EXOTIC INDOCHINA FAMILY TOUR - 12 Days

THE DETAILED PROGRAM OF 12 DAY EXOTIC INDOCHINA FAMILY TOUR

DAY 1 : LUANG PRBANG ARRIVAL. OVERNIGHT IN LUANG PRABANG

Welcome at the airport and transfer to your hotel for check-in. The room is at your disposal from 14.00 pm. The balance of the day is free at your leisure. Meals on your own. Overnight at the hotel.

DAY 2 : LUANG PRABANG CITY TOUR – KUANG SI WATERFALL.OVERNIGHT IN LUANG PRABANG (B,L)

Visit the morning market, a perfect place to meet the locals, dine on Lao food and watch the people as they wander. Grab yourself a frosty bevy and a slice of blood sausage and check it out.

Enjoy a short drive to visit Vat Xieng Thong or Temple of the Royal City- one of the most important of Lao monasteries and remains a significant monument to the spirit of religion, royalty and traditional art.

Afterward, we head to Kuang Sy Falls a stunning turquoise waterfall. On the way, you will pass through rice fields and beautiful small villages dotted along the country road. Make a stop at some of the villages before relaxing at the waterfall. Take a fresh swim to refresh yourself in many basins.

In the afternoon, we transfer back Luang Prabang and visit the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre located in a historical building preserved by UNESCO. The exhibition here consists of traditional clothing, religious artifacts and daily working tools of Lao minorities that will help you understand more about their lifestyle and traditions.

Then it’s time for sunset moment on the Phousi Mountain where you also can have a nice panorama of the city.

Leaving here, one the way back to the hotel, we will stop to visit the H’mong Night Market where you can find a lot of souvenirs in the traditional style of Laos. This is also a paradise for street food lovers, and you can have dinner on your own. Our guide will suggest a good place to enjoy Laos traditional food or hot pot at a nice restaurant at the river bank.

Back to your hotel. Overnight at the hotel.

DAY 3 : PAK OU CAVE VISIT & FLIGHT TO HANOI.OVERNIGHT IN HANOI CITY (B,L)

Check out of the hotel and leave your luggage at the receptionist. The staff will keep it safely for you.

09:30 AM, Our tuk-tuk driver will pick you up at your hotel this morning to have a departure to the boat jetty.

Embark on the Nava Mekong, a traditional riverboat, for a shared cruise on the mighty Mekong River, departing around 1000. On the way, you will have a great opportunity to enjoy the dramatic yet peaceful scenery as well as see the simple lives of rural people living along the river.

During 2 – hour cruise upstream to the Pak Ou Caves, the village of Ban Xang Hai will be stopover along your way of discovering. Called by Pak Ou because of its special location – the caves themselves are very close to the confluence of the Nam Ou and Mekong Rivers. In these 2 caves, you will have the chance to admire numerous ancient Buddha images, dating back from many centuries. Also, this is the most important religious site in Laos for pilgrimages during the Lao New Year festivities around mid-April.

On the way back downstream, you will be served with a selection of typical Lao dishes onboard.

The cruise will take about 1.5 hours to turn back Luang Prabang, and arrive around 1400. We will pick you up at the boat jetty and transfer you back to your hotel.

Take your luggage and our driver will transfer you to the airport to take the regional flight to Hanoi. Once arrival in Hanoi, you will be warmly welcomed by our driver to transfer to the hotel to check-in. Dinner on your own. Overnight at the hotel.

DAY 4 : HANOI CITY TOUR.OVERNIGHT IN HANOI (B,L)

08.15 – 08.30 AM: Meet your tour guide at your suggested places around Hanoi Old Quarter including:

• Tran Quoc pagoda, a Buddhist relic and national heritage lying on the West Lake.
• Ho Chi Minh complex, the final resting place of Viet Nam’s greatest father; his house-on-stilt and One pillar pagoda – modeled after a lotus flower, a symbol of Hanoi.
• Temple of Literature constructed in 1070 dedicating to Confucius, sages, and scholars. It was also the first university of Viet Nam once

Relax and have lunch at a local restaurant in Hanoi Old Quarter.

In the afternoon, spend time to explore:

• The traditional ceramics village of Bat Trang. Visit showrooms and see how they model the products.
• Ngoc Son Temple dedicated to Tran Hung Dao – General Commander for his struggle against Mongolians.

03:30 PM: Drop you off at your hotel.

Dinner on your own and overnight at the hotel.

DAY 5 : NINH BINH DAY TRIP TO HOA LU & TAM COC. OVERNIGHT IN HANOI CITY (B,L)

07:30 – 08:30: Get picked up by our tour guide and bus then depart for Ninh Binh province (90 km south of Hanoi). Have a break 20 minutes half way to relax and experience Vietnamese handicraft products such as lacquer wares, paintings, embroideries…

• Arrive at Hoa Lu, which is once depicted the ancient capital of Viet Nam, settled up in the 10th century. Visit temples of two dynasties of Dinh and Le with very unique architecture in the old time.
• Visit the excavation area beside the Le Dai Hanh temple. You experience the vestiges of Royal Palaces ground dated back the 10th century. Go back to the bus and drive to Tam Coc.

14:00 Board the sampan boats (2 people share a boat) in Tam Coc dock to drift down the river among the villages, mountains, and lush rice fields. Passing through 3 caves “Hang Ca – First cave, Hang Hai -Second cave, Hang Ba – Third cave” to get a strange feeling. The boat returns to the dock for the bus drive back to Hanoi.

18:00: Arrive in Hanoi.

Back to the hotel. Dinner on your own. Overnight at the hotel in Hanoi

DAY 6 : HANOI – HALONG BAY.OVERNIGHT ON CRUISE (B,L,D)

07:45 – 08:15 am: Picked up by cruise shuttle bus to another fascinating land – the gem in the north of Vietnam – Halong Bay.

12:00 pm: Take a tender to the main cruise and have lunch.

02:00 pm: Visit a grotto of spectacular stalactites and stalagmites and anchor for a relaxing swim in a hidden cave.

05:00 pm: Dinner on the cruise with cooking class. Overnight on the cruise.

DAY 7 : HALONG BAY – HANOI & FLIGHT TO HCM CITY.OVERNIGHT IN HCMC (B,L)

06:30 – 07:30 Join in the Tai Chi exercise & have breakfast
07:30 – 09:30 Enjoy your time to swim, sunbathe and relax in the fascinating background of the bay.
09:30 – 10: 30 Check out & have lunch on board
11:30 – 12: 30 Transfer back to Hanoi.
Our driver will pick you up to transfer to the airport (without the guide) to take your domestic flight to Ho Chi Minh.
Once arrival in Ho Chi Minh, you will be warmly welcomed and transferred to the hotel to check in by our tour guide and driver. Dinner on your own. Overnight at the hotel.

DAY 8 : HO CHI MINH CITY TOUR – CU CHI TUNNELS.OVERNIGHT IN HCMC (B,L)

08:00-08:30 am: Pick up at your hotel and start the city tour included:

• Independence Palace (the Reunification Palace) was built on the sight of the former Norodom palace.
• War Remnants Museum which has a vast display of the both the Indochina wars.
• Notre Dame Cathedral & Central Post Office the beautiful structures from the French Colonial times
• Jade Emperor Pagoda with the peaceful atmosphere &o many stories behind each detail of the pagoda.

12:30 am: Lunchtime with a famous Phở restaurant (Vietnamese noodle soup).

02:00 pm: Depart around 1,5 hours through the pleasant countryside before arriving at Cu Chi Tunnels – the historic site where Vietnamese soldiers used as a shelter during wartime. This fantastic network stretches over 250 km and is the shelter of Vietnamese soldiers during the wars.

06:00 – 07:00 pm: Be dropped off at your hotel. Dinner on your own account. Overnight at the hotel.

DAY 9 : DAY TRIP TO MEKONG DELTA.OVERNIGHT IN HCMC (B,L)

08:00 – 8.30 am: Depart from Ho Chi Minh and head straight to Ben Tre, crossing the impressive Rach Mieu Cable-stayed Bridge. Board a small boat to visit typical workplaces including small brick factories, a coconut processing workshop and a local mat-weaving house. Stop at a quiet village, take a short walk to experience local life and hop on your xe-lôi (a kind of motorized rickshaw).

12:30 pm: Enjoy lunch at a local riverside restaurant.

01:30 pm: Take a short cycling tour to explore the surrounding fields before boarding a sampan for a tranquil trip along the picturesque canals. Come back to the port and return to Saigon

05:00 pm: Be dropped at your hotel. Dinner on your own. Overnight at the hotel.

DAY 10 : HO CHI MINH FLIGHT TO SIEM REAP.OVERNIGHT IN SIEM RIEP (B)

Free on your own until being transferred to the airport (without tour guide) to take your regional flight to Siem Reap.

Once arrival, you will meet our tour guide and driver to transfer to the hotel to check in. The balance of the day will be free at your leisure. Meals on your own. Overnight at Siem Reap.

DAY 11 : ANGKOR SIGHTSEEING DAY TRIP.OVERNIGHT IN SIEM RIEP (B,L)

08:00: After meeting our tour guide, then we drive to Angkor Thom that was the masterpiece of King Jayavarman VII. Following the occupation of Angkor by the Chams from 1177 to 1181, the new king decided to build an impregnable fortress at the heart of his empire.

• We begin to visit Bayon Temple. At the exact center of Angkor Thom, this is an eccentric expression of the creative genius and inflated ego of Cambodia’s most celebrated king. Its 54 towers are each topped off with the four faces of Avalokiteshvara (Buddha of Compassion), which bear more than a passing resemblance to the king himself.
• We continue to visit Terrace of the Leper King. This intricately carved platform was the royal crematorium and the statue that was originally thought to be the leper king is now believed to be Yama, the god of death. We continue along the Terrace of Elephants, originally used as a viewing gallery for the king to preside over parades, performances and traditional sports. At the southern end lies the Baphuon, once of the most beautiful temples at Angkor, dating from the reign of Uditayavarman 1 in the 11th century.
• We visit Ta Prohm “Tomb Raider” fame. Ta Prohm has been abandoned to the elements, a reminder that while empires rise and fall, the riotous power of nature marches on, oblivious to the dramas of human history. Left as it was ‘discovered’ by French explorer Henri Mouhout in 1860, the tentacle-like tree roots here are slowly strangling the surviving stones, man first conquering nature to create, nature later conquering man to destroy.
• We journey out to the Mother of all temples, Angkor Wat. Believed to be the world’s largest religious building, this temple is the perfect fusion of symbolism and symmetry and a source of pride and strength to all Khmers. Built in the 12th century by King Suryavarman II, this is most famous temple at Angkor.

Transfer to your hotel. Dinner on your own. Overnight at the hotel.

DAY 12 : SIEM REAP DEPARTURE (B)

On this day, you are free at your leisure until being picked up and transferred without the guide to the airport for the departure flight. The room is at your disposal until noon. Meals on your own. End of services.