11 nights from £1575
This arrangement highlights the importance of the great Mekong River and the Tonle Sap Lake as life sources for the populations of Vietnam and Cambodia and includes riverside city Battambang, until recently only accessible by river and with some of the best preserved colonial architecture in Cambodia.
The Mekong River is the 13th longest in the world, running from Tibet through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam and is relied upon by ninety million people, the majority surviving on rice production. The river’s delta blesses southern Vietnam with exceptional fertility, making the region one of Indo-China’s most prolific producers of rice, vegetables and fruits.
Life on the Mekong is enlivened by the many colourful river traders, floating villages and communities nurtured by this powerful life-source. Tonle Sap, also known as the Great Lake, in Cambodia stretches from capital Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and at 16,000 square kilometres during the monsoon season is Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake, designated a UNESCO biosphere in 1997. The lake is fed from the Mekong River and its large floodplain and rich biodiversity make it one of the most productive inland fisheries in the world, supporting over three million people.
