TRAVEL SERVICE & RESERVATION – ANTHONY POON

Day 1 – Apr 6:  Ho Chi Minh (Arrival)

Arrival airport at …, our driver welcomes and transfers you to hotel in Ho Chi Minh city.

• Overnight at Cap Town Hotel in Ho Chi Minh
• N/A

Day 2 – Apr 7: Ho Chi Minh → Mekong Delta

Breakfast at your hotel, then check out your hotel, you can leave big luggage at the hotel (please note to hotel staff to keep for you) and bring a small bag for the Mekong trip as you will be back to this hotel to stay more.

Around 08:00 – 08:15 AM, our tour guide picks you up at your hotel, then heads to My Tho city by bus. Enjoy the scenery and green rice paddies during the one and a half hour bus ride. Along the way, we will visit Vinh Trang pagoda, the biggest pagoda in the Mekong delta. Continue to My Tho, where we take a boat trip along the Mekong River, where you can see fish cages and floating houses on the river.

The boat takes you to a small canal, escaping the hustle and bustle of the town. We disembark at a coconut island in Ben Tre and enjoy a walk around the village. Stop at a local family home to enjoy tropical fruit, taste the honey tea and honey wine and listen to Vietnamese traditional music performed by the villagers. Check out the coconut candy shop and learn how to make candy, and see handicrafts made from the coconuts.

Take your time snapping photos and enjoy the natural scenery before we head to the local restaurant. Lunch is set with special Vietnamese food. Enjoy your lunch outside under the shade of the trees. After lunch, enjoy your time relaxing, walking around the village, or perhaps going for a short bike ride. Continue to Can Tho Province – the heart of Mekong Delta..

• Overnight at KP Hotel in Can Tho
• B,L

Day 3 – Apr 8:  Mekong Delta → Ho Chi Minh

Have breakfast at hotel.

7:30-8:00 AM: Our guide and van pick up from your stay (will inform you exactly pick up time from your hotel on first date evening). Take a leisurely boat trip to explore the picturesque tributaries of the Lower Mekong river. After, proceed to visit the Cai Răng floating market, which is the liveliest in the whole region. Take in the beautiful scenery and the daily activities of the locals who live along the Mekong canals. Next, get on a local business house to visit their traditional noodle making and try to make noodles by yourself. You will roam through the village, seeing the the landscape on 2 sides of road.

Continue to local market landing, Our guide taking you walking through local market, see what the local are selling and Vising Munir Ansay Pagoda (other name: Munirangsyaram)

Then, head back to the riverside for lunch before traveling back to Ho Chi Minh where you will arrive at around 5:00 PM with unforgettable memories.

• Overnight at Cap Town Hotel in Ho Chi Minh
• B,L

Day 4 – Apr 9: Ho Chi Minh (visit Cu Chi Tunnels) → Hoi An

Have breakfast at the hotel.

07:30-08:00 AM: Pick up at your hotel and Depart for Cu Chi tunnel, the trip will take approximately one and a half hours bus driving. Upon arrival, before exploring the tunnels, you will have some short introduction followed by an introductory video about how the tunnels were constructed and how the people survived in the harsh conditions of the war time. Then, spend your time exploring the remaining area and tunnel systems which included the specially constructed living areas with kitchens, bedrooms side by side with other martial facilities like storage, weapons factories, field hospitals, and command centers helping whoever lives inside the tunnels meet their basic needs. Besides, there are also many hidden trap doors and dangerous traps within the maze-like tunnels for security purposes during the war. Afterward, special tea and cassava (guerilla’s food during the war) will be served.

Break time for relaxing or time for those who want to try the real shooting gun.

At 17:30 PM our driver transfers you to the airport for a flight to Da Nang departing at … (…) . Upon arrival at the airport at … , our driver transfers you to Hoi An town for your stay.

• Overnight at Kim An Hoi An Hotel  in Hoi An
• B,L

Day 5 – Apr 10: Hoi An (visit My Son Sanctuary)

Breakfast at your hotel.

Around 07:30 – 08:00 AM, our guide picks you up at the hotel and leaves Hoi An for visiting My Son Holy Land – the ruins of Cham people and was an imperial city during the Cham dynasty. Here you can have more chances to explore and understand the technique of Old Cham people in making red bricks to build a Tower which is still known a secret to everyone, you can see a large complex of religious relics that comprises more than 65 architectural works. It also surprises for those who are curious with architectural art. In 1999, UNESCO labeled the Cham architecture in My Son as a World Cultural Heritage Site.

Have lunch at a local restaurant.

Rest of the day is your leisure time to discover the city on your own.

• Overnight at Kim An Hoi An Hotel  in Hoi An
• B,L

Day 6 – Apr 11: Hoi An (leisure)

Breakfast at your hotel.

Your leisure time for walking around the Old Town for shopping and relaxing in Hoi An.

• Overnight at Kim An Hoi An Hotel  in Hoi An
• B

Day 7 – Apr 12: Hoi An → Hanoi

Morning, enjoy the breakfast at your hotel.

Spend your leisure time until 10:00 AM our driver transfers you to airport for flight to Hanoi at …. Arrival at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi at …, you will be taken to the hotel.

• Overnight at Le Foyer Hotel in Hanoi
• B

Day 8 – Apr 13: Hanoi (city tour)

Breakfast at hotel.

08:15 – 08:30 AM: Get picked up by our friendly guide and start to explore Hanoi City.

08.45: Arrive at Tran Quoc Pagoda located on Golden Fish IsLand in West Lake

It is the oldest pagoda in Hanoi built in the 6th century.

09.30: Visit Ho Chi Minh complex, you have a chance to see the embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh then walk around the garden to see 2 houses where he lived & worked from 1954 to 1969. Then visit One Pillar Pagoda where worships the Goddess of Mercy – It is the most unique pagoda in the world

• Should dress modestly by covering from shoulders to knees when visiting Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, temples, pagodas…

• Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum is closed on Mondays and Fridays.

• Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum is closed at least 2 months (15thJune -15thAugust) for the annual maintaining but still can take picture Mausoleum and visit around that area

11.15: Visit Vietnam Ethnology Museum to learn about the culture of 54 ethnic groups living in the whole country of Vietnam.

Special Note: we will visit Women Museum instead of Ethnology Museum closed on Mondays

12.45: Have lunch at our restaurant. You have an opportunity to enjoy Vietnamese cuisine with 8 delicious dishes.

14.00 – 14.15: Continue to visit the Temple of Literature – the first university of Vietnam, established in the 11th century.

15.15: Leave for Hoa Lo Prison Museum which was originally used by the French colonists in Indochina for political prisoners, and later by North Vietnam for U.S. prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. During this later period, it was known to American POWs as the “Hanoi Hilton”

Enjoy taking a cyclo tour around the bustling old quarter to see the ordinary life of Vietnamese people in Hanoi.

After the tour, drop you off at the hotel. It’s your free time now to have dinner and a short while to explore the streets of Hanoi on your own.

• Overnight at Le Foyer Hotel in Hanoi
• B,L

Day 9 – Apr 14: Hanoi → Halong bay

Breakfast at your hotel, then check out your hotel, you can leave big luggage at hotel (please note to hotel staff to keep for you) and bring small bag for Halong bay trip as you will be back to this hotel to stay more.

8:30 – 8:45 AM: Our guide pick you up at your hotel and go to Halong bay on a shuttle bus. Take a bit rest to go to the toilet on the way to Halong. Arrival in Halong at 11.45.

12.00 – Meeting at Tuan Chau habour. Check in Royal Palace Cruise and you are warmly welcomed by a professional and friendly crew.

12:30 – You will board your Royal Palace Cruise and you are warmly welcomed by a professional and friendly crew.

13:00 – Check – in cabin and enjoy specially prepared lunch while cruising through most beautiful parts of the magical bay with thousands of amazing limestone islands emerging from emerging from emrald water. Sailing with Royal Palace Cruise in very tranquil route, expolling the exotic beauty of the legendary Bay, a feeling in paradise will come to you

14:45 – Kayaking in Ha Long Bay, visit Pearl Farm

16:15 – Small tender brings you to visit Ti Top island, hiking to the top of the island from where tourists can capture a panoramic view of Halong Bay.

16:15 – 17:30: Go to Titop Island

18:00 – Join the sunset moment on the sundesk in a warm and romantic atmosphere, making friends with other members in the group, enjoy fresh local fruit, listening soft, light music, wearing traditional costumes for kings, queens, and mandarins

19:00 – Enjoy special dinner cooked by our professional chef

20:30 – The moment you choose your own way to relax after dinner, listening to music, singing karaoke, relaxing on the sundeck, squid fishing available for entertainment during the night time.

• Overnight on Royal Palace Cruise on Ha Long Bay
• B,L,D

Day 10 – Apr 15: Halong bay → Hanoi

05:45 – Take photos of sunrise, morning exercise with our Tai Chi master, a perfectly healthy way to start a new day.

06:30 – Enjoy your breakfast, coffee, tea, fruits.

07:15 – Visit Surprising Cave – the most beautiful one in Halong Bay.

09:00 – Back to Royal Palace Cruise for check-out. Keep cruising towards Ha Long Bay, passing by hundreds of islands and islets with different shapes depending on your imagination.

10:00 – Cooking class opened right on the cruise.

10:30 – Farewell lunch served on the cruise before you arrive at harbor.

11:45 – Tour ends at Tuan Chau habour.

Get on bus to go back to Hanoi. Arrival in Hanoi around 15:30 PM

• Overnight at Le Foyer Hotel in Hanoi
• B,L

Day 11 – Apr 16: Hanoi → Siem Reap

Breakfast at hotel.

Your leisure until … we transfer you to airport for flight to Siem Reap depart at …(…).

Rest of the day is your leisure time in Siem Reap.

• Overnight at the hotel in Siem Reap.
• B

Day 12 – Apr 17: Siem Reap (Explore the Angkor)

Breakfast at hotel

At 08:30 AM, Our guide picks up you visit to the antique capital of Angkor Thom (literally: “Great City”), located in present day Cambodia, was the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire. Continue your visit at 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 Phimeanakas, the Royal Enclosure, the Elephants Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King.

Continue your visit to Ta Prohm, one of the most beautiful temples in Angkor. Ta Prohm has been relatively untouched since it was discovered and retains much of its mystery.

In the afternoon, visit Angkor Wat the most famous of all the temples on the plain of Angkor. 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.

Before ending the tour today, enjoy a wonderful sunset scenery from the Top of Phnom Bakhen Hill.

In the evening, enjoy a delicious dinner at a nice local restaurant in Seam Reap.

• Overnight at the hotel in Siem Reap..
• B, L, D

Day 13- Apr 18: Siem Reap → Ho Chi Minh

Morning, enjoy breakfast at hotel.

8:30 AM start the tour by visiting the National Museum. Here, you can explore a collection of Khmer art, artifacts, and historical exhibits that provide insights into the culture and history of Cambodia.
After the museum, take a boat trip on Tonle Sap Lake, one of the largest lakes in Asia. This is an opportunity to enjoy stunning views of the lake and see some of the local fishing villages and floating communities that call it home.
After the lake tour, head to downtown to visit Artisan’s D’angkor, the carving art school, where you can witness the intricate art of stone carving and other traditional crafts. Next, continue your visit to Wat Thmei, a beautiful pagoda that is known for its memorial stupa that contains the skulls of Khmer Rouge victims.

Afterward, enjoy lunch and spend some leisure time in Siem Reap until … it is time for your departure flight to Ho Chi Minh (flight number … –depart at … ). Arrival in Ho Chi Minh at …, make your way to the hotel (about 500 meters from the airport)

• Overnight at New Space Hotel in Ho Chi Minh
• B, L

Day 14- Apr 19: Ho Chi Minh (Departure)

Morning, enjoy breakfast at hotel.

Your leisure time. Make your way to airport for flight back to Australia at … (…).

• N/A
• B

End of service!