Vietnam/Cambodia Day 9: Last Mekong glimpses

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.