Group of Ms. Gemma Grassi

Hi Lam,

Today at 13.00 we arrived in Milan in perfect time, the trip went well even though it is very long and tiring. Here we found it very cold and I already regret the nice hot weather that we had in Cambodia.

I didn’t have many occasions to talk to my partner trip because we were on the airplane separately, but I’m sure that as everybody were all happy about the trip.

Thanks so much for everything because I believe that your presence has been fundamental to make us appreciate so many aspects of our journey and without your Italian we would certainly have been in difficulty with the language.

We are waiting for you soon in Italy or we will meet in another trip to Myanmar.

I’ll be advertising for the Vietnam Travel service, and as soon as I have somebody interested in the voyages you suggest I’ll let you know right away.

A big hug

Gemma and Gigi

Group: Ms. Gemma Grassi

Travel date:  19/11/ 2013 – 6 /11/ 2013

DETAILED ITINERARY

Day 01: Welcome to Luang Prabang
Fly to Luang Prabang. Upon arrival to the airport, you well be met by our guide and transfer to you hotel. Accomodation at hotel in Luang Prabang.

Day 02: Luang Prabang – Pak Ou Cave – Kuang Si Waterfall

Morning have the opportunity to observe the local people who offer the Tak Bak’s ceramic monks. Return to the hotel for breakfast and continue with the visit of the oldest temple in the city, Wat Sene and the magnificent Wat Xiengthong with its unique roof, which is an example of classic Laotian architecture.

Next to is a Mekong River excursion – Pak Ou Cave that begins with a boat ride on one of the longest rivers in the world. The Mekong, or “Mother of all Rivers,” supports 90 million people who produce 54,000 square miles of rice every year. Also home to more species of giant fish than any other river, this majestic river is said to produce balls of light along its surface, which the locals attribute to the Phaya Naga, or Mekong Dragons.

Morning check out then take a excursion to Kuang Si waterfall about 28KM , on the way , ethnic minority villages can be visited such as : Ban Na Oun Hmong hill tribe, Ban Naxom, Ban Ou Lao Loum villages and Ban Thapene Kh’mu village , arrive at Kuang Si waterfall , enjoy swimming and relaxing in the transparent water. The cool & turquoise water might wash away all of your fatigues, return to LuangPrabang.

Day 3: Luang Prabang City Tour (B/-/D)

Morning visit to Luang Prabang with Royal Palace Museum (closed on Tuesdays), where you can see a large number of interesting handicrafts, visit Vat Mai Temple and shopping at the central market. Free lunch.

Continuing to visit Visoune Temple, that Makmo stops him with the top of the round.

Continue to the nearby Iva Aham, one of the largest sanctuaries in the city, tutored to devote Luang (spirit) to Pu Gneu Ya Gneu (ancestors).

Return to Luang Prabang in the afternoon, then we can climb to the top of Mount Phousi from which you enjoy a beautiful panoramic view over Luang Prabang or enjoy the sunset over the Mekong River.

Visit the night market, where you can browse a beautiful selection of handmade textiles or local artisans.

Overnight in Luang Prabang.

Day 4: Luang Prabang – Xieng Kouang (B/-/D)

Breakfast at hotel. Transfer to reach Xiengkhuang. This remote province devastated by American bombing. The village is very long and difficult at times, but we can do a lot of stops as we like, to stretch our legs or just take some wonderful pictures.

Free dinner. Overnight at Hotel.

Day 5: Xieng Khoang – Vientiane (B/-/D)

In the morning, visit site number 1 of the Plain of Jars, which is a beautiful archaeological site where hundreds of huge vessels are scattered along a hill. On these vases there is still a dense mystery to reveal, because still today it is still not possible to decipher at what historical period they belong and what their use was.

Take the flight to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Arrival at the airport,  transfer to the hotel. Vientiane is a sleepy cozy restful town on the shores of the majestic Mekong River.

Dinner. Overnight in the hotel. Free lunch.

In the afternoon, visit  Vat Sisaket, the only temple left intact after the Siamese invasion of 1828, visit the houses that store many documents and ancient treasures, including 6840 Buddha images, Hor Prakeo, today a museum that retains the largest collections of Buddhist artifacts in the country, which once hosted the Emerald Buddha (Prakeo). Climb to the top of Patuxay  for the panoramic view of the city. The monument was modeled after Arc of Triumph in Paris. Visit The Luck (The Great Sacred Stupa), which is said to contain the relics of the Buddha itself and is the most expensive monument to the Laotians from a religious point of view.

Day 6: Vientiane – Pakse – Khong Island (B/-/D)

Breakfast at hotel. Early morning transfer to the airport for direct flight to Pakse.

Upn arrival at Pakse, you will board a boat for a 2 hour hike on the Mekong, heading south towards Champassak to visit the beautiful Wat Phu pre-Angkor temple, one of the most beautiful temples in South East Asia .

Continue a walk on the edge of Umong Temple. Continue the road trip towards the 4000 Islands area. Arrival at Khong Island in the late afternoon, accommodation in hotel, dinner and overnight.

Day 7: Khong Island (B/-/D)

After breakfast boat excursion to Sinphandone. Visit  Done Ket and Done Som Island.

Continuie to Don Khone. Free lunch.

View of Don Khone, here we will have the chance to see the remains of French domination, and we will also see the first Laotian railway station with its locomotive. Continue to visit the beautiful Liphi waterfall, also known as Samphamith, which forms a natural borderline between Laos and Cambodia. If you are lucky you will have the opportunity to spot the very rare dolphins of the freshwater or the “Irrawaddy Mekong dolphin” in Ban Hang Khone. Return to Khong Island. Dinner. Overnight.

Day 8: Khong Island – Kratie (B/-/D)

Breakfast at hotel. Transfer to Dong Kalor border. Welcome from Cambodia guide, transfer to Kratie. Dinner. Overnight at Hotel.

Day 9: Kratie – Kompon Cham (B/-/D)  

Breakfast at hotel. Visit Wat Phnom Sambok to see the Buddhist monasteries and enjoy the magnificent view of the surrounding countryside, stopping at the best viewing point along the river to watch the rare dolphin of fresh water. Free lunch.

Transfer to Kompong Cham. Dinner at a local restaurant. Overnight at Hotel.

Day 10: Kompong Cham – Phnom Penh (B/-/D)

Breakfast at hotel. Departure by car to Phnompenh. Free lunch.

Stop to Nokho with its ancient temple and modern pagoda style (12th century).

Transfer to Phnompenh. Dinner at a local restaurant. Accommodation at hotel.

Day 11: Phnom Penh (B/-/D)

Breakfast at hotel.

In the morning you will visit the classic part of the capital of Cambodia: the Royal Palace with the Hall of the Throne and the contiguous complex of the Silver Pagoda; Pagoda on the top of Wat Phnom.

In the afternoon visit the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum (not suitable for children). Toul Sleng was an institute, the Chao Ponhea Yat Institute, which was transformed by the Red Khmer into a Prison S-21. More than 20,000 men, women and children have been questioned, tortured and killed in this area. Toul Sleng was one of the 150 extermination camps of the Red Khmer regime of Pol Pot.

Then there will be a visit to the Choeung Ek extermination camps. In this terrible place there are buried in total tombs, more than 8,000 people, on the collective tombs there is a monument to the memory of the victims.

Dinner at a restaurant. Overnight at hotel.

Day 12: Phnom Penh – Battambang (B/-/D)

Breakfast at hotel. Visit the monument of independence in the Anglo-style. Wat Phnom, pagoda perched on a small artificial hill 30 meters high. It is a very pleasant place where the people of the city love to stroll. You will see Buddhist worshipers (this is also a sacred place) and a great stupa of former King Ponhea Yat, founder of the capital of Phnom Penh, all around there are street vendors, chocolates, bird merchants, and avid lottery players. Its sanctuary is the oldest in the city. Visit to the National Museum which was officially inaugurated in 1920 and has superb examples of Khmer art. Free lunch.

In the afternoon, depart from Phnompenh to Battambang (about 5 hours) by private car and check in at the hotel in Battambang. Dinner. Accommodation at hotel.

Day 13: Battambang  (B/-/D)

Breakfast at hotel. Departure for Wat Banan Temple. This small and graceful temple offers spectacular views over the surrounding countryside. Picnick in the open air before continuing in the direction of the sacred mountain of Phnom Sampeau. Visit the caves and shrines of this limestone promontory.

Enjoy the bamboo train to see the country side view for sunset. Dinner. Accommodation at the hotel.

Day 14: Battambang – Banteay Chmar – Siem Reap (B/-/D)

Breakfast. Departure for Banteay Chhmar Temple, is located about 60 km from the capital of the province of Bantey Meanchey. It is a little known and unrepeatable monastic complex, practically not yet touched by any form of restoration. Built between the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century, it was dedicated to the son of King Yayavaraman VII who fell fighting against the Champa.

The bas-reliefs of the internal perimeter wall depict scenes from the battles of that war. Bantey means citadel, or city, and the complex has the size of a small town. Inside, the vegetation is a lush greenery, though without taking the total overhead and the absence of tourists relive the experience of the few travelers of the colonial period. Among the bas-reliefs, a representation of Awalokiteshwar, or Tibetan Cenresi, a divinity that represents compassion and at the same time the safeguarding number of Tibet, makes it possible to make risky, but probably real, links between two so remote civilizations.

Upon arrival in Siem Reap, the local guide will welcome you and transfer to the hotel.

Day 15: Siem Reap (B/-/D)

Breakfast and departure to visit Angkor Thom (large cities) will begin with the South reef and the famous Bayon temple of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, dedicated to Buddhism. The Temple is composed of no less than 54 laps and 216 gigantic faces of Avalokitesvara. Then, you will continue your visit with the terrace of the elephants, along 350m which is at the foot of the Royal Hall and is a place used to organize public ceremonies. Following the terrace of the Leper King, built in the twelfth century, which has several sculptures of apsaras … .and Phimean Akas, Baphuon, Elephant Terrace.
In the afternoon you will discover the marvelous temple of Angkor Wat, the world’s heritage of ‘humanity that was built in the twelfth century (1112-1152) in honor of Vishnu and covers an area of ​​200 hectares and surrounded by a canal and a wall of 1300m x 1500m. Angkor Wat is the largest temple in the world and famous for its slender laps and its extraordinary bas-reliefs and is’ considered one of the most extraordinary monuments ever conceived by man.
 
Day 16: Siem Reap (B/-/D)

Breakfast. Visit “Shrine of the Kravanh Tree” built in 921 and restored in 1968 dedicated to Shiva, counts as 5 brick towers and is characterized by numerous representations of Vishnu. It is remarkable its mezzanine platform. Inside the central tower on the bas-reliefs is carved a 4-arm Vishnu and the mythical Garuda bird. Nearby is the Sras Srang “bath of ablutions” (its meaning in Khmer), it is a large basin of 800 × 400 meters and was the pool intended for King Jayavardan VII. Digested in the rock in 953 it has around staircases and terraces of grès decorated with statues of lions and naga.

It continues with the Buddhist monastery Banteay Kdel, the “Cell Citadel” in front of the Sras Srang Basin. It is a vast building consisting of many rooms where it is easy to get lost.

You will continue with a visit to the temple Ta Promh before the break for lunch.

Dinner. Accommodation at the hotel.

Day 17: Siem Reap (B/-/D)

Breakfast.

During the morning you will visit the temple of Banteay Srei where is kept one of the finest jewels of Khmer art. Built in the tenth century, this small temple of pink sandstone, whose name means “The Citadel of Women contains masterpieces of sculpture still in good condition. André Malraux made him famous at the beginning of the twentieth century thanks to the gathering of some “apsara” heads that have been returned to the community in 1923.

In the afternoon head off to the floating village of Tonel Sap which is located about an hour’s drive from Siem Reap and is visited every year by thousands of tourists. Kompong Khleang is one of the most impressive villages for the height and the size of its houses on stilts. Walking tour in the village to learn about the people and entrance to a house where a family lives that breeds crocodiles. Afterwards you will board a local boat that will go through all the channels at a time of great lake where people move their homes with the seasons

Due to the low water level (between February and May), this excursion will be replaced by a visit to the Ruluos temples 15 km south, which was one of Khmer’s capitals.

Dinner in the city with a Khmer dances show at Angkor Village hotel. Accommodation at the hotel.

Day 18: Siem Reap Departure (B/-/-)

Free time. Transfer to the airport for departure.

A room with late check-out treatment – 12 shower towels for all group.