Mekong Bike & Boat Adventure

We’ll meet at our pre-designated hotel where you can get acquainted with your fellow adventurers on a walking tour. Exploring the city on two feet you’ll learn about Saigon’s history and architecture, all the while discovering more about local life. Along the way, we’ll have the opportunity to taste some local specialties, such as Vietnamese coffee and chocolate.

After lunch in a special, floral setting, we take a 2 hour transfer to reach the port at the north-eastern end of the Mekong Delta where we board the charming ship, the Tom Tiou 2 and become acquainted with our delightful crew.

Today you’ll have the option to choose between a morning ride and afternoon on the ship, or morning on the ship and afternoon ride… unless you want to try both! Our morning ride takes us through the busy floating villages and river commerce of My Tho, and ends at a local home for a traditional Vietnamese lunch.

If you choose to pursue the afternoon ride, we’ll cycle along towards Cai Be: another town built on a mix of land and water. This village is full of friendly children, so be prepared to stop and smile or wave at kids biking to school in their blue and whites. Our ship anchors near Cai Be so we can enjoy a flavorful Vietnamese meal in town.

Again today you have the option to choose whether or not to ride in the morning, afternoon, or both. The morning cycling route takes us along the riverbanks from Cai Be to the pleasant colonial town of Sa Dec, where we’ll devour lunch before boarding the ship again.

Should you choose the afternoon ride, you’ll saddle up on your bike and pedal through narrow, shaded paths past locals hard at work growing flowers, clay brick, and transporting a wide variety of colorful fruits and veggies to the market. Our ride ends near the busy city of Cao Lanh, then we board the boat again to stop near the Chau Doc canal for the night.

It could be said that we saved the best for last. The last day in Vietnam that is. We come ashore on a small island just below the border and spend the morning riding through the small communities and farmland. This island feels different to other parts of the Delta, because there are very few cars and the houses are more traditional in appearance, made from wood and on low stilts to protect from the occasional flooding. We farewell most of the Vietnam support team and then sail for the boarder where, after some brief formalities, we cruise onward into Cambodia and drop anchor with the lights of Phnom Penh visible.

Koh Dac, also known as Silk Island, is a small island close to Phnom Penh that is well-known as the home of silk weaving. Local women practice this traditional activity on looms under their raised houses, and we’ll have a chance to learn about the process of how silk is made as we cycle around this piece of land. We’ll head back to the boat for lunch. In the afternoon, we will dock so you can explore the riverside area of the city on foot at your leisure. We will push out into the river again before sunset for our final night aboard.

As the sun rises to its post in the sky, our ship will arrive at Phnom Penh. The capital of Cambodia is an interesting place. Little more than a collection of shacks along the river when the French arrived, it was quickly designed with a grid-style layout and lined with beautiful colonial buildings such as the Central Market which has recently been restored.

The city was forcibly evacuated when it fell to the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s and thus ensued a period of decay that continued through the early years of re-population. In the late nineties and early 2000s as the country started to get back on its feet, the city had a shattered charm to it with many still-vacant buildings and creaking infrastructure.

We will check out of the ship after breakfast and explore this dynamic city with a multi-modal tour, followed by lunch in the city. Then it’s off to the airport for our flight to Siem Reap.

Our tour concludes this morning in Siem Reap with a few last activities to immerse you fully in Cambodian culture. We’ll start with a visit to the Angkor National Museum, dedicated to the preservation of ancient Angkorian architecture and artifacts, then make our way to the APOPO NGO that uses rats to detect landmines, then finish our morning with some of the best coffee in town at Footprint cafe. You will be transferred to the airport in time for departing flights, or feel free to stay and explore this charming little city on your own.