Mekong River is one of the longest rivers in all over the world. Especially, it flows through both Vietnam and Cambodia, so you are able to discover the two countries by boat on this river. You can take a boat from My Tho, Vietnam to Cambodia in order to admire the scenery along the riverside of the Mekong River: bustling floating markets, bamboo houses and local people working on rice fields.
Tourists can take a taxi or bus from Ho Chi Minh City to My Tho harbor, and almost wooden cruise boats here have modern equipment and facilities. Tourists can stretch out on the broad to admire green fields, white sand, coconut palms, houses floating on the river, small children swimming.
Mekong River
Source: Luxury Cruise Mekong
On the first night of the trip, the boat is often parked in Cai Be in order to be able to visit Cai Be floating market on the next early morning. The boat owner usually prepares small boats with full safety life jackets for tourists to assured of floating among the busy boats exchanging and trading. Depending on the schedule, tourists can visit the orchard garden, craft workshop, or biking along rice fields. After that, you can sail a wherry through the canals along coconut water to receive the welcome from the locals, and the children on both riversides made many foreign tourists excited. On this journey, you also have a chance to learn more about Long Xuyen, Sa Dec, which is the background is a famous novel: Lover – Marguerite Duras.
Floating Market
Source: World Travel Guide
Arriving in Chau Doc, you will have a sweeping view of a peaceful border city with Cambodia. Seeing is not enough, many foreign tourists are interested in becoming cyclo drivers, but only a few people succeed. When the boat reaches the Vinh Xuong border gate, the staff of the boat will work with the immigration department of Viet Nam and Cambodia to make exit procedures for tourists.
Continuing down the Mekong River on about four hours, we arrived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The time stopping here will provide many interesting moments for you. The city has a typical architecture of Khmer people, French street with bustling life along the banks of Mekong River. When the afternoon is falling, it creates a peaceful feeling about the simple life. Tourist can visit a unique market here: Insect Market, which sells many kinds of food made from insects.
Skun market – Insect market
Source: Lonely Planet
From June to December is the rainy season, the water level in Tonle Sap is deep enough for the boats to run to Siem Reap: the city of temples. Angkor is a massive architectural complex covering an area of 200km2, located in the northwestern of Cambodia. The mystery and magnificence of this complex have surprised a lot of people. Angkor Thom is a large ancient temple with unique sculptures and patterns, standing by the cultural and developmental of Khmer history. Bayon Temple has a special architecture: 4-sided with a mysterious smile, Elephant Square, Palace of the King in the 12th century, etc. Besides that, climbing Bakheng hill to watch the sunset behind the great Angkor Wat temple is an unforgettable memory to travelers.
Angkor Wat Temple
Source: WanderingTrader
A week floating on Mekong River passed quickly. Shared meals, happy moments at the bar, taichi practice or yoga on the deck, chatting while sunbathing, etc. all make everyone closer and become beautiful memories. If you are a newbie traveler, do not worry because exploring the two countries on this charming and interesting river is provided by many local travel agencies, learn more here.
