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Shepherd's Pie and KFC (that's Khmer Fried Crickets) on a Mekong cruise in Cambodia

It's lunchtime on the Mekong and we return to our river boat after a hot, steamy morning of sightseeing and rickshaw rides along its banks to discover that our Cambodian chef has prepared, of all things, shepherd's pie.

Even though the local cuisine is exotically delicious, and always on offer as an alternative, when you're far from home there are times when familiar comfort food seems the answer to a prayer, and chef timed his pie just right. We didn't have the heart to tell him that, as it was made from beef, it should have been cottage pie!

All aboard: John Craven sails the Mekong on the AmaLotus

It was one of many unexpected delights during a seven-night cruise on board the RV AmaLotus, the newest and largest boat on the wide and mighty Mekong. With a crew of 60 to look after twice as many passengers, this was a boutique hotel that floated along at a stately pace. We boarded her near Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh and disembarked 311 miles further south in Vietnam close to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon.

But before boarding the AmaLotus, my wife and I flew to Siem Reap, in the north of Cambodia, once a small village but now the country's fastest-growing city. That's because millions of visitors go there to trek round temples, and there are lots to choose from. More than a hundred of them stand in what is now an archaeological park stretching for 150 square miles, centred on Siem Reap.

Most of the temples were built up to nine centuries ago but later abandoned and swallowed by the surrounding jungle, their fate unknown to the outside world. Victorian explorers put them back on the map – especially the most famous of all, Angkor Wat, perhaps the largest religious monument ever known.

First a Hindu temple (Wat means temple in the local Khmer language) then a Buddhist one, it dominated the forested landscape just a few minutes drive from our fine resort hotel. Protected by a moat and an outer wall two miles long, the building is on three levels (climbing by ladderlike stairs to the top one is not for the faint-hearted) topped by five towers, the central one 213ft tall.

Archaeologists are still doing a fine job in restoring much of Angkor Wat's glory and I was told the best time to see it is at sunrise. On a drab, overcast day, though, its dark mass of stonework left me a little underwhelmed.

Larger than life: The jewel in the crown on Siem Reap's temples is the glorious Angkor Wat

I perked up at the next temple on our list, Bayon, just a short distance away. It's a place that radiates happiness thanks to 216 huge faces carved into its many towers – each one of them smiling serenely. Like every tourist there (and it was heaving), I just had to have my photograph taken in front of one of them, smiling of course.

Our temple trail (you can get a three-day pass for £34) then led us to what turned out to be my favourite, Ta Prohm. It has been left almost untouched and jungle trees with massive roots still intertwine with walls and buildings in a spooky yet sublime blend of nature and human achievement. No wonder Hollywood thought this the perfect setting for Lara Croft and Tomb Raider.

After our three-night temple 'fix' at Siem Reap, we faced a long road journey to join the AmaLotus – she hadn't been able to sail closer because water levels on the Tonle Sap River, which feeds into the Mekong, were too low.

But the drive was an opportunity to see remote rural life, to stop at a village food market where delights on display included KFC (Khmer Fried Crickets – yes, really, and rather crunchy!) and to call in at a school, sponsored by the firm we were travelling with, where children are taught to earn a living from their impressive artwork.

Life on the water: Travelling the Mekong, you are given an insight into how the river dwellers live

Eventually we caught sight of our home for the next week. From the outside the AmaLotus looked unremarkable, as many riverboats do, but inside her style was classic French colonial, all dark wood and elegant furnishings.

Our cabin was spacious with a small balcony and the bathroom had a shower cabinet you could move around in.

In the comfortable, open-seating restaurant the friendly, ever-attentive team served some of the best Asian and Western food I've ever experienced on water. My wife, suffering a little from the 35C heat and high humidity, was grateful for the air-conditioning.

striking a pose: Traditional dancers are one of the cruise attractions

Echoes of Pol Pot's murderous regime in the Seventies were still all around as we travelled through Cambodia. Almost everyone in this country lost relatives and friends; our guide was orphaned at the age of one when his teacher mother and doctor father were shot, just because they were educated people.

Sadly, but understandably, the killing fields where one third of the population perished have become tourist attractions I'm glad I decided to join the trip to the memorial site at Choeung Ek, just outside Phnom Penh, because only in the penetrating silence of that awful place can you comprehend the scale of the genocide.

Our visit also included a now empty secondary school where victims were detained and tortured until they wrongly confessed to working for the American CIA, and were then sent to Choeung Ek.

It brought back haunting memories of the time I spent during my Newsround days filming in a refugee camp in Thailand, close to the Cambodian border. Everyone I spoke to told harrowing stories of the Khmer Rouge's brutality and many had seen family members killed as they desperately fled towards freedom.

These days, Cambodia is still rebuilding and Phnom Penh is a lively, upbeat city. There's no public transport and only 20 taxis so everyone either walks or goes by tuk tuk, motorised rickshaws which are a cheap, fun way to see the city.

We dined on the terrace of the Foreign Correspondents Club, pretending we were the likes of Ernest Hemingway as we looked out over the floodlit Royal Palace. After leaving Phnom Pehn we meandered down the Mekong into Vietnam, passing endless paddy fields, strolling through villages and even a still-preserved jungle hideout used by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War.

But there was also time to relax on the sundeck and watch fishermen cast their nets from sampans. We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City to find the old 'Pearl of the Orient' retains some of its colonial charm. Paradoxically, in this city now named after a communist icon, capitalism is king – 'we have free trade but not free mouths' someone told me.

Our journey through two countries whose recent history was steeped in conflict but which now live in peace was remarkable for the warmth of the welcome. Even the Americans in our party, some I'd guess Vietnam veterans, commented on it.

Travel Facts

AmaWaterways (0808 223 5009, www.amawaterways.co.uk) offers a 15-night Vietnam, Cambodia And The Riches Of The Mekong land-cruise holiday costing from £3499pp. The price includes return flights with Vietnam Airlines, transfers, a seven-night Mekong cruise with all meals, complimentary house brand spirits, beer and wine with lunch and evening meals, daily excursions, an overnight stay on a traditional junk in Ha Long Bay and eight nights B&B hotel accommodation in Siem Reap, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, pre- and post-cruise, with guided land-based excursions.

The beautiful tradition that's been junked

For many years it's been a dream of mine to sail at sunset between the little islands of Vietnam's beautiful Halong Bay in one of those trademark wooden junks that feature on millions of postcards, writes John Craven.

All change: The traditional junk boats of Halong Bay are to be painted white to attract more tourism

But when I finally made it, I found I was cruising into controversy because a vital element of the Halong image had been forcibly changed. The junks – all 500 of them – were no longer in their traditional, natural colour of polished brown.

An order had gone out from communist tourism bosses to paint every one of them white, and owners who failed would lose their licences. The remote bay in the Gulf of Tonkin, almost four hours' drive west of the capital Hanoi, is one of the most spectacular seascapes on earth.

About 2,000 conical-shaped islands and islets rise from the gentle, emerald waters like the teeth of giant sea-monsters (in fact, Halong in Vietnamese means 'descending dragon') and a magical atmosphere pervades.

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But now that it's listed as both a Unesco World Heritage site and one of the new seven Wonders of Nature there are plans to further develop this top holiday area, plans that include a the construction of a £150 million airport.

Ahead of the expected surge in visitors it's been decreed that painting the junks white gives them more international appeal. It's a decision hotly disputed by boat owners and many tourists, including me, who think that what it does instead is make them look like any leisure boats, anywhere.

'White takes away the oriental image,' said one owner 'and painting them is costing more than £1 million. The bill will continue to mount because the colour won't last.'

Eerie outcrops: The limestone archipelago of Halong Bay has been declared a Unesco World Heritage Site

I called in at Halong Bay as part of an AmaWaterways landcruiselandcruise holiday to Vietnam and Cambodia, which included an overnight stay on a junk.

Around 150 of them are large enough to have comfortable cabins and I boarded in the early afternoon, just as the junk flotilla was setting sail – a spectacular sight, even if it would have looked better in brown!

But nothing could spoil the pleasure of cruising round the misty bay, calling at one large island to explore its magnificent cave system, being taken by local fishermen in their small boats to visit their floating village, watching our crew haul up the sails (at least they are brown) and dining on the finest Vietnamese fare.

No junk food on this junk! After dinner, passengers from several nations were invited to watch, would you believe, a Top Gear video – the one where Jeremy Clarkson and Co risk life and limb by motorcycling around Vietnam.

We could sympathise, as we had ventured on to Hanoi's streets, where two million bikes and scooters come at you like avalanches. Pedestrian crossings and traffic lights are mere suggestions.

To cross the road, you take a deep breath, step out and walk very slowly, giving them time to dodge you. It was all so different out on the silent bay where a late-night stroll round the deck revealed only the twinkling lights of other junks moored close by.

After breakfast, we sailed to shore and as I travelled back to Hanoi across the Red River Delta I couldn't help feeling that, as tourism grows, if all that changes is the colour of the junks then Halong Bay will have got off lightly.







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