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ITINERARY:
Day 1: Veun Khan - Stung Treng - Ratanakiri (L,D)
Customs and immigration formalities at Veun Khan
(Laos-Cambodia border). Welcome by your guide at
Cambodian side and departure by boat to Stung Treng
(1½ hours navigation by speed boat). Note:
Currently it is not possible to obtain Cambodian
visa upon arrival at this border! Guests arriving at
Veun Khan border must apply for Cambodian visa at an
Embassy or Consulate abroad prior to arrival! Arrive
in Stung Treng and lunch at local restaurant.Then,
departure by road to Banlung, capital of Ratanakiri,
nicknamed The Red City because of the omnipresent
laterite (4 hours drive). Check-in at Terres Rouges
Lodge. Dinner and accommodation at Terres Rouges
Lodge (14 rooms only).
Day 2: Ratanakiri (B,L,D)
Breakfast at the Lodge. We head north today, in the
direction of Laos and the village of Taveng. We
first cross the curious extent of volcanic rocks of
Veyrum Plang: a lava field in the forest with a
small waterfall nearby (only in the wet season
though) and what locals call tiger caves. As we go
north to Taveng, we cross a variety of landscapes:
primary forest, clear forest, bamboo forest and
African bush. We stop at a few nice Kroeung villages
located quite far away in the forest. The Kroeung
people have the peculiar custom of erecting bachelor
houses standing on very long bamboo poles. These
houses will remain so till the young man finds a
wife, then they are destroyed. The right time to see
them is usually from February to August. We have
lunch at a small waterfall lost in the forest and we
go on to visiting villages. Dinner and accommodation
at Terres Rouges Lodge.
Day 3: Ratanakiri (B,L,D)
Breakfast at the Lodge. We go in a northwest
direction today, crossing bamboo forests before
reaching the village of Voeune Sai located on the
left bank of the Se San River. The view of the
Chinese village on the other side of the river is
quite pretty. Besides, this place is nearly a
Chinese enclave in Cambodian territory. Most
villagers don’t even speak Khmer. Upstream of the
Se San are a certain number of Tampoun villages that
practice funeral statuary; if it is possible, we
will rent a boat to go to the village of Ka Chaoan
that has superb totems, if not we will reach it by
jeep. Dinner and accommodation at Terres Rouges
Lodge.
Day 4: Ratanakiri - Stung Treng - Kratie (B,L,D)
Breakfast at the Lodge. Early morning, departure by
road to Stung Treng. Lunch at local restaurant.
Then, continuation by road to Kratie. Stop in Sambo
to observe the river dolphins until sunset. Then,
continue to Kratie, a small colonial-style town.
Dinner at local restaurant. Accommodation at Oudom
Sambath Hotel (2-star, best available).
Day 5: Kratie - Kompong Cham (B,L,D)
Breakfast at local restaurant. Departure by car to
Kompong Cham. On the way to Kompong Cham stop at
Chhlong, a small and peaceful village on the Mekong
River Bank with both Khmer and Colonial
architecture. Continue to Chhup, a rubber plantation
first established in the region by the French tire
maker Michelin. Lunch at local restaurant in Kompong
Cham. Tour of Kompong Cham to view examples of
colonial architecture and check in at Mekong Hotel.
Visit the silk-weaving village of Prek Chang Krane.
Visit Wat Nokor with its ancient temple and modern
style pagoda (12th century). Dinner at local
restaurant. Accommodation at Mekong Hotel (2-star,
best available).
Day 6: Kompong Cham - Phnom Penh (B,L,D)
Breakfast at hotel. Depart by car to Phnom Penh via
Preak Kdam. Take the ferry across the Tonle Sap
river. Then, stop at Prek Kdam to visit Kôh Chen, a
small silver handicraft village Drive to Udong where
a picnic lunch will be served. Visit the various
temples and the three large stupas where the ashes
of three former kings are preserved. Continue to
Phnom Penh and transfer to the hotel. Dinner and
accommodation at hotel.
Day 7: Phnom Penh (B,L,D)
Breakfast at hotel. Morning, visit the Victory
Monument, and the National Museum, also called Musee
des Beaux-Arts. A French archaeologist and painter,
Georges Groslier, designed it in Khmer style in
1917. The museum contains a collection of Khmer art
- notably sculptures – from throughout the ages.
Visit the Royal Palace, built by King Norodom 1866
on the site of the old town, and the Silver Pagoda.
Located within the Royal Palace, the Silver Pagoda
is so named because of its floor, which is made up
of 5000 silver tiles. The treasures found include a
solid gold Buddha encrusted and weighing
90kilogramss and a small 17th century emerald and
baccarat crystal Buddha. Lunch at hotel.Visit the
Notorious Tuol Sleng Museum. In 1975 Tuol Svay Prey
High School was taken over by Pol Pot security
forces and turned into a prison known as Security
Prison 21 (S-21). It soon became the largest such
center of detention and torture in the country. More
than 17.000 people held at S-21 were taken to the
extermination camp at Choeung Ek to be executed;
detainees who died during torture were buried in
mass graves in the prison ground. The museum
displays include room after room of these
photographs of men, women and children covering the
walls from floor to ceiling; virtually all the
people pictured were later killed. Visit the Russian
Market (Psah Tuol Thom Pong), a lively outdoor
market where you will find antiquities, silver and
gold jewelry, gems, silk, kramas, stone and wood
carvings, as well as T-Shirts, CDs and other
souvenirs. End your afternoon with the visit of the
Wat Phnom Temple, Phnom Penh's namesake. Dinner at
local restaurant and accommodation at hotel.
Day 8: Phnom Penh - Siem Reap (B,L,D)
Breakfast at hotel.Morning, transfer to Phnom Penh
International Airport and flight to Siem Reap.
Arrive in Siem Reap and transfer to the hotel (rooms
may not be available until the afternoon). In the
morning, visit the most famous of all the temples on
the plain of Angkor until the sunset: 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 five towers symbolize Meru
five peaks - the enclosed wall represents the
mountains at the edge of the world and the
surrounding moat, the ocean beyond. Visit the
antique capital of Angkor Thom (12th century): the
South Gate with its huge statues depicting the
churning of the ocean of milk, the Bayon Temple,
unique for its 54 towers decorated with over 200
smiling faces of Avolokitesvara, the Royal
Enclosure, the Phimeanakas, the Elephants Terrace
and the Terrace of the Leper King and Bayon Temple
(unique for its 54 towers decorated with over 200
smiling faces of Avolokitesvara), until sunset.
Dinner at local restaurant and accommodation at
hotel.
Day 9: Siem Reap (B,L,D)
Breakfast at hotel. Morning, drive to the remote
Beng Mealea temple through the typical Khmer
countryside (60Kms from Siem Reap). There is a lot
to see in the approximately 2½ hours drive as it
takes you through many lively villages and along
kilometers of rice paddies. Explore the long
abandoned temple (11th C), strangled by the jungle.
Lunch box will be provided at the site.Proceed to
the Banteay Srei temple (10th century) regarded as
the jewel in the crown of classical Khmer art. Then
visit Banteay Samre, one of the most complete
complexes at Angkor due to restoration using the
method of anastylosis. The name Samre refers to an
ethnic group of mountain people, who inhabited the
region at the base of Phnom Kulen and were probably
related to the Khmers. No inscriptions have been
found for this temple, but the style of most of the
architecture is of the classic art of the middle
period similar to Angkor Wat. The proportions of
Banteay Samre are splendid. A unique feature is an
interior moat with laterite paving, which when
filled with water must have given an ethereal
atmosphere to the temple. Drive back to Siem Reap.
Dinner at local restaurant and accommodation at
hotel.
Day 11: Siem Reap (B,L,D)
Breakfast at the hotel. In the morning, visit Prasat
Kravan, with unique interior brick sculptures and
the mountain-temple of Pre Rup. Continue your temple
tour with visits to Mebon Oriental, Ta Som, Neak
Pean, a fountain built in the middle of a pool and
representing the paradisiacal Himalayan
mountain-lake. Finally, visit Preah Khan, built by
the King Jayavarman VII and, like Ta Prohm, a place
of towered enclosures and shoulder-hugging
corridors. Unlike Ta Prohm, however, the temple of
Preah Khan is in a reasonable state of preservation
and ongoing restoration efforts should maintain and
even improve this situation. In the afternoon,
transfer to the archaeological site and continue the
temples tour with Srah Srang ("The Pool of
Ablutions"), undoubtedly used in the past for ritual
bathing, Takeo, Thommanon, Chau Say Tevoda and Ta
Prohm, one of the most beautiful temples in the
area, as it has been relatively untouched since it
was discovered and retains much of its mystery. Its
appeal lies in the fact that, unlike the other
monuments of Angkor, it was abandoned and swallowed
by the jungle, looking very much the ways most of
the Angkor temples appeared when European explorers
first stumbled upon them. Dinner at local restaurant
and accommodation at hotel.
Dat 12: Siem Reap - Departure (B,L)
Breakfast at hotel. Visit the floating village of
Chong Khneas, located 10 kilometers south of Siem
Reap. Visit the village and take an excursion in a
traditional wooden boat on the Tonle Sap Lake, the
Great Lake of Cambodia and the largest in Asia.
Note: From Feb-July, the visit to the Tonle Sap lake
is not recommended because of the low water level.
The below visits will be provided instead: Visit the
Roluos Group. The monuments of Roluos, 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.Afternoon,
visit Les Chantiers-Ecole, les Artisans d'Angkor of
Siem Reap or the Silk Farm of Puok. Then, transfer
to Siem Reap International Airport for departure
flight to the next destination
Trip includes:
- English Speaking Guide.
- Accommodation based on twin sharing
- All transfers in private car 4WD
- Meals as indicated ( B = Breakfast; L = Lunch; D =
Dinner)
- Entrance fees and permits during guided time.
- Service charge & Government taxes
Trip excludes:
- International
Airfares.
- International departure tax
- Meals not indicated
- Visas and visa arrangement
- Personal travel insurance (Compulsory).
- Personal expenses such as Bar, Telephone and
Laundry bills.
- Tips and gratuities
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