Vietnam's largest city and port, Saigon recently celebrated her 300th Anniversary. Rebuilt by the French who colonized Southern Vietnam in 1859 there is still a very French atmosphere with tree lined boulevards and fine classical buildings. Of particular interest are the Notre Dame Cathedral and old Post Office in the city centre. The Reunification Palace, or former President's Palace, was captured by communist tanks that crashed through the gates in 1975. Also of interest are the National History Museum and the famous Chu Chi tunnels (64 km from Saigon) where the Viet Cong had their headquarters during the war.

The hub of the Delta, we visit the Vinh Trang Buddhist temple and then cross the river to visit the Con Phung or Phoenix Island planted out with exotic fruit trees. We explore these island backwaters by local canoe.

Floating market where hundreds of motor boats and sampans converge from the surrounding delta area. We explore by motor boat deep into the countryside off the Song Hau (river) visiting flower farms.

Here we will visit the Kh'leng Khmer temple with its rich decorative carvings; the Chau Dat Set Chinese temple; the Chau Doi or Bat Pagoda with fine mural paintings.

We explore this French style colonial town with many old colonial buildings. We travel by coach to the Nui Sam mountain with its Buddhist shrines and for and excellent view of the surrounding rice plains and to the distant hills. Overnight Chau Doc. At the base of the hill we visit the Indian-style Tay An pagoda with its exquisite statuary.

The capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh retains a Frenchified charm despite its violent past. The crumbling colonial architecture makes an attractive backdrop to lively cafes and the redeveloped river corniche is full of life and fun. The city has several impressive wats (temple-monasteries), including Wat Ounalom (headquarters of the Cambodian Buddhist patriarchate), Wat Phnom (the hilltop pagoda which gave the city its name) and the newly painted Wat Lang Ka. Pride of place goes to the spectacular Silver Pagoda, one of the few places in Cambodia where artifacts embodying the brilliance and richness of Khmer culture were preserved by the Khmer Rouge. The National Museum is another highlight, with outstanding displays of Khmer crafts. The Royal Palace where King Sihanouk resides has splendid throne rooms and a cast iron pavilion, once used for the opening of the Suez Canal, gifted to the King of Cambodia by Napoleon III. There are fine mural paintings dating from the 19th century at the Royal Palace.

At the Killing Fields of Choeung, just 15km South-West of the city centre, 17,000 people were killed. More than 8000 skulls, arranged by sex and age, are visible behind the glass panel of the Memorial Stupa, which was erected in 1988. Prior to their murder, the victims had been detained at the prison known as S-21, housed in the Tuol Svay Prey High School. Today, the Tuol Sleng Museum serves as testament to the the crimes of the Khmer Rouge.

This area is as far north as we can navigate on a vessel of the RV Mekong's size. Here we are downstream of the great falls that straddle the Lao-Cambodia border which renders further passage upstream impossible. This is an area well known for river dolphins. We will explore remote river villages which have had little exposure to tourism.

This is the great lake of Cambodia and over 150km in length. We stop to explore a fishing village on the water's edge. Here bird life is profuse and in the midst of the lake one can not even see the shores. There is a great stillness and tranquility on the Tonle lake. We moor overnight in the midst of the lake. There are a number of floating fishing villages on the lake that we plan to visit.

We embark/disembark at the Siem Reap and transfer to/from hotel by a combination of motor launch and coach. Siem Reap is the nearest town to Angkor with all the main hotels and international flights to/from Siem Reap International Airport.