WHAT TO WEAR

Day 13

Siem reap, fly to hanoi, vietnam

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Today you’ll fly from Siem Reap to Hanoi and check into your luxury hotel, where you’ll enjoy a private check-in and a welcome briefing with complimentary drinks. You’ll also find that an elegant flower arrangement and fruit platter await you in your room. The remainder of your time today is yours to spend at leisure in Vietnam’s charming capital city.

Optional Excursion: angkor Thom gondola ride a52b The ancient Khmers who built Angkor designed an astonishing system of canals, reservoirs, and dikes to supply water to their cities and farms and to manage flooding. Some of these reservoirs still hold water. Step into a traditional Khmer gondola, with its carved scales and dragon-head prow, and drift quietly among the ancient ruins, stopping to inspect a small cave, before making a short trek up to the ruins of Prasat Chrung for a great view of the amazing landscape spread out below you.

Day 14

hanoi

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The capital of Vietnam, millennium-old Hanoi gracefully mixes the old and new. French Colonial mansions line handsome boulevards, lakes and parks invite lingering, and modern office buildings tell of economic revival.

FeatUred excUrSionS:

Hanoi city tour, “Hanoi Hilton,” colonial Hanoi cyclo tour, and Thang Long water puppet show 91b Spend the day exploring a city some call Asia’s most beautiful. You’ll visit a complex honoring Ho Chi Minh, founder of modern Vietnam, that contains his residence, a museum devoted to his life, and the famous One Pillar Pagoda, which has been built and rebuilt since 1049. Next, visit the Temple of Literature, which was originally built as a Confucian Temple in 1070 AD. Six years later on the same grounds, Vietnam’s first university was founded to educate the administrative and military warrior Mandarin classes. The university operated for more than 700 years, but today you can experience the tranquility without its warrior students among its beautiful gardens and pavilions in a series of courtyards. You can see another aspect of Vietnam’s history if you step into one of the dank cells at the notorious “Hanoi Hilton,” as Hoa Lo, a French Colonial-era prison, was known to the American pilots who were held there as prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. Much of the original prison has been demolished, but the remnants are now a museum.

After an included lunch, it’s time to hop aboard an electric car for a tour of colonial Hanoi. The city’s elegant, tree-lined boulevards and weathered colonial buildings are sure to delight you, as are the affable street vendors selling everything from flowers to ice cream off the back of their bicycles. Take in a traditional water puppet show, a thousand-year-old musical performance that tells tales from northern Vietnam’s rural villages. The action takes place on a pool of water that stands in for rainy-season rice paddies; the beautifully crafted puppets seem to float on the water—and those seated in the front rows might just get wet.

Tonight, you’ll be treated to a special Farewell Dinner with complimentary wine at a local restaurant featuring live music and an authentic northern Vietnamese dining experience. It’s the perfect combination of delectable fare, warm atmosphere, and traditional entertainment— a fitting finale for such a remarkable adventure.

Day 15

depart hanoi

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Transfer to Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport for your flight home or continue your tour with an extraordinary Ha Long Bay optional extension program. If you happen to have a late departure (or if you’re staying longer), consider joining us on an intriguing optional excursion.

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