By Experience Travel Group‘s Jamie Owen after a river cruise in Cambodia.

Aboard Aqua Mekong (as featured in our ‘The Mekong in Style’ holiday).

Full Disclosure

I’ve spent years living in Southeast Asia with the Mekong practically on my doorstep, yet I’d only ever seen small stretches of it. (Forgivable, perhaps, for a river that runs over 3,000 miles.)

And while I’m confessing, I’ll share that cruises had never really been my “thing”: too many people, too little depth.

But when the boutique river cruise ship Aqua Mekong (twice crowned ‘the World’s Best River Cruise Line’ by Travel+Leisure) invited me aboard for a journey in Cambodia, it didn’t take me long to accept.

First impressions of Aqua Mekong

After a night in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s restless, rapidly evolving capital, I boarded the boat early the following afternoon. 

I knew the reputation going in, but reputation and reality are different things. This was firmly the latter. The ship feels less like a cruise vessel and more like a boutique hotel that happens to float: just over 60 metres long, with only 20 suites. Each a generous 30-plus square metres, with floor-to-ceiling windows or a private balcony to let in the views. On deck, a well-stocked bar, indoor and outdoor dining, a games room, and a plunge pool, which was especially inviting after long afternoons out exploring in the Cambodian sun.

But what I didn’t expect was just how much I’d learn about the river and the communities that live along it. Not in a lecture-heavy, worthy sort of way, but through small, everyday encounters that open up real life on the river; only possible with guides who know it well.

Each evening, the next day’s excursions were laid out (two in the morning, two in the afternoon), cycling, kayaking, guided walks, tuk-tuk tours. I managed to try them all, which says something about the pacing: enough to feel full, never overwhelming.

Between excursions, we returned to the boat by one of Aqua’s four private skiffs to freshen up and refuel with Khmer-style meals and refreshing drinks. Beyond the fantastic food, the views, and the outings, it was the smaller details of this cruise that won me over: shoes cleaned after every outing, laundry done daily. It sounds excessive until you’ve done two excursions in 30-degree heat! At which point it feels less like an indulgence and more like they’ve thought of everything.

Accessing certain communities along the Mekong you’d otherwise miss

Our first outing was to Koh Chen, a silversmith village just along the Tonlé Sap River. It’s the only place in Cambodia that produces silverware at scale, supplying everything from household items to pieces for the royal family. We were invited in to see artisans at work, handcrafting intricate plates, bowls, cutlery, and ornaments using techniques that haven’t really changed in generations. 

From there, we took to two wheels on good-quality mountain bikes, courtesy of Aqua Mekong, and set off on a leisurely ride down quiet dirt roads, past stilted houses and waving children, into the unhurried rhythm of rural riverside life. This behind-the-scenes glimpse gave the silversmith visit so much more context: seeing how they live, where they grew up, where they went to school, and where they learned their craft.

After a gourmet lunch back on board, we ventured further north for another bike ride (optional, though I was glad I went), to meet a local farming family. A young woman and her three children showed us how they work the land along the river, growing rice alongside lotus plants. I’d never thought much about lotus beyond how it looks, but here it’s practical: the seeds are roasted and eaten, the stems stripped and used for weaving. It grows in water and alternates with rice by season, making it a natural complement to the paddies around it. Without our guide, we’d have cycled straight past and I’d have known nothing of it. 

It’s this sort of detail that makes the landscape feel lived-in rather than just scenic.

Over the next couple of days, as we continued upriver, these encounters kept coming; each one adding another layer to the river and the communities built around it. 

We journeyed through the town of Kampong Chhnang and visited a family home where they make clay pots by hand. The artisan, a cheerful woman in her early thirties, demonstrated how to shape clay without a potter’s wheel making it look entirely effortless. I can confirm, having tried, that it is not.

Another afternoon, kayaking along a stretch of the river, we passed a cluster of modest, newly built stilt houses. Our guide explained their story. The families living there were Vietnamese, economic migrants who had spent nearly 40 years living on the water after finding no refuge in Vietnam and no right to stay anywhere else.

Known as ‘boat people’, they’d settled on the Cambodian Mekong in makeshift floating homes with no access to schools or healthcare. Only recently has the Cambodian government recognised them, issuing national IDs and allocating land, giving them a fixed address and access to services, and the possibility of building their own businesses. Without that context, they’d just be another passing scene.

My final reflections

Looking back, the biggest surprise wasn’t the level of comfort, or even the scenery. It was the depth of immersion I felt.

Seeing Cambodia from the river itself, with brilliant guides who take you beyond the banks and into the heart of the communities along it, offers a perspective that’s genuinely irreplaceable.

And for someone who wasn’t interested in cruises to begin with, that’s saying quite a lot.

FEELING INSPIRED TO GO?

Explore our Mekong River Journeys or other ETG Cambodia trips, then talk to our specialists.

Feel free to get in touch or call us.