I made a big mistake when I boarded Uniworld’s Mekong Jewel. I told my butler, Rithy, that his services would not be required to unpack my suitcase. He seemed surprised but accepted my decision graciously. I’d never had a butler before and, although I welcomed the fact that he would stock my minibar with whatever I fancied, bring me fresh fruit daily and, most importantly, refill the cookie jar on demand, I was less easy with the unpacking thing.
It just seemed, well, lazy. So instead of joining my fellow guests, who were sipping cocktails as they watched the sun set over the languid river, I was feverishly folding and hanging up what seemed like my entire wardrobe. A fragmented moon was reflected in the water by the time I had finished.
With only 34 suites, the Mekong Jewel, which debuted in January 2020, has a swish, boutique hotel feel, the decor airy, rich and luxurious without being over the top. Its owner, Uniworld, pays great attention to service — Americans are the company’s main market — and it works incredibly well. The Cambodian and Vietnamese staff, from the chefs to the guides (and the resident manager, Polina, an unflappable blue-eyed blonde from the far east of Russia), were courtesy itself; nothing was too much trouble.
My all-inclusive trip had begun three days earlier at Siem Reap, gateway to the temples and palaces of ancient Angkor in Cambodia. Along with my fellow travellers — 26 Americans ranging in age from mid-forties to late eighties — I was based in the luxurious Sofitel Angkor Phokeethra, built amid the encroaching jungle around lakes brimming with lotus flowers and giant lily pads. The hotel’s cool lobby, fragrant with lemongrass and galangal, welcomed us with huge lanterns filled with tealights.
I had expected it to be hot — Cambodia’s coldest month is January, when temperatures may dip to 26C — but I hadn’t anticipated the overpowering humidity. In March the daytime temperature hovered at a sweltering 34C. As we left our air-conditioned coaches to tour Siem Reap’s treasures the heat made me feel as if we were doing a gym cardio class, fully clothed, in a Turkish bath.
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These days were a happy blur of temples and tuk-tuk tours. The Angkor Archaeological Park stretches for more than 150 square miles, with Angkor Wat, one of the world’s largest temples, its masterpiece. Built in the 12th century from finely cut sandstone blocks, without the use of mortar, it is magnificent, with lotus-bud towers originally covered in gold, vertiginous steps, a gallery stacked full of stone Buddhas, and a crush of intricate carvings that would once have been a riot of colour.
At Angkor Thom, the moated royal city protected by a gargantuan stone “naga” cobra, the centrepiece is the Bayon temple, its 54 four-sided towers displaying 216 massive, smiling carved faces that become apparent only as you approach.
The most atmospheric, however, was yet to come. As we walked down a dusty orange track in the middle of the jungle the strident shriek of cicadas became a wall of sound, and giant kapok and gum trees wreathed in strangler figs loomed over us as the ruins of Ta Prohm monastery materialised. Doors and windows struggled for air through root systems with fat tentacles gripping and ripping apart the massive stones, and statues peered out from the centre of hollow tree trunks.
This monstrous, preternatural world was used in the 2001 movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider but nothing can prepare you for this ultimate display of the power of nature, so vital you almost expect a tendril to coil round your ankle if you stand still for too long.
Once we were sailing, our excursions became more exclusive, more intimate and off the beaten track. We climbed up to a small monastery for a water blessing from chanting monks, we visited a school in a tiny village and sat in on an English lesson, and we met women who had been helped to set up a microbusiness making tie-dyed indigo scarves to sell to tourists.
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Our last stop in Cambodia was the capital, Phnom Penh, where, after a white-knuckle tuk-tuk tour and a visit to the 19th-century Royal Palace with its collection of gold and silver treasures and diamond-encrusted Buddhas, we were taken to confront the country’s more recent history.
The Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum are the sobering and moving reminders of Pol Pot and his murderous Khmer Rouge army in the 1970s, when an estimated two million people — nearly a quarter of the population — were massacred. We would see more of the area’s troubled past in Vietnam, in the Viet Cong’s massive Cu Chi complex of tunnels just outside Ho Chi Minh City at the end of our voyage, as well as enjoying sampan tours of local villages and a visit to a floating market.
Returning to the serenity of the Mekong Jewel was the perfect end to every outing. Greeted by the crew with icy drinks and cold face flannels, we would hand over our shoes to be cleaned in readiness for the next adventure. In fact, my main concern was that I wasn’t going to be able to spend enough time on board. I loved sitting on my balcony just staring at the river or wallowing in my spa bath. I could hardly cram in spa treatments among the sightseeing, eating and drinking. A visit to the gym might have been a smart move because every meal was a feast of local flavours — preserved lime chicken with basil and lemongrass; braised pork with star anise and ginger; Khmer spiced beef; black sticky rice in banana leaves.
I had become an easy convert to a life of abject luxury. So I didn’t make the same mistake twice: when it came to disembarkation, I was first in the queue for Rithy’s packing skills.
Joanna Duckworth was a guest of Uniworld. Twelve-nights’ all-inclusive on the Timeless Wonders of Vietnam, Cambodia & the Mekong trip, departing on December 9, from £4,499pp, including flights, one-way business class upgrade, seven nights on board, three in Siem Reap and two in Ho Chi Minh City (uniworld.com)
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