On the Toum Teav

A major portion of this adventure was spent on the Toum Teav, a small ship with 10 cabins (up to 20 passengers) and 14 crew. It’s dining/bar area is open-air and there is a sundeck. The cabins are very small but reasonably comfortable – air conditioned but the doors to the outside are louvered only so open to the air (and to night bugs). However, the bathrooms are more than sufficient with lots of hot water and a good shower. The staff kept things sparkling clean and everyone well-supplied with bottled water, clean laundry, information, tasty meals and thai-style massage. Although a Viking river cruise is more comfortable, a larger ship could not have navigated the small channels and canals that we did, nor have us transfer to even smaller vessels to dock in tiny villages or explore hidden sights.

Getting from ship to barge (okay, these were maybe 30 feet by 9 feet with an outboard motor, a driver and a helper, with folding chairs lined up for us) was always an adventure. The small boat would tie up to the prow of the Toum Teav, our crew would lower a small ladder and over we would go – mid-canal, mid-lake, mid-river! No one ended up swimming and we even managed travel on a much smaller boat sitting on the floor and wearing our life jackets. The only hard part was getting up again.

Kudos to the crew of the Toum Teav!