Destinations
Vietnam & Cambodia 2019
“Take only memories, leave only footprints.”
– Chief Seattle, Duwamish Tribe
In April 2019, we spent two weeks travelling on a river cruise to Vietnam and Cambodia. We were celebrating our friends milestone birthday during the trip. There were six of us in total and each pair ended up on their own route and we finally converged in Ho Chi Minh City. For us, we travelled through Shanghai where we met up with another group who had left the day earlier.
Shanghai, China
We arrived in Shanghai on April 19th around 7pm. We had left Toronto the day before and the flight took us across the international date line. We flew on China Eastern, an airline we had no previous experience with but our research had shown it was one of the better Chinese airlines. We had found a reasonably good deal on business class seats and we were both pleasantly surprised by the quality of the seats and the service. We’ve included a photo of the menu on the right plus a couple of images of us making ourselves comfortable.
We had already obtained visas for China but the process was still very slow getting through the airport and security. Even pre-pandemic, they were checking passenger temperatures as everybody had to pass through a gate that showed a heat map of each person.
Once through security, we were met by a pre-arranged limo to take us to the hotel as we had no desire to risk getting lost on the subway system. We were meeting our friends Carrie and Christina (the birthday girl) at the hotel and they had decided to start the trip up market so we were staying at the Portman Ritz-Carlton. Check in was very smooth and we met up with our friends at the bar. One comment, drinks at the Ritz-Carlton are not cheap and they don’t really honour the Marriott status as much as other hotels in the chain.
The next day we had arranged for a full day private tour that we had organised through tripadvisor. We booked an option with Sunny Tours that covered all the major areas and was a great way to see a new city. All the stops were great (The Bund, Yu Gardens, Jade Buddha Temple, etc.) but we found the Marriage Market to be the most culturally interesting. The market is a place where parents advertise their children for marriage. The square is full of (mostly) women with umbrellas with cards on them that show their child’s age, height, education, job, income and personality. There was even an international section where a son, who worked for a “top 5” bank in Toronto was on the market (likely without his knowledge).
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam
Our flight to Ho Chi Minh City was fine except for the 1:35am arrival time. We checked into the Renaissance Riverside Hotel at just after 2am. We were delighted with the upgraded room which was a one bedroom corner suite overlooking Trần Hưng Đạo Statue, apparently a 13th century military leader.
Neil and Curtis had already checked in at a much more reasonable time and so the team were finally together. The next morning after breakfast, Neil had arranged a city tour which started at the War Remnants Museum which covers the French colonisation, attempts at independence and the war with the US. The museum is amazing in the way it details the sheer brutality of the Vietnam War. There were many American tourists walking round almost looking stunned by what they were seeing. My most vivid memory is a photograph of Vietnamese soldiers being thrown out of the back of airborne US helicopters but there also many photos of the impact of napalm and Agent Orange on the people and the countrside.
We moved on from there to the Central Post Office, a late 19th century building that is still a working PO but also a tourist attraction partly due to the two large painted maps on the walls.
The other major stop was the Independence Palace otherwise known as the Reunification Palace that was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the war. The original building was destroyed in 1962 and the new palace was completed in 1966. The palace is extensive and is very much as it was from the time of the war.
In the evening, we visited the Saigon Opera House – a building dating back to 1898. We saw the Vietnamese Bamboo Circus which has regular shows at the Opera House that feature storylines about the history of Vietnam and life across the years.
Cruise Day 1 - Embarkation at My Tho, Vietnam
The following morning was the start of our Luxury Mekong & Temple Discovery Cruise. We made our way to the Park Hyatt Saigon which was the official meeting point to drop off our bags and attend a short orientation meeting. We then had some free time before meeting up with the other guests for lunch before travelling down to My Tho, to join the ship, the Scenic Spirit.
The total number of passengers on board was only 68 and they broke everybody up into three groups each with its own tour director. Ours was a guy called Tuan. Prior to the cruise, Kay had completed a food allergy list and even at the first restaurant for lunch, her meal catered for her food issues. They were actually a little too efficient and Stuart also got the same restricted options. It was good to meet some of our fellow guests and we got to chat with a few of them. The majority were from Australia which was unsurprising as it’s an Australian based company.
After lunch, we walked back to the hotel to get onto the coach for the 90 minute trip to the port of My Tho. We had plenty of space as each group had their own coach so most people had their own row of two seats.
When we arrived at the ship, we were met by the senior crew and were greeted by the Captain, First Officer and Main Tour Director along with a number of crew members with refreshing drinks and cold towels – something that was a much anticipated pleasure given the temperatures. We were then escorted into the bar for some drinks and a welcome speech along with an offer to go to spa for a free neck massage before our butler, Ken, came over to us to show us to our suite.
We had upgraded to a Royal Panorama Suite, one of two on board that had their own private terrace area with jacuzzi tub and day beds right at the front of the ship. We had a separate lounge and dining room, walk in dressing room and a bathroom with a tub and separate shower. We’ve included a quick video walk-through on the right. Waiting outside our room were two spa attendants who actually were there to provide us the welcome neck massage in our suite. So, our introduction to the cruise was our butler, Ken, opening up a bottle of champagne whilst we each received excellent massages.
Our suite was huge – around 850sqf so we had plenty of space to unpack. Once we’d done that, we enjoyed the rest of the champagne before heading to the restaurant for dinner with the rest of the group. Dinner was a five course meal (as it was every night) and the service was wonderful. Somehow, the staff in the restaurant memorised everybody’s names and drinks preference on the first night – even if you were seated in a different section.
One thing Kay didn’t figure out until the second night was that she had to ask the server to check with the chef if she needed any changes to the menu. Once this was resolved, Kay really enjoyed the food as it was like she had a personal chef for the cruise.
