Saturday, February 14, 2026
Overnight, the Jahan moved to the town of Steung Trang to prepare for our travel to Siem Reap and the Angkor temple complex. As is typical for cruises, we had to get off the ship promptly at 8am to allow the crew to prepare for their next cruise. We bid the crew goodbye and boarded buses for Siem Reap, about a 4 1/2-hour drive. Along the way, our new local guides pointed out some of the agriculture on the route, including cashews (apparently Cambodia’s number one export, to our surprise) and groves of rubber trees. We also stopped at a roadside rest area where we marveled at some of the unusual snack items that they offered, particularly unusual flavors of potato chips.
Eventually, we arrived at Siem Reap, where we are staying at the Raffles Grand Hotel. It is indeed a grand hotel, in an updated classic style. We were a little earlier than check-in time, so we immediately went to the restaurant for a buffet-style lunch. Our rooms were ready after lunch, so we got cleaned up before our late afternoon excursion to Ta Prohm, the first of several temples we would visit in the area. Ta Prohm is notable for being featured in the movie “Tomb Raider”. It is distinguished by several trees that have grown over portions of the temple, with roots descending the sides of the buildings to the ground. We stopped several times for our guide to take pictures of us with these tree roots.
Dinner was on our own this evening, but neither of us was very hungry after the filling buffet lunch. We met Dave and Jan in the hotel’s Elephant Bar, an elegant cocktail lounge featuring an extensive gin selection. I had their featured gin and tonic, while Kenna had a Singapore Sling in recognition of Raffles’ origins in Singapore. We split a club sandwich, which was enough food, and headed for bed early. Tomorrow will be an extra early day!
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Friday, February 13, 2026
Today is our last full day aboard the Jahan, as we will be disembarking early tomorrow for our overland trip to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat.
We began the day with a visit to the small village of Angkor Ban, both to get another look at small-town Cambodian life and to view the architecture of the houses, some of which are over 100 years old. We had an opportunity to visit one of the oldest houses and to meet with its owner, and some of our group got to venture inside.
After our walk, we returned to the Jahan for a traditional Buddhist blessing ceremony that was pleasant and spiritual, even though none of us understood what was being said. Those of us who wished to received cotton wrist bracelets that were tied on by one of the monks. This was followed by another presentation by Doug, our historian.
I used the presentation time to select four of my pictures for the group slideshow. This is a tradition on many of these trips to share the best pictures you took with the group and to see those captured by others. Selecting only three or four from the hundreds I had taken was no easy task, but I came up with a reasonable set. Kenna did so with her pictures as well.
After lunch (and time set aside for packing), we visited the town of Kampong Cham to see the Wat Nokor monastery, which is somewhat in the Angkor style we will be seeing in the next few days.
After returning, we had a special farewell-to-the-ship party followed by an extra-elegant dinner in the Jahan’s dining room. We then retreated to our cabin to finish packing and prepare for tomorrow morning’s departure for Siem Reap.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Thursday, February 12, 2026
Today began early with a pre-dawn departure to see a rice field close-up. We experienced yet another mode of transportation today: an oxcart. Kenna and I rode in the back of a cart that was pulled by two cattle and driven by a local resident. It was a bumpy ride but an interesting experience. At the rice field, we learned a bit about rice farming: they get 2 or 3 crops per year in each field, and there are several different strategies for planting and managing the crop. We also saw some fields for growing lotus flowers, an important cultural symbol.
A further oxcart ride took us to the Kampong Tralach Green School. This nonprofit was founded in 2016 to teach English and computer skills to students from elementary through high school. We met at a school assembly, where they sang to us and we also sang for them. We then had a few minutes to meet with some of the students in small groups to give them a chance to practice their English.
We returned to the Jahan, where we had a delayed breakfast followed by a fashion show of Khmer dress. Kenna volunteered to be the female model and was dressed in beautiful fabrics in the local style. This was followed by a presentation on the Tonle Sap river system. Soon after, we were back in Phnom Penh at the confluence of the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers and could see a sharp dividing line between the water from each river.
After lunch, we had a presentation on Cambodia in the 1990s from Doug Crispin, our historian guide, followed by an excursion to a silk-making shop in the town of Prek Bangkong. This was a small, family-run operation covering the entire process from growing the silk worms, harvesting and spinning the silk, and weaving the fabric. Quite a few of the tour members, including us, took advantage of the opportunity to buy some of the fabric.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Wednesday, February 11, 2026
After yesterday’s intense day of touring (both physically and emotionally), today is a lighter touring day. We began with a sunrise photo expedition in Phnom Penh, led by our photography expert, Chris. We had a chance to take some pictures of a Tai Chi exercise along the river and then traveled through a local market area for more pictures of produce and other wares.
Following our return, the Jahan cruised up the Tonle Sap River. Tonle Sap is a tributary of the Mekong, leading northwest of Phnom Penh toward the Tonle Sap Lake, one of the largest in Southeast Asia. The river has the unique characteristic that during the monsoon season it flows in the opposite direction (northward).
During the morning, a local historian gave an extensive talk on Cambodian history, and we were offered another photography class. We then got off the Jahan at the village of Kampong Laeang, where we had a demonstration of the construction of ceramic pots and of harvesting sap from sugar palm trees, which are widely found in the area.
The Jahan then began its cruise southward on the Tonle Sap River, back toward Phnom Penh.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Tuesday, February 10, 2026
After a relatively leisurely day yesterday, we were warned that today would be long and intense.
After breakfast, we began with on-ship immigration formalities and a short briefing in the lounge, during which the expedition leader held up my daypack! It turns out that one of the other guests had picked it up for me, and I was much relieved.
We began the day’s touring by boarding “cyclos” for a short tour of Phnom Penh. Cyclos are like the rickshaws we rode yesterday, except that they are a single unit, rather than being towed as we were in the rickshaws. They were also more comfortable, having seats with backs. The ride was very pleasant, being early in the day with very moderate temperatures.
We ended our cyclo ride at the Royal Palace for a tour led by our guides, describing the Cambodian monarchy and various buildings on the site. This was followed by a visit to the National Museum that was led by a museum guide. The Museum contains many ancient sculptures that had been looted and have recently been repatriated from other museums and collections around the world.
For lunch, we stopped at Topaz, an elegant fine dining restaurant. Very much in contrast with this, our next stop was at the S-21 Genocide Museum. S-21 is a former high school that was repurposed by the Khmer Rouge as a prison. Some of the cells (brick subdivisions of classrooms) were on display along with many pictures of people who were imprisoned and tortured there. There were also many skulls on display.
Following the Genocide Museum, we had the option of either going shopping or traveling by bus to the killing field at Choueng Ek. We took the much harsher option. Choueng Ek was one of hundreds of killing fields where the Khmer Rouge killed prisoners in the late 1970s. We walked on a boardwalk through the field, protecting the many areas with buried human remains. Many of the executed prisoners were also tortured before being killed or were killed in particularly brutal ways. The prisoners were transported from the city during the night and were executed during the day. It is hard to overstate what a disturbing place this is.
After returning to the Jahan, we were treated to a BBQ buffet dinner and a performance by Cambodian Apsara dancers, which helped to break the mood from the afternoon.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Monday, February 9, 2026
We woke up early today and decided to explore outside our cabin while the Jahan navigated down the narrow Tan Chau canal. It was a beautiful morning, and I found our photography expert, Chris, and one of the other photographer guests on the bow of the ship. I returned with my camera and got some instruction and practice taking pictures of the birds flying alongside.
After breakfast, we were taken, again by sampan, into the town of Chau Doc. We started with a bicycle rickshaw ride through town, each of us getting our own rickshaw and driver. We arrived amid a bustling wet market, where it seemed that every kind of meat and fish imaginable was available for sale. As we walked, this transitioned into a dry market featuring many kinds of vegetables and fruit. We were then guided across a busy street to a Chinese temple, where we observed a wide range of activities from worship to Instagram photo sessions. There were many kids present, who were as cute as usual.
After returning to the Jahan, we were treated to a tour of the crew areas, including the (loud) engine room, galley, laundry, and crew bunk areas. I have often been fascinated by imagining these areas that are usually off-limits to guests. As expected, they were very spartan and somewhat small, but the tour gave me more appreciation for the people serving us on the cruise.
Paddy, one of the naturalists on the tour, gave a presentation on the hydrology of the Mekong River after lunch. This was followed by a cooking class (with accompanying cookbook) that Kenna took, but I decided to rest instead. Meanwhile, we passed from Vietnam into Cambodia.
As usual, the day finished with a cocktail hour, end-of-day briefing, and dinner in the dining room.
As I was getting ready for bed, I realized that I didn’t have my day pack and realized that I probably left it on the rickshaw. I did a bit of analysis and realized that this wasn’t a catastrophic loss, the most significant item being my sunglasses. Still, I was disappointed that I hadn’t kept better track of my things.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Sunday, February 8, 2026
Today we are visiting two islands in the Mekong River, Cai Be and Binh Thanh. After breakfast, we boarded sampans for Cai Be, where we observed the construction of baskets and similar articles using dried water hyacinths that grow extensively on the Mekong. We then toured a fruit farm and had an opportunity to sample several native fruits, ranging from the familiar (pineapple) to the exotic (durian).
From there, we went to a facility making a variety of items from rice: rice paper, distilled rice wine, and puffed rice.
After lunch, we had a short talk on iPhone photography by Chris “Cookie” Cook, the photo instructor on the ship. We then departed for Binh Thanh Island, a community that focuses on weaving mats for a variety of uses, primarily flooring. Along the way, our sampan took a route through many fish farms on a canal paralleling the Mekong, where our guide explained the fish farming industry and its economics. This was followed by a meeting with several village elders who described the town’s history and issues.
Upon returning to the ship, we had the usual cocktail hour and dinner. Since Kenna and I were both tired, we opted not to attend the evening movie, “The Quiet American”. We will likely watch it when we return home.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Saturday, February 7, 2026
Day 3 began early. We packed, ate breakfast, checked out of our hotel, and then took buses to the Saigon River (just a few blocks). There we boarded speedboats to take us up the river to Cu Cha, a journey of a little under two hours. Cu Cha is the site of many tunnels used by the Viet Cong during the war, where the tunnels and related facilities can be visited by the public.
The tour began with a small, leaf-covered tunnel opening that one of our fellow travelers climbed into, showing the ease with which the tunnel openings could be concealed. As we walked around, we were shown some of the scary booby-traps used against our soldiers, and facilities like ordnance-making factories, classrooms, kitchens, and medical facilities, all of which were well concealed. We were also given the opportunity to crawl through one of the tunnels, which was definitely not for large or claustrophobic people.
We then returned to Saigon by speedboat and had lunch at a restaurant close to our hotel. We then reboarded the buses for our journey to My Tho to board our home for the next several days, The Jahan. Traffic was, as usual, terrible. We had planned to stop at a temple before boarding the ship, but that was canceled due to schedule (another temple visit will be added later).
Upon reaching the Jahan, we were quickly welcomed and shown to our cabins. The ship is beautifully decorated in a classic style, reminiscent of the 1930s, with rich dark woodwork throughout the ship. Our room is comfortable, although there is less storage space for clothes than we are accustomed to from previous Lindblad ships.
After a short safety and orientation briefing, we moved to the upper deck for drinks and snacks and to watch our first sunset from the ship. This was followed by a buffet dinner and a short documentary, “Vietnam’s Enigma: Ho Chi Minh”, shown in the ship’s lounge.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Friday, February 6, 2026
After a wonderful buffet breakfast this morning, we started with a welcome and a briefing about Vietnam from Mike Tatarski, an ex-pat journalist who has lived in Vietnam for 15 years, giving us a top-level overview of Vietnam’s industry and economy and answering our questions, particularly about how Vietnam’s seemingly capitalist economy fits with its official Communist political system.
We then boarded buses to visit several local landmarks, including the Reunification Palace, Central Post Office, and Bitexco Tower. The Reunification Palace, formerly the Presidential Palace during the Vietnam War, was the site of the fall of Saigon in 1975. Its decor is a fine example of mid-century modern architecture and furnishings, as it was rebuilt in the 1960s following a bombing attack.
The Central Post Office looks like a train station with a large clock on the front. In addition to the usual postal counters, much of the inside contained various souvenir vendors for the large tourist trade (including ourselves). Kenna and I managed to pick up a few of the items we try to pick up when visiting a new place: A pin for Kenna’s hat, a flag for Jim, and a postcard for our daughter, Celeste.
We took the bus to the Bitexco Tower to see Saigon from its observation deck. The deck is approximately two-thirds of the way to the top, so it wasn’t absolutely the highest vantage point, but it was plenty high enough to get an excellent view of the city. One of the unique aspects of Bitexco Tower is the helipad that extends from the side of the tower just above the observation level. With wind currents and such, it seems like it would take extra skill for a helicopter pilot to land there.
Afterwards, we returned to the hotel for a break and joined Dave and Jan for lunch at a nearby place serving banh mi sandwiches. The sandwiches were quite enjoyable, especially once Kenna and I removed the coriander (cilantro) from ours.
In the afternoon, we took the bus to the War Remnants Museum. This museum shows the Vietnam War (what they call the American War) from the Vietnamese point of view. The museum was quite crowded, making it difficult to see much during the limited time we had there, and many of the pictures shown were quite graphic. Fortunately, Kenna and I prepared for the trip by watching Ken Burns’ Vietnam documentary series, so we knew what to expect. We had seen much of this before so were able to speed through many of the rooms.
Later on, we were taken to a water puppet show. Water puppet shows are a Vietnamese tradition, depicting traditional cultural scenes. The stage for the show is a pool of milky white water, with the puppets appearing either from behind a curtain or sometimes popping out of the water. The many puppets are controlled by puppeteers behind the curtain who manipulate the puppets via long poles. The skill required to manipulate the puppets to tell a story and keep them from tangling with each other was remarkable.
In the evening, we had a group dinner at Xu, a nearby restaurant. The dinner was a tasting menu of several small dishes, which was a good introduction to Vietnamese cuisine. However, service was a little slow with our large group.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Thursday, February 5, 2026
After passing through customs, we were met by Jayden, a representative from Lindblad Expeditions. He coordinated with a driver to take us to our hotel, the Park Hyatt Saigon. Along the way, he gave us some orientation to the city and practiced his English along the way. He also told us that he had written a summary of the Vietnam (American) war from the Vietnamese point of view, which he sent me on WhatsApp to review.
The Park Hyatt is a gorgeous hotel, situated amid an interesting shopping district and across the street from the Opera House. We arrived about 11 am, got settled, and reviewed the itinerary that had been left for us. Later, we went to the lobby bar for a small lunch, then visited the Lindblad desk in the hotel to say “hi” and see if there was anything else we needed to do right away (there wasn’t).
Lindblad offered an excursion to Ben Thanh, a local market, for those of us who arrived early. The market was like others we had visited in other countries: crowded, with a wide variety of items we really weren’t interested in. Nevertheless, it was a good opportunity to explore, catch something to drink, and perhaps meet some of our fellow travelers.
Traffic in Saigon is insane, discouraging us from walking around as usual. Nevertheless, we wanted to be outside to help recover from jet lag. Fortunately, Kenna noticed a Muji store and a Uniqlo on the same block as the hotel, so we were able to visit those without crossing any streets.
Dave and Jan, who had taken a pre-trip excursion to Hanoi and other places in Vietnam, had a delayed flight from Hue and were further delayed by Saigon traffic. After they arrived and settled, we had a very pleasant Italian dinner with them at the Refinery Restaurant across the street from the hotel.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.