Flight: VN3857 Ho Chi Minh City - Phnom Penh 08.40 - 09.25

Meet & greet: Upon arrival at Phnom Penh airport, you will be welcomed to Cambodia by your private English-speaking guide, and then transferred to your hotel.

Accommodation: Stay tonight at the Penh House Hotel (Deluxe)

Half day tour of Phnom Penh: Start your tour of Cambodia's capital at the stunning Royal Palace complex, home to the Cambodian royal family and a symbol of the nation. Here you will see beautiful gardens landscaped with tropical plants and the Throne Hall where the royal receptions are held and the Cambodian king's coronation took place. Continue to the Silver Pagoda, named after the 5,000 silver tiles covering the floor, each weighing 1kg. Inside are some of the country's most cherished treasures, including a life-size gold Buddha studded with 9584 diamonds, the largest weighing 25 carats. Leave the Royal Palace and continue to the nearby National Museum, home to the world's finest collection of sculpture from the Angkor period. The exquisite building was completed between 1917 and 1920 and features a lush courtyard garden surrounded by collections from the pre-Angkor, Angkor and post-Angkor periods.

You will then have the option to learn of the Khmer Rouge's horrific crimes at Tuol Sleng, a former high school that the Khmer Rouge turned into a centre for interrogation, torture and death. 17,000 people passed through the gates of this prison and only seven lived to tell the tale. The Khmer Rouge were meticulous in their record keeping, photographing all the prisoners and many of these haunting black and white images are on display in the cells. Tuol Sleng is a profoundly moving experience and not everyone will want to visit. However, it is key to understanding the hell into which Cambodia descended and how far it has come in the years since.

Finish your tour at the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. An old Chinese cemetery, Choeung Ek was turned into an extermination camp for political prisoners. The remains of 8985 people were exhumed from mass graves and are kept in a memorial stupa here. Despite the horrors of the past, it is a peaceful place to go and a tranquil spot to reflect on the tragic events that engulfed Cambodia and its people.

Accommodation: Stay tonight at the Penh House Hotel (Deluxe Room)

Meals: Breakfast

Road journey from Phnom Penh to Battambang: After breakfast this morning, travel by road from Phnom Penh to Battambang, a journey of 180 miles. En route visit Udong, capital of the Khmer kingdom between 1618 and 1866. Today Udong consists of a collection of temples and stupas containing the ashes of several kings, and precious Buddha relics. The ruins are sprinkled across two ridges and are generally very quiet - it is possible that you will have the site all to yourself. At the base of the ridge is a memorial to victims of Pol Pot, containing the bones of people buried in the 100 or so mass graves found in the area.

Accommodation: Stay tonight at the Bambu Hotel (Superior Room)

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch

Half day Soksabike cycling tour: After an early breakfast this morning, you will be met by your guide and taken to the Kinyei Cafe in Battambang's colonial quarter for a coffee and briefing from your cycling guide. Set off on a half day bicycle tour of Battambang and the surrounding countryside that will offer an insight into the traditional livelihoods of rural Cambodians. The emphasis of the tour is to show the reality of life in rural Cambodia, and ensure that the visit makes a positive impact on the local communities – economically, socially and ecologically. The cycling guides are all Battambang locals, many of whom are students at the city's university, and they will encourage you to learn a few words of Khmer so that you can interact with the locals you meet. The trip stops at a rice paper making village, a wine making village, a village that makes Prahok (fermented fish paste) and a cake making village. The trail follows quiet, flat, partially shaded country roads and the total distance travelled is 25-30 km.

Afternoon tour of Battambang: This afternoon, drive a short distance out of town to the Bamboo Train "station". The train comprises of a simple bamboo platform on 4 wheels with a small motor, and was created by local villagers to facilitate the transportation of goods. Travel 8km on the train to the next village through beautiful landscape and rice paddies. On arrival at the village visit a workshop specialising in wooden sculpture. Continue to the hilltop temple of Phnom Sampeau, a sacred mountain dotted with interesting pagodas and stupas. There is also a moving memorial to Khmer Rouge victims who were thrown into one of the many caves that pepper this holy mountain. Finish the tour with the dramatic spectacle of thousands of bats leaving one of the caves in streaming dark clouds as dusk descends.

Accommodation: Stay tonight at the Bambu Hotel (Superior Room)

Meals: Breakfast

Private boat trip across Lake Tonle Sap to Siem Reap: This morning, depart Battambang on a private local boat journey across Lake Tonle Sap to Siem Reap on one of the most beautiful river journeys in Cambodia, a trip of between 6-7 hours. Enjoy views of the Cambodian landscape and the daily life along the river. See the incredible network of bamboo fish traps, areas of water hyacinth and pass the Prek Toal Biosphere where you may be lucky enough to see some rare large water birds. Travel across Lake Tonle Sap, which feels like a vast inland sea, until the journey ends at the floating village of Chong Kneas. From here you will be transferred to your hotel in Siem Reap by road.

Accommodation: Stay tonight at the Montra Nivesha (Deluxe Room)

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch

Guided tour of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom & Ta Prohm: Probably the best time to visit Angkor Wat, the largest and most famous of the Angkor temples, is early in the morning, when the light is good and it is relatively quiet. Angkor Wat is visually, architecturally and artistically breathtaking. It is a massive three-tiered pyramid crowned by five beehive-like towers rising 65 metres from ground level. At the apex of Khmer political and military dominance in the region, Suryavarman II constructed Angkor Wat in the form of a massive 'temple-mountain' dedicated to the Hindu god, Vishnu. Angkor Wat is surrounded by a moat and an exterior wall and the walls of the temple are covered inside and out with bas-reliefs and carvings. Nearly 2,000 distinctively rendered apsara carvings adorn the walls throughout the temple and represent some of the finest examples of apsara carvings in Angkorian era art.

Angkor Thom (Big Angkor) is a walled and moated royal city and was the last capital of the Angkorian Empire. After Jayavarman VII recaptured the badly damaged Angkorian capital from the Cham invaders in 1181, he began a massive building campaign across the empire, constructing Angkor Thom as his new capital city. He began with existing structures such as Baphuon and Phimeanakas and built a grand enclosed city around them, adding the outer wall and some of Angkor's greatest temples including his state-temple, Bayon, set at the centre of the city. There are five entrances (gates) to the city, one for each cardinal point, and the victory gate leading to the Royal Palace area. Each gate, as well as much of Jayavarman VII's architecture is crowned with four giant faces. The giant stone faces of Bayon have become one of the most recognizable images connected to classic Khmer art and architecture. There are 37 standing towers, most sporting four carved faces oriented toward the cardinal points.

End the day at Ta Prohm, a hugely atmospheric due to the fact that has been left in the same state that many of the temples were first ‘discovered' by French explorer Henri Mouhot in 1860. The tentacle-like tree roots here appear to be slowly strangling the surviving stones, a reminder that while empires rise and fall, the riotous power of nature marches on oblivious to the dramas of human history.

Accommodation: Stay tonight at the Montra Nivesha (Deluxe Room)

Meals: Breakfast

Guided tour of Kbal Spean & Banteay Srei: This morning journey north to the Kbal Spean. The original ‘River of a Thousand Lingas’, Kbal Spean is an intricately carved riverbed deep in the foothills of the Cambodian jungle. The river flows down to the Tonlé Sap lake, and in ancient times its holy waters breathed life into the rice fields of the empire via the most complex irrigation system the world had ever seen. The Khmers venerated its limestone bed with a riot of carvings, including the delicate deities Vishnu and Shiva with their consorts. Lingams are phallic representations sacred to Hindus as fertility symbols and hundreds, perhaps thousands, are carved into the bedrock here. The carvings were only rediscovered in 1969 when French researcher Jean Boulbet was shown the river by a local hermit. A trip to Kbal Spean is one of the easiest ways to experience a short jungle trek in the Angkor area, as it is a steady but scenic climb to reach the river carvings. The path winds its way through knotted vines and big boulder formations and occasionally offers big views over the surrounding jungle. And there is a small waterfall below the carved riverbed, perfect for cooling off after the hot climb. Continue to Banteay Srei, Angkor’s ultimate art gallery. This petite pink temple is the jewel in the crown of Angkor-era sculpture. The elaborate carvings here are the finest found in Cambodia and the name translates as ‘Fortress of the Women’, thanks to the intricate detail here, considered too fine for the hands of a man. Originally believed to date from the latter part of the Angkor period, inscriptions at the site suggest it was built by a Brahman in 967. However, some architectural historians have suggested that the inscriptions may date from an earlier structure on this site and the temple is in fact later, marking a high-water mark in Khmer sculpture. 

Afternoon tour of the Apopo Visitor Centre: This afternoon you will be taken on a tour of the Apopo Visitor Centre to understand more about how Landmines and UXO in Cambodia have had a devastating effect on the population, and the steps being taken to eradicate them. Set up over 20 years ago in Belgium, APOPO has trained the highly sensitive, almost-blind Gambian giant pouched rats (fondly nicknamed HeroRATs) to sniff explosives, which dramatically speeds up the detection of mines in the countryside. The rats are currently clearing landmines in Siem Reap province in partnership with the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC). And in some African countries the rats have also been trained to detect tuberculosis in patients – more heroic work! Apopo have now added HeroDOGS to their landmine-clearing operations. The breed being used for the operations are the little-known Belgian Malinois, who will become Technical Survey dogs, able to sniff out large sections of unusable land, before its cleared of debris and the HeroRATS move in to locate each piece of explosive. The APOPO Visitor Centre tour takes around 30 minutes to an hour, and include a short video and a chance to see the rats in action as they show their skills in an example minefield-area. 

Accommodation: Stay tonight at the Montra Nivesha (Deluxe Room)

Meals: Breakfast

Full day tour of Beng Mealea and Koh Ker: After breakfast, travel to the lost temple of Beng Mealea, the titanic of temples, a slumbering giant lost for centuries in the forests of Cambodia. It is the most accessible of Angkor's lost temples, a mirror image of Angkor Wat, but utterly consumed by the voracious appetite of nature. Constructed by Suryavarman II (1113-1150), the builder of Angkor Wat, the forest has run riot here and it is hard to get a sense of the monument's shape amid the daunting ruins. Here it is possible to enjoy an Indiana Jones experience clambering about the vast ruin. For those who want a more gentle adventure, there is also a sturdy wooden walkway running right into the heart of the temple. It is also possible to visit a nearby Angkor-era quarry from where stone was cut to build these massive monuments. We then head into the bush to the remote Angkor capital of Koh Ker. The history of Cambodia is riven with dynastic spats and political intrigue and one of the most memorable came in the 10th century when Jayavarman IV (928-942) fell out with his family, stormed off to the northwest and established the rival capital of Koh Ker. Although the capital for just 15 years, Jayavarman IV was determined to legitimise his rule through a prolific building programme that left a legacy of 30 major temples and some gargantuan sculpture that is on display in the National Museum in Phnom Penh. Return to your hotel in Siem Reap late this afternoon.

Accommodation: Stay tonight at the Montra Nivesha (Deluxe Room)

Meals: Breakfast

Private transfer: Your guide and driver will transfer you to the airport.

Flight: VN834 Siem Reap - Hanoi 20.30 - 22.10

Meals: Breakfast