Meandering the Mekong River Angkor Wat to Thailand
(256 Reviews)
99% Recommended
Ann Castagna Morin
Southampton, MA
Luxury River Cruise & European travel specialist
I have had a sense of wanderlust since I was a child, always yearning to go off and explore the world.
I will take my own personal passion for travel and use it to craft an extraordinary luxury experience for you.
Europe is my specia...
I have had a sense of wanderlust since I was a child, always yearning to go off and explore the world.
I will take my own personal passion for travel and use it to craft an extraordinary luxury experience for you.
Europe is my specialty, I have dual citizenship holding both Italian and US passports. I have personally traveled to over 3/4 of the countries in Europe and have visited Italy more times than I can count.
The first-hand knowledge I gain from my own adventures I will utilize to create your inspiring journey.
I work with many tour providers, whether you wish a private custom excursion, a rail package with a local concierge in each city, or a group tour, I not only can arrange it, I have personally experienced the product.
As much as I enjoy land tours, I have become enamored with luxury river cruises and small ship/yacht cruising.
After my first glide down the Danube I was hooked!
I have sailed 20 different small ship itineraries in both Europe and Asia and have two more currently booked. I make it a point to cruise at least once a year so that I can keep up with new ships, and offerings.
It is one thing to read about a product, to fully understand all the nuances of a journey, and how it will fit their client's personality, one needs to experience it first-hand, and more than once!
On a river cruise luxury abounds with high end bath products, indulgent linens, and extraordinary service all along your journey. River cruising is such a delightful experience, similar to staying in a high-end boutique hotel, except that it travels along with you.
No detail is overlooked for your comfort, but you can leave your fancy clothes at home, I call it "laid-back luxury".
A small ship/yacht cruise on Ponant, Scenic, Windstar, Azamara or Seabourn is a journey filled with pure indulgence. These small ships can visit ports the large vessels must bypass and are able to stay late into the evening. With guest capacity ranging from 189-700 there are no crowds or lines like the large ocean vessels.
Wading through all of the choices in ships and itineraries can be overwhelming. I will answer all your questions and show you photos and videos from my own journeys to narrow down the perfect cruise for you.
As one of the top selling Key Partners in the world for both Globus Tours and Avalon Waterways I have the unparalleled experience and skills to ask the right questions to match you up with the perfect itinerary for your interests and budget.
I look forward to working with you!
Can Be Reached At
1-413-552-8941
Sunset on a Mekong River cruise
Asia is a fascinating place!
It is so different than the western world in a multitude of ways. When you visit places such as Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand you come away changed, a more thoughtful and appreciative person.
My journey began in Siem Reap where I spent three days exploring the ruins of the Temples of Angkor. I wish I had more time as it was fascinating, I probably will return as I couldn't visit them all, and new temples are still being discovered.
Of all of the complexes I visited, Angkor Thom impressed me the most. It is a maze of gigantic heads, each with a different smirking expression on it's face as if he knew a secret. Walking through these ancient temples was a phenomenal experience, just trying to figure out how they were able to construct them was mind boggling!
The evening after my final visit to the Angkor complex our guide arranged for a private Apsara dance show for us. These young women must start training their fingers before the age of five to get them to curl back the way they do. The dance is mesmerizing to watch, in fact, believers feel that the Apsara’s could hypnotize the rivals of the King of the Gods by this dance. There are Apsara dancers immortalized in stone dating back to the 7th century at the Sambor Prei Kuk temples in Kampong Thom.
I took this trip in conjunction with Avalon Waterways, selecting them purposely because their Asia ships have only 18 cabins. There were just 20 of us in total which worked perfectly, it felt more like a private yachting expedition than a river cruise.
Each day while on the river we would have two included excursions, one in the morning and a second after lunch. Some of the excursions were sobering, like when we visited the killing fields in Cambodia and learned about the horrors of the Khmer Rouge. Others were uplifting, for example when we visited a local school and helped the children with their English lessons, or when we were given a water blessing by a monk.
Everywhere we traveled the art on the buildings was so detailed and brilliantly adorned it almost felt like it was for a movie set. This is the day to day paradox, beautiful gold leafed temples next to shanty houses on stilts. One consistency was how welcoming and kind the people were, everyone seemed truly happy to see us no matter where I visited.
The sunsets on the river were just breathtaking, with no streetlights and only an occasional fishing sampan passing by the views were amazing! Our day to day lives were immersed with the culture, but we were sheltered in luxury at the same time. Each cabin on the ship is a suite with a full wall of windows that the bed faces. The wall opens up to turn the entire room into an open air balcony. The slider has a screen and there is a ceiling fan so if you want to lie in bed and listen to the river you could without concern about bugs getting in.
Meals were an exciting event! Always available was a “western option” like filet mignon or salmon, but there are choices of regional favorites as well. I never would have considered trying some of the offerings elsewhere but found I really enjoyed them on the ship and was glad I had the opportunity to widen my horizons. On our last day of the trip we were brought to a Vietnam restaurant and given a cooking class which was great fun, they sent us home with the recipes we cooked which was a nice touch.
After the cruise I flew up to northern Thailand to do a private tour for a week. I visited the “Golden Triangle” where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand converge, the former drug capital of Asia due to the poppy fields. It was quite interesting to see how the queen stepped up and saved the people from the misery of addiction. In place of the poppy plants there are now tea plantations.
I visited the beautiful Wat Rong Khun, or “White Temple” in Chiang Rai and was even fortunate enough to meet the artist who created it. My journey continued with a visit to a Padaung tribe which are Kayan people who immigrated from Myanmar. The woman are known for wearing brass rings around their necks giving the illusion that their necks are long. I had a lengthy conversation with one of the women and she explained to me that it is not a burden to wear the coils, that in their culture it is considered a status symbol and sign of beauty.
I visited the famous Wat Doi Suthep temple in Chiang Mai and finished out my Asian adventure by taking care of my own elephant for the day.
Southeast Asia is a fantastic experience, you will see amazing detail in the art, encounter warm hospitable people and come away with a true sense of how fortunate your own life circumstances are.