Why a river cruise provides the finest glimpse of the real south-east Asia

Wending along the Mekong from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh and on by air to Laos – an eventful voyage into the heart of this unique region

Take a boat from Vientiane, capital of Laos, and gently drift down through Cambodia and Vietnam, soaking up south-east Asia’s glorious atmosphere, admiring the culture, meeting the people and savouring the food: a romantic travel idea if ever there was one. But as it turned out, the mighty Mekong river had other ideas. 
Thankfully, when it transpired that low water levels in Laos had made a trip in any boat larger than a rice barge virtually impossible, the tour operator organising my trip, Scott Dunn, was able to call on its network of locals and expert staff and modify the itinerary. Instead, I would fly to Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, travelling along the Mekong in the other direction as far as possible, then fly from Cambodia to experience the Laotian portion of the river by land. The Mekong had already made it clear who was in charge here, and I was happy to go with the proverbial flow.
My home for the first few nights was to be the Aqua Mekong – a ship one would struggle to describe as pretty, with a dark grey hue and slab sides. Nevertheless, with its shallow draft and high-tech tenders (used to transport passengers ashore to remote villages) it suited our needs perfectly.
Cabins had large windows providing panoramic views of the passing jungle, villages and other boats, many of which were not only families’ workplaces but their homes, too, as they made their way up or down the river overloaded with cargos of rice, other produce, and even the odd household appliance. 
In the ship’s restaurant, small library and bar – a meeting point which hosted drinking, dancing and even lectures – I mingled with my fellow passengers: a diverse bunch encompassing a businessman from Dallas and his wife; a couple of lawyers from Hong Kong travelling with their teenage son and daughters; a financier and his wife, who had recently moved back to New York from London; and a pleasant elderly American couple travelling with their daughter.
Together, we spent the days drifting up-river through Vietnam, stopping to visit local markets – where the ship’s chef would explain what each ingredient was and how it would be cooked – and tiny, out-of-the-way villages, like the small creek-side hamlet of My An Hung, where villagers performed a unicorn dance, then treated us all to a session tasting local fruit, including the dreaded durian. Meanwhile, passengers keen to take some exercise could supplement these excursions with escorted bike rides through the countryside, with visits to pagodas, temples and silk farms. Then, approaching the Cambodian border, we paused to take a skiff up the Bassac Canal to visit the town of Chau Doc, then the Sam Mountain’s ornate Long Son Pagoda, a fitting spot in which to learn about Mahayana Buddhism. 
Then, across the border we sailed, up through Cambodia’s narrow Kandal Province, and to its capital, Phnom Penh, at the junction of the Mekong and the Tonle Sap rivers. Here, we spent a day exploring, taking in the stunning art deco central market, the lavishly decorated Royal Palace, the National Museum and Silver Pagoda. After a stately lunch at the colonial-style Raffles Hotel, I headed for the airport and on to my next destination: Laos’s capital, Vientiane, right on the border with Thailand. 
I checked into the city centre’s Lao Poet Hotel – located close enough to the Mekong for me to pretend I had arrived by boat – and spent the evening exploring the waterfront, with its glorious French colonial architecture and atmospheric echoes of days gone by. How I’d have loved to have spent longer drinking it all in, but the following morning’s high-speed train beckoned, whisking me north to the ancient capital of Luang Prabang, where the Mekong meets the Nam Khan river.
Though arriving at the city’s railway station – which one could easily mistake for a modern airport terminal – was a poor substitute for sidling up to its colourful dock by boat, the beautiful Unesco-listed city itself soon made up for it. 
Slipping along its narrow streets by tuk-tuk – the sun dappling the road with leafy shadows as locals buzzed past on rickety scooters, and orange-robed monks strolled by in the shade – I felt transported back to a south-east Asia of yesteryear. How much I had seen and experienced on my whistlestop tour through the backwaters and urban centres of this magnificent region, and how vital the mighty Mekong – low waters or no – had proved itself still to be.
Jeffrey Mills was a guest of Scott Dunn (020 3393 0884; scottdunn.com), which has a 10-night itinerary through Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos from £12,250pp (based on two sharing), B&B. Includes one night at the Reverie Saigon, four nights on the Aqua Mekong (full board), one night at Lao Poet Hotel Vientiane, and three nights at Rosewood Luang Prabang. Return flights from the UK, privately guided experiences and private transfer included. 

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