Mekong Delta River Cruise - Day 1

Our Boat

Day 1, December 11

Motorized transportation can take many forms; car, plane, bus, train, and boat to name a few. And since we are putting this adventure together as we go the decision of what form to use is ours. Our latest decision, how to get from Saigon, Vietnam to Phnom Phen, Cambodia? We could take the plane. Boring. There are no trains between these two countries as Cambodia has no rail at all. Bummer. Taking a bus is somewhat popular but the journey is long. No thanks.

Boat? Let me check. The Mekong River begins in the Tibetan highlands and flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. And, boating is the primary mode of transportation on the Mekong so surely there is a way to get from Vietnam to Cambodia along the river.

Thanks to Google I was provided with several tour companies that specialize in cruising tourists from one country to another along the river. Through a series of emails I booked our family on a 4 day/3 night journey to Cambodia on the river. The itinerary detailed stops to fruit and flower markets, biking through old towns, visiting a crocodile farm, cool refreshments when we board the boat and of course fabulous food. It looked great. The price seemed a little high now that we figured out what we should be paying for things in Vietnam but, a better deal than anything back in the States. So we justified our confirmation by saying to each other the usual; "We may never be back." "Sounds like an awesome journey." "How many people can say they have cruised the Mekong River between two countries?" And so on. You know what I'm talking about.

Our trip began with a 1.5 hour drive from Saigon to the Mekong River Delta area to a small town named Cai Be. We hopped on a "local boat", a sampan, that took us upriver to an old historic home and fruit garden. We sat in the garden and sampled many native fruits and sipped green tea made from tea leaves that were picked from the tree that very day! It doesn't get any fresher than that. In fact the food is so fresh here that Mr. F.G. Meyer's claims of freshness would be a considered a lie.

Sampan Captain

Anyway, from there, our sampan captain took us to our boat. On the way the boys asked 50 million questions. What kind of boat? How many other people were cruising with us? What kind of food? Buffet or not? "I don't know!" I only had internet web photos to go by and we all know that every company advertising on the internet puts their best foot forward.

Sampan cruising and making music with banana leaf horns made by our guide. They sound like party horns you might blow at a New Years celebration.

Our guide pointed to two boats in the distance run by the same cruise company and said ours is the smaller one. Why were we on the... I didn't even have time to finish my thought when he said we were the only family on that boat. A whole boat to ourselves?! That's so cool. The ok deal just became a phenomal deal. Our own private four day Mekong River Cruise all the way to Cambodia.
Cameron said it best, "This is just like those shows on the Travel Channel."

On board outside our cabins on the first deck

Cabin big enough for three boys



All hands on deck.