Browse Article "Aqua Mekong, River Ship"

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From plush resorts to
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new trail of luxury through
Vietnam and Cambodia.
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20 Traveller
WEEKEND EDITION
The Sydney Morning Herald
MAY 9-10, 2015
Cover story
Lee Tulloch takes a
luxury tour through
Cambodia and Vietnam.
T
he part of the world the
French colonists called
‘‘Indochine’’ was the
peninsula between India
and China, now Vietnam,
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and
Thailand. It’s long been a popular
low-cost destination for travellers,
certainly since 1989, when the last
of a number of turbulent wars
fought there concluded.
These days, though, Cambodia
and Vietnam are far from being
destinations most suited to
backpackers.
Yes, Cambodia in particular, is
wonderfully affordable (although a
little less so at the moment as all
transactions are done in US
dollars), but it is a kingdom full of
luxuries, both simple and
extravagant, to please the most
discerning traveller.
Bargain your way to a lovely silk
scarf for $5 at the Phnom Penh
Russian market or you can pay
almost $255 for a silk wrap at the
Siem Reap boutique of local
couturier Eric Raisina, who also
has a boutique in Paris. Enjoy the
world’s cheapest massage at $8 an
hour at a dusty parlour on Siem
Reap’s main drag. Or, if you choose,
pay 10 or 20 times more in the twolevel spa in Ho Chi Minh City’s new
high-rise extravaganza, The
Reverie Saigon.
Glam up poolside at the colonial
Raffles Hotel Le Royal Phnom
Penh with Jackie Kennedy’s
favourite Femme Fatale cocktail or
don your walking sandals and
spend days trekking through the
many serene temples of ancient
Angkor. Whether you like your
comforts five-star or are happy
with simple elegance, here it’s not
difficult to find something of
beauty wherever you look.
On this, my first trip to
Cambodia and Vietnam, I did it in
style with luxury tour operator
Abercrombie & Kent, following a
bespoke itinerary, which focuses
on the unexpected comforts of the
region, including new five-star
hotels and a much-anticipated
cruise on the new river ship, the
Aqua Mekong, concluding the
journey with some Zen downtime
at the beautiful Amanoi resort on
the south-east coast of Vietnam
Indochine
indulgence
overlooking Vinh Hy Bay.
Of course, you can do travel
freely and easily through these two
countries yourself, but I enjoyed
having the trip curated for me,
including well-chosen local guides,
comfortable transportation on call
and some superb private tours,
such as a Khmer cooking class or
historic walking tour of Saigon,
with flexibility in the itinerary for
our group of five to follow their own
paths, such as making an
emotional detour to the moving
Genocide Museum housed in the
old S-21 jail in Phnom Penh.
Once you pass the stroppy
border guards, Cambodia unfolds
moves to the war art
collections at the
historic Museum of
Fine Art and
concludes in a
contemporary gallery
for young artists.
See sophiesarttour.com.
Four must-do
experiences
KHMER COOKING
EXPERIENCE, SIEM REAP
Chefs from Asian Square, one of
Siem Reap’s most popular
eateries, which specialises in
Khmer cuisine, relocate for
lunch to the small village of Srah
Srang to conduct a cooking class
under the trees at a local
restaurant. We learn how to
cook traditional specialities
such as chicken amok curry and
play ai rice ball dessert, while
farmers bathe their cattle in the
lake below.
See asiansquare-restaurant.com.
1HERSA1 0020
War stories:
Sophie’s Art Tour,
Ho Chi Minh City.
Photo: Quinn Ryan
Mattingly
SOPHIE’S ART TOUR, HO CHI
MINH CITY
Young English curator Sophie
Hughes’ compelling Art Tour is not
to be missed, not only for those
as the most gentle of destinations,
despite the collective trauma that
gripped the country from 1975-79
when the murderous Khmer Rouge
regime inflicted a bloody civil war
on the nation, and the later
occupation by Vietnam, which
ended in the early 1990s.
It’s not surprising that the
interested in contemporary
Vietnamese art, but for her lucid
retelling of the Indochina wars
through art. The tour starts at the
private Duc Minh Gallery,
VIETNAM VESPA
ADVENTURE, HO
CHI MINH CITY
The Saigon After
Dark tour starts every
night at 6pm, when
the company’s Vespa
driver will pick you up
at your hotel, hand
you a crash helmet, and pop you on
the back. What ensues is an
enthralling 41⁄2-hour, hair-raising
ride around the city, stopping to try
street food, bars, cafes and Saigon
emerging democracy (effectively a
one-party state ruled by the
Cambodian People’s Party) is still
pockmarked with incidents of
corruption, although these are
anecdotal, and the traveller is
unlikely to come across much of it.
But Cambodia’s overall
progress, and the positive mood of
nightlife. It’s pitched as ‘‘the
ride of your life’’ and it may very
well be. Brilliant fun.
See vespaadventures.com.
HERITAGE TOUR, HO CHI
MINH CITY
Historian, author and arts
administrator Tim Doling’s
four-hour heritage walking tour
of Saigon is a little distressing,
especially given the rapidity of
the destruction of beautiful old
colonial buildings in the city, but
at least Tim is there to talk you
through the story of those that
remain.
This tour is perfect for those
interested in architecture and
history, as Tim’s knowledge is
profound.
See historicvietnam.com/timdoling.
The Sydney Morning Herald
MAY 9-10, 2015
Traveller 21
Cambodia ... is a kingdom full of
luxuries, both simple and extravagant.
Five-star all the way
AMANOI, VIETNAM
Set in the rocky, dry forest of the
national park that overlooks
lovely Vinh Hy Bay and the East
Sea on the south-east coast of
Vietnam, this marvellous
retreat consists of 31 beautiful
pavilions spaciously arranged
around a pristine,
29,000-hectare property, with a
white sand beach and beach
club below and two infinity
pools. The central pavilion has
restaurant, bar, library, and
cliff-hanging terrace. The spa is
on a tranquil lake with yoga
pavilion, luxurious gym, and
hydrotherapy rooms. Doubles
from $968 a night.
See amanresorts.com.
Cultural tapestry: (Clockwise from main) Cambodia’s Angkor Wat at
sunrise; Aqua Expeditions; Park Hyatt Siem Reap; Sophie’s Art Tour, Ho Chi
Minh City; Buddhist monk at Ta Prohm; Amanoi overlooks Vinh Hy Bay and
the East Sea, Vietnam. Photos: iStock, Sophie Hughes, Lee Tulloch
its people, seem miraculous in the
face of what it has experienced in
its so recent history.
We begin our 12-day tour in
Siem Reap, the dusty Cambodian
city which is the gateway to one of
the world’s most remarkable
historical sites, the Angkor
Archaeological Park, which
stretches over 500 square
kilometres and includes the famed
temples of Angkor Wat, the world’s
largest religious monument,
Angkor Thom and Bayon.
I struggle to absorb the
magnificence and scale of the
elaborate lichen-covered temples,
some still emerging from the
jungle, others, like Tomb Raiderfamed Angkor Thom, wrestling
with the gargantuan roots of
strangler figs that have encaged
them for centuries. One visit is
clearly not enough. Our guide,
Sam, has been to Angkor Wat more
than 5000 times and still finds
something new on each occasion.
After visiting three temples in a
day, we’re blessed by a young
Buddhist monk before retiring to
the cool halls of the new Park Hyatt
to recover. Fuelled by Khmer
martinis (with lemongrass and
kaffir lime), we dine on Khmer
cuisine at Asian Square restaurant
and visit the night markets, where
gorgeous handwoven and handloomed blankets can be bought for
about $38.
The next morning we visit
Continued on page 22
AQUA MEKONG, RIVER
SHIP
The Mekong River’s newest
river ship, which can be booked
via an Abercrombie & Kent
itinerary, is a sleek, modern
beauty, which accommodates
just 40 passengers in spacious,
eco-sensitive cabins created
from local materials, some with
balconies, featuring generous
deck areas with daybeds and
lounges, an outdoor plunge
pool, indoor spa, library, media
room, and free (if inconsistent)
Wi-Fi. A highlight is famed chef
David Thompson’s superbly
tasty shared-dish menus from
the freshest, most delicious
local seafood and produce.
See aquaexpeditions.com.
PARK HYATT, SIEM REAP
Perfectly situated in downtown
Siem Reap, walking distance
from the night market, this
stylish new art deco-style resort
hotel, built on the site of the old
Hotel de la Paix, is a beautiful
retreat from the heat and a
perfect escape when you’ve
spent the day exploring the
temples of ancient Angkor.
Highlights include two
swimming pool areas set in
gardens and a fabulous French
patisserie serving macarons
filled with ice-cream. Doubles
from $250.
See siemreap.park.hyatt.com.
RAFFLES HOTEL LE ROYAL,
PHNOM PENH
The grande dame of hotels in
this fascinating city, Raffles is
the place to stay if you love the
style of old colonial buildings,
ceiling fans, rattan chairs,
gracious service and
atmospheric bars where
diplomats and spies alike once
lingered. The classic hotel also
contains one of the most
magnificent swimming pools
anywhere, set in lawns
surrounded by graceful old
frangipani trees. Doubles
from $220.
See raffles.com.
THE REVERIE, SAIGON
Ho Chi Minh City’s dazzling new
hotel is brilliantly situated on
upper floors of the new Times
Square Building in District 1,
with major shopping on its
doorstep. The spacious rooms
with fabulous views are
supremely luxurious, the twolevel spa is a knockout and the
elegant Cantonese restaurant,
The Royal Pavilion, serves some
of the finest Chinese cuisine
we’ve eaten, but the opulent
decor, created by a consortium
of Italian designers, is not for
everyone. It’s like Versace on
acid. Doubles from $370.
See thereveriesaigon.com.
Class acts: (From top) Aqua Expeditions’ newest ship on the Mekong
River; swimming pool at the Raffles Hotel Le Royal, Phnom Pen.
1HERSA1 0021
22 Traveller
WEEKEND EDITION
The Sydney Morning Herald
MAY 9-10, 2015
Cover story
From page 21
Artisans of Angkor, an important
local charity where young people,
many with disabilities, are trained
to become skilled in traditional
crafts. In the workshops, you can
watch the artisans painstakingly
creating fine-quality silk paintings,
silverwork, soapstone carvings
and lacquering, and purchase their
work in the chic boutique attached,
which showcases beautiful,
fashionable silk clothing, jewellery
and ceramics. I wish I’d bought
more as it was all so beautiful,
although I’ve discovered you can
shop for Artisans of Angkor online.
After a cooking class by Khmer
chefs at a rustic restaurant on the
banks of a lake in nearby Srah
Srang village, we have time for
those $8 massages, followed by
dinner at the Foreign
Correspondents’ Club, in the
former French governor’s
residence. Shops stay open in Siem
Reap until 10pm, so after dinner we
rush downstairs to visit Eric
Raisina’s boutique and other highend stores in the complex.
The next day we fly to
Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, a
city of two million people that’s
modern and frenetic in some ways,
but delightfully laid-back in others.
Staying at the colonial-era
Raffles Hotel le Royal, we spend a
day exploring the city, including
shopping at the Russian market for
inexpensive clothing and
homewares. (A head’s up: do your
shopping in Cambodia, which
offers better quality and prices
than similar goods in Vietnam.)
SHOPPING
IN STYLE IN
CAMBODIA
ARTISANS OF ANGKOR,
SIEM REAP
This workshop and
showroom is dedicated to
preserving traditional Khmer
skills in handicrafts. It’s a few
notches above the usual
souvenir shop. See
artisansdangkor.com.
SAM ORN SILVER
HANDICRAFT,
SIEM REAP
A few generations of one
family work together in this
backstreet silver factory and
shop selling traditional and
contemporary silverware,
sold by weight. Beautiful,
inexpensive cutlery,
jewellery and some amazing
boxes in animal shapes.
FRIENDS ’N’ STUFF,
PHNOM PENH AND
SIEM REAP
Maybe it’s not luxe, but it’s
feel-good. Profits from this
charming shop of fun
homewares, clothing and
jewellery made out of old
magazines and other
disposable products go
towards supporting street
children aged from 0-24
years. See friendsinternational.org.
GARDEN OF DESIRE,
SIEM REAP
This fabulous contemporary
silver jewellery is by Ly Pisith,
who worked with Alain Mikli
and Philippe Starck before
returning to Cambodia in
2008. See gardenofdesireasia.com.
Gentle staff
dressed in white
linen bring you
ginger tea
Before lunch at The Common
Tiger, where young South African
chef Timothy Bruyns creates
sophisticated dishes sourced from
local ingredients at low prices we
Australians can only marvel at, we
spend a couple of hours combing
the city’s best shopping streets,
240 Street and 178 Street, for more
treasures, including covetable
contemporary silver jewellery at
Garden of Desire and some cute
paper goods at Friends ’n’ Stuff,
which supports local street
children.
We leave Cambodia and sail into
Vietnam on the stylish new river
ship, the Aqua Mekong, which is
equipped with two skiffs that can
take us on excursions down the
water-hyacinth-choked rivers and
inlets of the Mekong Delta, where
we can glide up to villages, visit
markets, such as the chaotic
floating market at Binh Thanh, or
take a rickshaw ride through the
TRIP NOTES
MORE
INFORMATION
abercrombiekent.com.au
1HERSA1 K022
ERIC RAISINA, PHNOM
PENH AND SIEM REAP
Diverse parade: (Clockwise from main) Raffles Hotel Le Royal, Phnom Penh; a villager makes music during a
cruise stop along the Mekong River; monks admire Cambodia’s famed Angkor Wat. Photos: Lee Tulloch, Stocksy
town of Tan Chau, where we tour
the fascinating produce market
(silk worms anyone?) and sample
delicacies such as pickled papaya
and coconut candy.
The Mekong, with 18 million
people living across the delta, is
calmer than I expected, despite the
many old fishing boats, river ships
and sampans that plough through
its brown waters, often with one
distinctly industrial bank across
from verdant fields of rice paddies
and fruit farms. The luxury here is
sitting on a daybed on the ship’s
deck (or in the plunge pool) as the
scenery goes by.
There’s an inherent advantage
to small ship cruising, where we
travel in small enough groups to
visit a family at home for a
Vietnamese-style backyard
barbecue and a bonus musical
performance from the
grandparents.
Forty years after its fall to the
North Vietnamese and the frantic
evacuation of the US embassy, Ho
Chi Minh City (still widely known
as Saigon) is modernising at an
alarming rate. Long associated
with America and the West, there
seems to be little respect for its
history from the governing Central
Committee, and a heritage walk
with Tim Doling reveals the tragic,
ongoing destruction of the colonial
architecture. (‘‘Goodness, there
was an old building there
yesterday,’’ he tells us as we pass
one construction site.)
However, on a brilliant art tour
with curator Sophie Hughes, we
visit the beautiful 1934 Fine Arts
Museum, which fortunately has
been preserved, although across
the road a city block of shop houses
has been sacrificed for what will be
the tallest tower in Vietnam.
But Saigon is also young and
vibrant and a hair-raising and
exhilarating four-hour tour on the
back of a vintage Vespa takes us on
a culinary exploration of the
justifiably famous food stalls of the
city, with a nightcap at a music
venue where a band is fronted by a
dynamic rock chick with Tina
Turneresque vocal skills. There
are seven million two-wheeled
vehicles in the city and I think we
almost collided with all of them.
We’ve been staying at the glitzy
new Reverie Saigon, where there’s
hardly an object that hasn’t been
ornately decorated, so the
tranquility of Amanoi, Aman
Resorts’ first Vietnam property,
which is less than an hour’s flight
TOURING THERE
GETTING THERE
Abercrombie & Kent’s 10-day/ninenight Journey on the Mekong
itinerary, including most of the
featured hotels, tours and cruise, is
priced from $11,219 a person twin
share (travel between July –
November this year).
Phone 1 300 851 800.
Vietnam Airlines operates daily
services from Melbourne and
Sydney to Ho Chi Minh City with
same-day connection to Siem Reap
and Phnom Penh. Vietnam Airlines
operates six daily services between
Ho Chi Minh City and Siem Reap
and three daily services between
Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh.
See vietnamairlines;
comcambodiaangkorair.com.
GETTING IN
Cambodian E-visas can be obtained
online at evisa.gov.kh though it’s
possible to purchase them on
arrival at major airports.
This Madagascar-born, Paristrained Cambodian couturier
is a master of haute texture
using organza, raffia and
silk fur. Superb. He has three
stores in Siem Reap,
including one at the FCC,
and one in Phnom Penh.
See ericraisina.com.
away on the south-east coast, is a
stark contrast. My pavilion is set
among boulders and cactuses on a
magnificent headland overlooking
Vinh Hy Bay, where dozens of
fishing boats set out at night,
illuminated by lamps.
The magical scenery, gentle
staff dressed in white linen
bringing you ginger tea, a yoga
pavilion on a lake, and kilometres
of bracing bush walks provide, in
the most elegant way, the reflective
time necessary to digest the
surprising luxury of Indochina.
t
Visas for Vietnam can be
purchased on arrival, however
the Embassy of Vietnam in
Australia recommends they be
arranged before departure.
See vietnamembassy.org.au.
The writer was a guest of
Abercrombie & Kent.