Viking Cruises

Early morning food markets prove a perfect window onto local life. Trailing through narrow lanes crammed with piles of fragrant herbs and chillies, and sloshing tubs of wriggling fresh fish and little river prawns, we rub shoulders with women shopping for dinner (and bargaining furiously). Everything is freshly picked or caught, the notion of food miles redundant. e most picturesque market is in Cambodia's Kampong Cham, a sleepy town of broad streets and faded French colonial buildings that feels a bit like a film set. In the riverfront market, buckets of lotus flowers sit beside buckets of frogs, one of the region's delicacies. Our lovely onboard program director Lee delights in our squeamish groans as he demonstrates how to approach another delicacy, duck egg embryos. We pass on the snakes. Back on board the food is pleasingly reptile-free and we look forward to every meal, wonderful dinners in the handsome dining room and lunches where lighter options (salads and excellent soups) help us to maintain a fighting weight, countering the 6am pastries delivered to the tea and coffee station daily. e top deck bar becomes our favourite dining haunt, for early morning omelettes and strong Vietnamese coffee and then again before dinner for a French rose while watching the sun set through a misty miasma of pink and gold. In Phnom Penh, Viking assembles a posse of savvy auto rickshaw drivers, making it easy to leave the group for a little solo exploration; lunch at the grand Raffles Hotel Le Royal is fun (try the yellow curry mussels) or a drink in the famous Elephant Bar where the Femme Fatale (champagne, cognac, Crème a la Fraise de Bois) was created for Jackie Kennedy in 1967. e newly hip Russian Market district (Toul Tom Poung) is home to several cool restaurants and bars including the Sundown Social Club (think retro Miami) overlooking the market rooftops. In lovely Siem Reap, Mahob offers a contemporary take on traditional Khmer cuisine while sister restaurant Lum Orng (on the outskirts of town) specialises in farm to table menus. Remember to stock up on fruity Kampot pepper, the finest in the world, and try some fried crickets (KFC Lee calls them), an important bulwark against starvation during the horrific rule of the Khmer Rouge. You might even spot edible birds nest on menus (the countryside is dotted with huge pigeonniers or nesting houses for the swiftlets). All Viking Saigon itineraries begin or end in Hanoi, a street food mecca. Every pavement is dotted with little braziers, and the scent of sizzling food is as much a part of Hanoi street life as the frenetic buzz of mopeds and motorbikes. Be sure to try the pho and banh mi. I love banh duc nong (tapioca flour with a pork mince gravy and loads of coriander). And look for banh ran, made from glutinous rice, mung bean puree, fresh coconut and cane sugar, with the texture of a chewy doughnut. We end our Viking voyage as we began, with a memorable meal, this time in Hanoi's Old Quarter. At Chapter Dining and Grill where chef Truong Quang Dung presents incredible food (have the suckling pig) in elegant rooms that more closely resemble an art gallery. Almost everything is cooked over a state-of-the-art flame grill, celebrating the city's cooking traditions in a nation as obsessed with food as your average river boat cruise passenger! Clockwise: Siem Reap, Cambodia; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Viking Saigon Sky Bar meal Life on the Mekong 56 VIKING

• Cover