Southern Vietnam And Northwestern Cambodia 9 Days - Viet International Travel and Trade Co., Ltd

You will be welcomed by ViTravel’s tour guide and driver at Tan Son Nhat International Airport and be transferred to the city center for check-in your hotel. Free at own leisure to explore the bustling city.

Overnight in Ho Chi Minh city.

Breakfast is served at your hotel.

8:00 AM: meet our tour guide at your hotel lobby and we visit highlights of Ho Chi Minh city.

Start your tour with The Reunification Palace, used to be residence of the President of the Republic of Vietnam. In 30 April 1975, the when North Vietnam soldier set foot inside this building with red flag on hand, the whole world knew that Vietnam war was end.

Next stop is War Remnants Museum, on the way stop to visit Notre Dame Cathedral and Old Post Office, 2 most famous and oldest of classical French colonial architecture construction was built more than 100 years ago. War Remnants Museum with many photographs from both Vietnam and US sources; US military vehicle like tanks, jet, booms display outside.

Lunch is served at a local restaurant.

Afternoon, we continue city tour by discover eastern side of the city. Giac Lam Pagoda, the oldest one in Ho Chi Minh City with huge Buddha statue system which was built on 1774. Then ride to Cho Lon (Big Market) and Thien Hau Pagoda which located inside China Town, it’s a place of great historical and cultural importance many of temples, pagodas in surrounding area. Before the tour ends, we stop over for shopping at Ben Thanh Market in city center. Overnight in Ho Chi Minh city. 

After breakfast, you will be picked up at 8:00 am to drive through archetypal southern Vietnamese countryside heading towards the Tay Ninh Province. Upon arrival, we visit the Cao Dai Holy See temple where the followers of this religion practice a unique religious blend of all the major faiths of the world. The temple is dominated by the all-seeing eye and is an architectural wonder due to its influence from contributing religions. The daily service is impressive where worshippers wear robes of different colours denoting their function and status and kneel in blocks whilst they pray and perform complex rituals. Moving on, we have scheduled a special lunch of the local cuisines in a popular local eatery for your taste of Tay Ninh.

After lunch, we drive to the incredible Cu Chi tunnel, a 250 km underground tunnel system which was created manually by Vietnamese resistance fighters often known as Viet Cong during their long struggle for independence. Also on display are various mantraps and the remains of an American tank, as well as numerous bomb craters made by 500-pound bombs, dropped by B52 bombers. After this fascinating visit, we drive back to Saigon for your last night.

Free evening and overnight in Ho Chi Minh city.

After breakfast at the hotel, we leave the bustling city of Saigon behind us and depart for the Mekong Delta known to local as ‘Vietnam’s biggest rice basket’.

Upon arrival at Hung Vuong pier in Ben Tre, we embark a boat to cruise along Ben Tre River, a tribute to the Mekong. With stops at the brickfield to see how bricks are made by hand and a coconut candy home factory located along the canal where we witness how to make these local delicacy. You will then have the opportunity to taste bee honey tea at a local honey farm and a variety of tropical fruit that grow abundantly in the orchards of the Mekong Delta. You can then walk or cycle through the coconut groves and green rice paddies to soak up and relax in the tranquil countryside atmosphere.

After lunch at a local restaurant, we will take a trip on small rowing boats through a maze of waterways lined by two rows of palm trees. We cruise back to the pier and disembark for a drive back to Ho Chi Minh. Relax and overnight at your hotel in Ho Chi Minh.

Breakfast is served at your hotel.

Time is free until our driver meet you for a drive back to airport in Ho Chi Minh for flight to Siem Riep. Upon arrival, our guide and driver will meet and transfer you to hotel in city center for check-in.

After lunch on your own cost, we will visit the Roluos Group which served as the capital of Indravarman I (reigned 877-89), are among the earliest large, permanent temples built by the Khmers and mark the beginning of Khmer classical art. Preah Ko erected by Indravarman I in the late 9th century dedicated by the King to his ancestors in 880. Bakong the largest and most interesting of the Roluos group temples, with his active Buddhist monastery just to the north of the east entrance. Lolei built on an islet in the center of a large reservoir (now rice fields) by Yasovarman I, the founder to the first city at Angkor.

Overnight in Siem Reap.

Breakfast is served at your hotel.

In the morning after breakfast, we visit the most famous of all the temples on the plain of Angkor: Angkor Wat. The temple complex covers 81 hectares and is comparable in size to the Imperial Palace in Beijing. Its distinctive five towers are emblazoned on the Cambodian flag and the 12th century masterpiece is considered by art historians to be the prime example of classical Khmer art and architecture. Angkor Wat's five towers symbolize Meru's five peaks - the enclosed wall represents the mountains at the edge of the world and the surrounding moat, the ocean beyond.

After lunch at a local restaurant on your own cost, we visit the South Gate , the ancient capital of Angkor Thom (12th century), Bayon Temple (unique for its 54 towers decorated with over 200 smiling faces of Avolokitesvara), the Royal Enclosure, Phimeanakas, the Elephants Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King. Sunset at Angkor Wat. Back to your hotel to relax.

Overnight in Siem Reap.

Morning after breakfast, we travel to Banteay Srei temple (10th century) which is regarded as the jewel in the crown of Classical Khmer Art. Our next destination is Ta Prohm - one of the area's most beautiful temples. Ta Prohm has been relatively untouched since it was discovered and retains much of its mystery.

In the afternoon, we continue our temple visits to Preah Khan. Built by the King Jayavarman VII, Preah Khan is, like Ta Prohm, a place of towered enclosures and shoulder hugging corridors. Unlike Ta Prohm, however, the temple of Prea Khan is in a reasonable state of preservation and ongoing restoration efforts should maintain and even improve this situation. Neak Pean, a fountain built in the middle of a pool (representing the paradisiacal Himalayan mountain-lake), Ta Som and Banteay Samre, built in the third quarter of the 12th century. It consists of a central temple with four wings preceded by a hall and accompanied by two libraries, the southern example remarkably well preserved. Two concentric walls enclose the ensemble.

After breakfast at hotel, we drive south to visit the floating village of Chong Khneas, located 10km from Siem Reap.

Arrival there, we will take an excursion in a traditional wooden boat on the Tonle Sap Lake, the "Great Lake" of Cambodia, one of the largest in Asia.

After lunch on your own cost at a local restaurant, we visit "Les Artisans d'Angkor - Chantiers Ecoles" of Siem Reap and time at leisure at a local market before back to hotel for your last night in Cambodia.

This evening, enjoy Dinner with Apsara Dance Show. No visit to Cambodia is complete without at least a quick glimpse of women performing the ancient art of Apsara dance, as depicted on the walls of Angkor’s temples. Wearing glittering silk tunics, sequinned tops (into which they are sewn before each performance to achieve the requisite tight fit) and elaborate golden headdresses, they execute their movements with great deftness and deliberation, knees bent in plié, heels touching the floor first at each step, coy smiles on their faces. Every position has its own particular symbolism – a finger pointing to the sky, for instance, indicates “today”, while standing sideways to the audience with the sole of the foot facing upwards represents flying.

After dinner, we transfer back to your hotel to relax. Overnight in Siem Reap.

Breakfast is served at your hotel.

Free morning at your own leisure until the transfer to the airport for your flight departure.

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