the airport. If you wish, extend the journey with a few days on the coast — in Ha Long Bay or on the beaches of central Vietnam.