- Cambodian Cooking Class rated "excellent" by 4 travelers
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Email us the code word 'TREE'
and 2 trees will be planted for a village family
6N/7D Grand Cambodian Adventure
This six night package is designed for those who want to explore the ture Cambodia and take in the amazing sites this country has to offer. The trip takes you to some fairly remote communities and locations and offers a chance to truly explore some of Cambodia's best sights. Wherever possible we link with local guides who support the preservaation of Cmabodia's unique wilderness and culture.
Explore hill tribes, see the beautiful fresh water dolphins, sunrise cycle in local villages
Day 1 Siem Reap, Kampong Thom & Kampong Cham
| 6:00am | We suggest an early start out of the city of Angkor and head to Kampong Thom (the second largest province of the country). The province is now getting more visitors as it has some of the oldest pre-Angkor temples. The temple of Sambo Prekuk, originally called Isanapuru, was the capital of Chela during the reign of the early 7 century king Isanavarman and continued to be an important learning center in the Angkor Era.
Stop to witness some of these temples and after this, take an hour drive to Kampong Cham for Lunch. |
| After the relaxing lunch in one of the restaurants you will then be transferred to the basic hotel for check-in. | |
| 3:30pm | We leave the hotel and head to the north of the town on the paved, shady lane through local villages. Stilted homes are flanked by the Mekong River and rice paddies, it is here we discover Prasat Han Chey, a 1500 year old temple dotting the hilltop. Once at the top of the hill we can visit the large pagoda intertwined with clay dormitories and nunnery. This is also a great place to view the Mekong River, the Mondulkiri plateau in distance and the spectacular sunset over the Mekong.
Return to the city for dinner and overnight in Kampong Cham. |
Day 2 Kampong Cham & Kratie
| Morning | Breakfast at the hotel. Explore the city and visit the 11th century Mahayana Buddhist temple of Wat Nokor Bachey, which houses an active pagoda. Stroll around this temple, capture some amazing photos and learn about the monks’ way of life.
After the temple of Wat Nokor, we hike up the small hill of Phnom Pros, it is a very interesting place to cool down as a band of monkeys populate the trees. There are views of the rice fields and a rubber plantation. |
| Return to the hotel for the check-out. | |
| We then head up north to Kratie province. This journey takes us about 2 hours and passes through some villages of Chhlong district. Chhlong is the most populated of the Cham minority (90%) and its villages are recognizable by the mosques along the roads. | |
| Check in to the hotel of Kratie town, refresh and rest | |
| Late afternoon | Set off the hotel to Kampi Dolphin site. It is, in fact, the best place in the country to see the very rare freshwater dolphins, and also the most inhabited Dolphin pod in the Mekong River with about 20 dolphins. Take a boat trip to the dolphin pool, following them, and capture beautiful photos of the dolphins with sunset over the river as the backdrop. Dine in local restaurant and overnight in town. |
Day 3 Kratie Exploration, Cycling & Rattanakiri
| We set of early again in order to catch a short boat ride to one of the islands which stands in the middle of the Mekong River. Once at the top of the island we then meet the chief of the island community. From her we hire bicycles to go around this small island. The money from the bike rental helps to support the community. This is another opportunity to find out about the daily life of these people and source of their income. | |
| Head back to the hotel for breakfast and leave Kratie for the Red City of Ban lung. (This trip takes around 4 hours depending on road conditions) | |
| Check in to the hotel in Ban lung. | |
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In the late afternoon we head out to see the blue crater lake of Yeak Lom, which is believed to have been formed 700,000 years ago. Some people say that it must have been formed by meteor strike as the shape is perfectly round, however it is in-fact a volcano crater. |
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| Return and overnight in Banlung hotel. |
Day 4 Rattanakiri Adventures
| Head out for a drive on the dusty roads about 35km to the north of Ban lung. Here we arrive at Vern Sai district where Laos and Chinese people have settled. These people lead their lives on the River San, or Tonle Se San, which flows from Vietnam and meets the Mekong at Steung Treng province.
Take a lazy boat trip to explore these areas and then visit the cemetery of the Tampuon people. We respectfully trek around the village to see their houses and learn about their unique culture. On the way back, the same boat will drop us off at Chinese and Laos villages to have a look and see the different lifestyles, while learning about the various cultures. |
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Day 5 Rattanakiri Elephant Trek and Bird Watching
| This is a wonderful day and many visitors fee it is one of the best and most memorable days of their trip in Cambodia. | |
| Leave the capital city of Rattanakiri down to the east for Lum Kut. This trip is around 60km and goes through cashew nut and rubber tree plantations as well as tribal villages. | |
| Lum kut is another natural volcanic lake, which is in the shape of a human heart and larger than Yak Loam lake, although having similar ecology. Located on the plateau area in the middle part of the tropical jungle, about 40km east of the provincial town, Lum kut has a lot of trees intertwining each other to form the shady roofs for visitors, and moreover, the lake provides a habitat to many species of young and older fish that help attract plenty of fishing bird species to live around it’’. We cicumnavigate this lake on elephants with the trip taking around 40 to 60 mins. The elephant trek goes through rubber plantation areas, cashew nut orchards and some villages of the tribal minorities. | |
| The elephants slow and steady pace makes this a very relaxed and enjoyable experience. You will see picturesque trees and plateau landscapes. | |
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On the way, you can stop to take photos and watch the birds. The types of birds that may be seen include greater egrets, lesser egrets, kingfishers, alexander and red breasted parakeets |
Day 6 Kratie
| Depart the City of Rattanakiri right after your breakfast and head to Kratie.
On the way from Ban Lung to Kratie we stop at Sambour district to visit one of the largest Buddhist pagodas in Cambodia. This pagoda has over 100 pillars, learn about the legends behind the wat, stupa and narrative paintings |
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| Have lunch at Kampi picnic resort. It is a natural attraction, situated along the Mekong river bank 16km from Kratie town and 1km from Kampi dolphin pool. Kampi is a small archipelago with sand and stream where visitors can bathe. There are small huts where you can rest built in a row along the stream in dry season. | |
| Drive to the hotel in Kratie for check-in and rest. |
Day 7 Kratie & Siemreap (optional sunrise cycling)
| Sunrise | Head out early at sunrise and cycle down to one of the main tributaries of the Mekong that flows from Vietnam through the plateau of Mondulkiri and Kratie. Stop at the river bank; enjoy the view of rice field and tobacco farm.
On return, cycle around some stilted homes with the 20th century architecture, active pagoda and school. |
| Hotel for breakfast, check out and head back to Siemreap. | |
| Arrival time into Siem Reap will vary depending on your departure time - estimate around 5-6pm |
