About the trip

As the AmaDara makes its way up river from Ho Chi Minh City, passengers will visit local artisans, bustling markets, and wildlife habitats. Stopping in the town of Sa Dec, we will see one of the largest temples devoted to Cao Dai, a religion native to the Mekong Delta. After crossing into Cambodia, participants will visit a traditional village before taking in the sites of Phnom Penh, including the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Readings, lectures, and discussions will explore pre-colonial Vietnamese and Cambodian history; French colonialism; the formation and growth of the National Liberation Front in the 1960s; combat in the Mekong Delta; the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia after 1978; and the normalization of U.S.-Vietnamese relations in the 1990s. 

 

 

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on the trip		  

2026 Optional Pre-Cruise Stay in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

 

2026 Optional Post-Cruise Program,
Charms of the Mekong

 

2026 2-Night Post-Cruise Program in Siem Reap
2-Night Package: $399 USD per person in double occupancy
Single Supplement: $598 USD solo travler

Included in the package:
• 2-night hotel accomodation in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) with daily breakfast buffet and excursions in the city (subject to availability).
• All transfers except between airport and hotel in Ho Chi Minh City (either direction).
 
6-Night Package: $2200 USD per person in double occupancy
Single Supplement: $3300 USD solo travler
*Add Intra-Asia Air (Siem Reap to Hanoi) for $420 USD per person - includes all taxes, rate subject to change

 

Included in the package:
• 2-night hotel accomodation in Siem Reap with daily breakfast buffet and excursions in the city (subject to availibility).
• 3-night hotel accomodation in Hanoi with daily breakfast buffet and excursions in the city (subject to availibility).
• 1-night overnight stay on board a luxury vessel in Ha Long Bay to enjoy a scenic cruise of the Bay's limestone cliffs and more than 2,000 small islands rising from the emerald waters. 
• All transfers except between airport and hotel in Hanoi (either direction).
 
2-Night Package: $699USD per person in double occupancy
Single Supplement: $1048 USD solo travler

 

Included in the package:
• 2-night hotel accomodation in Siem Reap with daily breakfast buffet and excursions in the city (subject to availability).
• All transfers except between airport and hotel in (either direction).

Program Leaders
Dr. Matt Masur Dr. Marc Rugani
Dr. Matthew Masur's primary area of research is U.S. relations with the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) in the 1950s and 1960s. He holds a particular interest in American and South Vietnamese efforts to use propaganda and other informational activities to bolster public support for the South Vietnamese government. Dr. Masur has published articles or book chapters on such topics as recent scholarship on the Vietnam War and the parallels between the Vietnam War and the war in Iraq. More recently, he has been working on projects that bridge historical research and pedagogy. He is co-editor of a of book series through University of Wisconsin Press on teaching historical topics, and co-edited the first volume in the series, Understanding and Teaching the Vietnam War. His current project is an edited book on teaching the Cold War. 

As a Catholic social ethicist, Dr. Rugani's research is most often interdisciplinary, exploring intersections among theology, development theory, economics, and political philosophy. His main interest is in fostering mutually critical engagement between the Capabilities Approach and Catholic social teaching on the idea of integral human development and ecology. Other interests include the frontiers of rights discourse, virtue ethics, and the theology of Bernard Lonergan.
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