Day 1: Fly from Bangkok/Vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia
If you fly from Bangkok/Vietnam to Cambodia, arriving in the afternoon, we’ll transfer to your hotel for checking in. Then you will visit the Khmer artwork at the National Museum which shows you many very beautiful Khmer artifacts that were collected from the other places all over Cambodia, especially from Angkor Wat for save keeping in this Museum. After the tour we will drive you to the river front where you can have dinner at the local restaurant (on own account)
Day 2: Explore Phnom Penh – Royal Palace, Genocide Tuol Sleng Museum & Killing Field
Today in the morning you we will visit the Royal Palace, you will learn about the brutal Pol Pot of Khmer Rouge regime by visiting a genocide prison museum, Russian Market and then lunch at the local restaurant. After lunch we will continue to the Killing Fields Memorial where many thousands of victims were killed after the questioning.
Day 3: Phnom Penh to Siem Reap by overland
We will travel overland through Kampong Thom Province, stopping en route at Skoun district for the happy house and over there you will see the local people selling all type of fruits and typical food for the travelers who pass by (Pineapples, Grapefruits, as well as cashew nuts, tarantulas, crickets, frogs and beattle bugs) etc, a stone carving village, then continue for lunch at Prey Pros restaurant of Kampong Thom Province. After arriving in Siem Reap this afternoon we will drive you around for city tour and then check in at your hotel. Dinner on own.
Day 4: Cruise Tonle Sap Lake, Banteay Srei temple
After breakfast, this morning we’ll venture out into the Cambodian countryside to experience the country’s everyday life and recent history. We’ll stop to visit basket weaving village of Krabei Riel, you’ll experience the water buffalo cart ride throuhg rice field and then depart for a boat ride to the Floating Village on Tonle Sap Lake. This gives us a chance to glimpse a bit of the life of Cambodia’s river people. Floating fishing villages sprawl across the lakefront and everything is gliding by on the water, thatched-roof houses on wooden poles. Commerce goes on all across the water, women selling fruits and vegetables from a sampan, a skiff full of firewood, and fishermen selling their catch. The people who live on the water have tied their lives to the lake’s cycles, and are constantly on the move as the water level rises or recedes throughout the year.
Tonle Sap means fresh water sea, and indeed this is one of the world’s geographical wonders as well as the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. When the rains begin here in June and July, the Mekong River begins to rise, but instead of flooding its own banks it begins to push the waters of the Tonle Sap at Phnom Penh northward, reversing the river’s flow. The waters of the Tonle Sap River then flood the lake, increasing its size tenfold and flooding the surrounding forests and fields, leaving behind fertile silt for rice cultivation. In October, after the monsoon season has passed, the lake drains and the river returns to its southern flow. If you are a birder, this is a world-renowned habitat for shorebirds. Return to town for lunch on own
After lunch, this afternoon you’ll visit to Banteay Srei, one of the oldest and most beautifully preserved temple sites in Cambodia. Built in 967 AD, Banteay Srei means “Citadel of Women,” and it is recognized as a tribute to the beauty of women. The structures here have been carved in painstaking detail out of pink sandstone. Amazingly, the detail is as intricate as a woven tapestry, a testament to the craft of the original artisans and to the devoted conservation of generations of Cambodians to this site, set like a gem in a seemingly enchanted forest, about 20 miles from Angkor, it is famous for its delicate carvings, wonderful state of preservation and small size in relation to the other Angkor temples. This tour also includes a visit to a village that produces palm sugar, an ingredient used widely in Southeast Asian cooking. We’ll meet the farmers who harvest this natural sweetener and have the chance to participate in part of the process of making it. Then we continue to Pre Rup Temple and lunch at the local restaurant.
Day 5: Explore Angkor, Watch sunset from Angkor
After breakfast your local guide will take you into the heart of ancient Angkor, a holy city that took centuries to build and whose scale is still breathtaking today—it sprawls across an area of roughly six by sixteen miles. The Khmer aristocrats who built the temples and monuments here between AD 800-1200 were motivated by their Hindu and Buddhist beliefs.
You’ll begin at the South Gate of Angkor Thom, the capital city of Khmer rulers. You’ll see both Bayon and Ta Prohm, and make brief stops at Baphoun and the Elephants Terrace, where amazing bas-reliefs depict the huge beasts almost life-size. At the nearby Terrace of the Leper King, equally intricate wall carvings depict rank after rank of court attendants to mystical rulers. You conclude your explorations of Angkor’s most notable features with a tour of the Ta Prohm Temple.
Afterward, you will return to the hotel and lunch own
Later, you’ll visit Angkor Wat (whose name means simply “City of temple”) and wait for the sunset, the most opportune moment for seeing this masterpiece of Khmer architecture. Angkor Wat is a large pyramid temple, built between AD 1113 and 1150, surrounded by a great moat 570 feet wide. Note the bas-relief carving throughout the temple. Who knows what you might feel as you stand in the courtyard of this temple whose towers represent Mount Meru, the center of the universe. Tonight you enjoy dinner on own at a local restaurant.
Day 6: Explore temples – Rolous group and grand circuit
Breakfast at your hotel, you’ll visit the temple complex of Rolous group – Preah Ko, Bakong, Lo Lei, which was build in the early of nine century in bricks, sand stones, laterites stone and stucco for dedicated to the Hindu gods. Then continue to Prasat Krovan and Banteay Kdei Temples before lunch. After lunch we’ll visit to the temple of Preah Khan, was built by King Jayavarman VII in the late twelve century for dedicated to his farther and also served as the Buddhist temple and University in that period, visit Neak Poan which was served as the Public hospital for all people wash the sin away, Easter Mebon temple in the middle of Yasotatada reservoir that you will see the best preserved of elephant status still standing and then continue to Pre Rup temple for watching sunset view and the surrounding area. Return to your hotel
Day 7: Explore Beng Mealea – Koh Ker group – Peoung Kom Nou & O’ Thmor Darbb
We will pack lunch boxes for visiting all these temples due to the ruins locate a bit far from Angkor complexes – Beng Mealea is a spectacular sight to behold. It’s one of the most mysterious temples at Angkor, as nature has well and truly run riot here. Built to the same floor plan as Angkor Wat, exploring this titanic of temples is Angkor’s ultimate Indiana Jones experience. Built in the 12th century under the King Suryavarman II (r 1113-150) for dedicated to the Hindu gods. Koh Ker was one of the Capitals of Khmer Empire during the reign of King Jayavarman IV (r 928-942). There are many remarkable religious buildings in Koh Ker Group. There are more than 30 major ruins in this complex such as – Prasat Thom, Prasat Pram, Rohal, Prasat Neang Khmao, Prasat chen, Prasat Linga, and Pasat Dam Rei etc…). After visiting these temples, we will break for a picnic lunch. Then after lunch we’ll return to the hotel and on the way will stop Poeung Kom Nou temple which was carved on the natural rock at the foot of Kulen Mountain in the reign of King Jayavarman II in the early of the 9th century and stop en route at O’Thmor Darbb where the sand stone quarry in the Angkor period for all temples construction. Tonight you will have dinner on own and overnight at the hotel.
Day 8: Siem Reap – Explore Kbal Spean & Phnom Kulen
This morning you will explore both the Natural and cultural sites – Kbal Spean is a spectacularly carved riverbed, set deep in the jungle to the northeast of Angkor. More commonly referred to in English as the ‘River of a thousand Lingas’, the name actually mean ‘Bridgehead’ a reference to the Natural rock bridge at the site. Thousand of Lingas have been elaborately carved into the riverbed, and images of Hindu gods are dotted about the area. Kbal Spean was ‘discovered’ in 1969 by Jean Boulbet. After Kbal Spean visit you will continue your trip to Phnom Kulen Mountain – as it played a significant role in the history of the Khmer Empire, as it was from here in 802 that Jayavarman II proclaimed independence from Java, giving birth to the modern-day Cambodia. There are thousand of Shiva Lingas and reclining Vishnu was carved in the riverbed. Both Places, Kbal Spean & Phnom Kulen are considered by the Khmers to be the most sacred Mountain in Cambodia are very popular places of pilgrimage during weekend and festival. These two streams are formed a holy river is called “Siem Reap River” which was in the Angkor period, the Khmer people who practiced Hinduism believed as the Ganga River and used for purification.
Day 9: Siem Reap – Home via Bangkok, Thailand or Saigon, Vietnam
After breakfast free at leisure we’ll depart to the airport for our flight to Bangkok by PG or to Saigon, Vietnam by VN
