SE Asia: Vietnam, Cambodia & China

SE Asia 2017
Vietnam-Cambodia July 2-15 / China July 16-29

When planning our "trip of a lifetime" river cruise across Europe in the summer of 2015 I discovered Avalon cruises and their panoramic staterooms. Always wanted to take one and jumped at the opportunity to sail along the Mekong on the 18-stateroom Siem Reap ship. We had an amazing adventure as we traveled over 11,000 miles; I snapped nearly 850 shots on my camera and posted over 200 of them here on these journals. We had over 800 social media hits as friends & family followed our adventure online! EVERY day was amazing, but the Cu Chi tunnels and the temples of Angkor - especially Angkor Wat - were THE BEST. But the best part of the trip were the new friends we made in our "Sticky Rice" family. Enjoy our adventure!

July 2 - 3
Travel - Intercontinental Asiana Saigon
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

July 4
City Tour - Cooking School!

July 5
Excursion To Chu Chi Tunnels
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

July 6 - Board Avalon "Siem Reap"
Begin Cruise

July 7 - Morning Sampan Adventure

July 7 - Afternoon Sampan Adventure

July 8 - Cruising / Visit Chau-Doc / Cross Into Cambodia

July 9 - Cyclo Tour of Phnom Penh

July 10 - Phnom Penh / Killing Fields / S-21 HS Prison

July 11 - Wat Hanchey / Angkor Ban School Visit

July 12 - Konpong Louang

(Silversmithing Village)

July 13 - Angkor Temples: Banteay Srei / Taphrom

July 14 - Angkor Wat / Angkor Thom

I had the Viking China river cruise on my "Future Travel"list for some time, but when we were journeying to Vietnam & Cambodia in July 2017 we decided "since we were in the area" we'd "stop by" to visit China. What an AMAZING journey it was!

We traveled nearly 12,000 miles from the start in Siem Reap, Cambodia to touch down in Fort Lauderdale; I took over 800 photos and narrowed that down to about 225 that are posted on these pages. We had over 250 social media hits and that's without being on Facebook the entire journey! We saw the most amazing things, highlighted by the visit to the top of the

Shibaozhai Temple, seeing the Terra Cotta Warriors, and of course climbing the Great Wall of China. But clearly the BEST part of the trip were the new friends we made in our "Sticky Rice Family" led by our great tour guide "Iowa." Click on the photos below to visit the individual day's journals and see the "best of" photos of the day. For a better glimpse of our trip watch the highlight video at left.