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.