The story is especially poignant for me after cruising the Mekong on AMAWATERWAYS La Marguerite.

In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, we visited the Killing Fields as well as the torture camp known as S-21.

For me, it was important that my daughter and I saw the Killing Fields and the torture camp so that we would never forget the atrocities committed there, just as it is important to see holocaust memorials and museums. Nonetheless, it was a gut-wrenching day in Phnom Penh, especially when confronted with a tree against which babies were beaten to death.

The New York Times article was of particular interest, and I admit some disappointment in such a light sentence for such horrible crimes.

A grim but necessary morning in Phnom Penh. We visited one of the Khmer Rouge's many 'Killing Fields,' where the renegade regime committed genocidal atrocities during its rule from 1975 to 1979. Our guide (pictured) told us how his father was captured and imprisoned by the Khmer Rouge and how out of thousands at S-31, was only one of six to survive. How? He noticed that the Khmer Rouge used hundreds of padlocks to incarcerate prisoners but had no system to organize the keys, so they were forced to cut the locks with bolt-cutters each time they took a prisoner away (for interrogation and torture likely). Upon arriving at S-31, our guide's father told the guards he could pick the locks, saving the padlocks for future use. Although he had never picked a lock before, he had observed someone doing so years before. Each morning at a cafe in Phnom Penh, the father had watched a shopkeeper pick a padlock to enter his store. In a test before the prison commander, the father succeeded in unlocking 7 of 10 padlocks. As a worker in the prison, he was no longer treated in the same way as prisoners. However, he was shackled each day. Never mind that he could pick the lock any time he wanted to. After the Khmer Rouge was toppled, his father returned to the village where he had been given up for dead.

At The Killing Fields In Phnom Penh. It is estimated that the Khmer Rouge exterminated as much as one third of Cambodian's population between 1975 and 1979.

Phnom Penh's Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is situated at the site of the notorious Security Prison 21 (or S-21). A former high school, S-21 was used a prison and torture chambers during the Khmer Rouge's rule of Cambodia.

Small prison cells at Phnom Penh's Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, situated on the site of the notorious Security Prison 21 (or S-21). A former high school, S-21 was used a prison and torture chambers during the Khmer Rouge's rule of Cambodia.

My friend Gary McLaughlin, a professional videographer, has produced a couple of informative and inspirational videos featuring AMAWATERWAYS Mekong River cruises. I cruised with AMAWATERWAYS  on the Mekong this past spring, and the cruise definitely rated as one of the top travel experiences of my life. You can see my articles at a mini-site on River Cruise Advisor, Cruising The Mekong. Meantime, enjoy Gary’s videos. The top video is titled, Mekong River Cruises by AMAWATERWAYS. The video below features AMAWATERWAYS Vietnam & Cambodia Highlights. Enjoy!

Noodle Station, originally uploaded by Ralph Grizzle.

During breakfast and lunch on La Marguerite, there was a “Fresh Noodle Station,” which prepared delicious noodle soups. Also available: a buffet of Western and Asian foods, fresh fruits and cheeses.

Noodle soup, an option for breakfast and lunch

Beer and wine were included for both lunch and dinner. The Vietnamese beer was good, especially after a morning of touring, but the Vietnamese wine – well, what can I say? As you might expect, it left a lot to be desired. Next season, however, AMAWATERWAYS will upgrade the wines on La Marguerite, probably to New Zealand or Australian vintages.

Dinner was a sit-down-and-be-served affair. Most of the passengers I spoke with were pleased with the dinner choices and quality. You’re not getting Michelin-starred cuisine on La Marguerite, but the food was good, and getting better. AMAWATERWAYS is using its European chefs to train the kitchen staff.

For those who need their comfort foods, hamburgers and cheeseburgers were on the “Always Available” menu.

As noted in another post, there were no illnesses that I know of from food on the ship. All water used, to cook and wash vegetables, was treated. Bottled water was supplied for staterooms and tours.

All Eyes Izzy, originally uploaded by Ralph Grizzle.

There’s been a great deal of interest from readers about whether the Mekong is a good cruise for kids. The short answer is yes. Take them and venture forth! For more explanation, read on.

Isabel Karst, age 17, and Britton, my daughter, age 14

There were four kids on our April 2010 cruise, ranging in age from 5 to 17. For the teens, there’s no question that the cruise was a wonderful and age-appropriate experience. Isabel Karst, 17 years old and daughter of AMAWATERWAYS’ vice president of sales, called it one of the best trips of her life. Yes, Isabel is young, but she’s well-traveled, having been to Europe countless times with her mother on river cruises.

My daughter, Britton, age 14, told me during the trip: “I don’t think it matters what age you are. I’m getting the same thing out of it that an adult would.” That’s true. In fact, she may have absorbed more than I did. Certainly, her journal tells me that the cruise was a valuable experience for her.

La Marguerite even features a pool

On one level, our Mekong cruise was a vacation (La Marguerite was like a luxury hotel, with a pool), but on another level, the trip provided historical and cultural enrichment, a broader understanding of the world we share with others, and yes, the beginning of something transformational for my daughter – to that of a world citizen.

My daughter developed a better understanding of another culture.

Part of the reason that the cruise was so successful for kids was because of the way the program was structured. There were one or two tours each day. The morning tours started at 8:30 a.m., and the afternoon tours started at around 2 p.m. The tours were just the right length for a kid’s and adult’s attention span, typically two- to three-hours and with enough activity to keep the kids interested and amused.

On most tours, we traveled like the locals, by boat (ours was a private boat), which was a great way to get around and also good for the kids, much better than being stuck on a bus.

Isabel and Britton at Cambodia's Royal Palace in Phnom Penh

We were always back on La Marguerite for lunch. On some days, there was a second tour, and on other days, we cruised. On those days, there were presentations, some kid-friendly, like the towel-folding demonstration, where staff taught kids and adults how to fold towels to resemble animals.

Regarding food: Kids can be finicky eaters, and while there were no kids’ menus on La Marguerite, there was a good selection of kid-friendly food, including cheeses and fresh fruits. The breakfast and lunch buffet was a mix of Asian and Western foods, but we could also order hamburgers and other “comfort foods” from the menu. I should point out that there were no stomach illnesses that I know of from the food. Vegetables (the main concern for illnesses) were washed with treated water.

For kids and adults, La Marguerite features an expansive DVD collection, with kid-friendly videos, and the largest flat-panel, in-stateroom televisions I’ve ever seen on a ship.

Friends and Family.

What about the younger Dutch kids, ages 5 and 7? I asked their mother Christine if she thought her kids were too young to appreciate the experience. She responded that the trip was “very important for their development,” adding that “they now understand more about the world and about different cultures and religions.”

Her children saw many people praying in temples and asked what the people were praying for. Christine told them they were praying for good things to happen. The next day, she found her kids praying, Vince, age 5, for a toy car, and Izzy, age 7, for a new Barbie. Christine explained that these were not the types of things that people prayed for, that people prayed for a better world.

Izzy was sometimes reflective on our trip.

Later, Izzy came to her and asked how long it took for prayers to come true. Depends on what you’re praying for, Christine responded. Izzy had prayed for all poor people to become rich so that there would be no hardship. She added thoughtfully, “But I think that will take more than a couple of days to happen.”

There is another component to the trip for families, and that is the bonding that takes place. “In our normal lives, we are so busy with work that we often take family for granted,” Christine said, echoing my own thoughts. “On this trip, we have spent so much time together and had so many experiences. For the bonding of our family, it’s been very good.”

The kids learned more about prayer and ritual and the world we live in.

AMAWATERWAYS' President Rudi Schreiner holding a tarantula.

Fried Tarantula, originally uploaded by Ralph Grizzle.

AMAWATERWAYS’ President Rudi Schreiner could not wait to try the Cambodian delicacy, fried Tarantula.

After holding one of the live specimens in his hand, however, he could barely stomach eating one. “It was so cute,” he said. But as there was a tray full of tarantulas already fried, Schreiner popped one in his mouth.

A Cambodian delicacy: Fried Tarantula

What did he think? “Tastes like bacon,” he said, “bacon with hair.”

Yum!

Click on the photo above to launch a Flickr slideshow featuring the best photos from our eight-day Mekong cruise.

One highlight of our 8-day Mekong cruise: a 20-minute ox-cart ride back to La Marguerite. Click on the photo above to launch a Flickr slideshow.

Friday afternoon in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, passengers from La Marguerite enjoyed ceremonial song and dance at the National Museum. The performance is part of a blessing ritual in the days before the New Year on April 13 (sometimes celebrated on April 14).

Our morning was a bit more grim, as we visited the Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Photos and captions below.

A grim but necessary morning in Phnom Penh. We visited one of the Khmer Rouge's many 'Killing Fields,' where the renegade regime committed genocidal atrocities during its rule from 1975 to 1979. Our guide (pictured) told us how his father was captured and imprisoned by the Khmer Rouge and how out of thousands at S-31, was only one of six to survive. How? He noticed that the Khmer Rouge used hundreds of padlocks to incarcerate prisoners but had no system to organize the keys, so they were forced to cut the locks with bolt-cutters each time they took a prisoner away (for interrogation and torture likely). Upon arriving at S-31, our guide's father told the guards he could pick the locks, saving the padlocks for future use. Although he had never picked a lock before, he had observed someone doing so years before. Each morning at a cafe in Phnom Penh, the father had watched a shopkeeper pick a padlock to enter his store. In a test before the prison commander, the father succeeded in unlocking 7 of 10 padlocks. As a worker in the prison, he was no longer treated in the same way as prisoners. However, he was shackled each day. Never mind that he could pick the lock any time he wanted to. After the Khmer Rouge was toppled, his father returned to the village where he had been given up for dead.

At The Killing Fields In Phnom Penh. It is estimated that the Khmer Rouge exterminated as much as one third of Cambodian's population between 1975 and 1979.

Little girl at the site of the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh.

Children at the site of the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh.

Blessing day at Phnom Penh's Killing Fields

Monks performing blessings at Phnom Penh's Killing Fields

Victims of the Khmer Rouge atrocities in Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh's Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is situated at the site of the notorious Security Prison 21 (or S-21). A former high school, S-21 was used a prison and torture chambers during the Khmer Rouge's rule of Cambodia.

Small prison cells at Phnom Penh's Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, situated on the site of the notorious Security Prison 21 (or S-21). A former high school, S-21 was used a prison and torture chambers during the Khmer Rouge's rule of Cambodia.

Tuktuks, motorcycle taxis pulling trailers that seat from two to ten are a cheap and easy way to get around Phnom Penh.

Situated near the Royal Palace, the National Museum exhibits more than 5,000 pieces of Asian art, sculptures and statues.

Monks who came to perform blessings at Cambodia's National Museum.

At Cambodia's Royal Palace

At Cambodia's Royal Palace

Our Guide Thoai At Cambodia's Royal Palace

At Cambodia's Royal Palace

At Cambodia's Royal Palace

Sunset in Tan Chau, 20 kilometers from the Cambodian border

Another fascinating day on the Mekong. La Marguerite overnighted in Tan Chau, 20 kilometers from Vietnam’s border with Cambodia. The ship provided boat shuttle service into town last night, and about a third of the ship’s passengers visited the town.

On rickshaws the next morning for a town tour.

The next morning, we shuttled ashore and boarded rickshaws to tour the town of Tan Chau. To Westerners, having another human pull you along on a bicycle-driven rickshaw may seem inhumane, but remember, this is how they make their living. The rickshaw is a common method to public transport.

A visit to the back alleys of Tan Chau

The rickshaw took us to a temple, a traditional silk-weaving factory, a mat-making factory, followed by a walk through the back alleys back to the boat shuttle.

Next we toured by boat along the river.

Afterward, we traveled by boat along the narrow canals to Evergreen Island (the rough translation). Our guide says the only tourists he has ever encountered here are passengers from La Marguerite.

Boat life on the river near Tan Chau

On Evergreen Island, seldom, if ever, visited by tourists other than those on La Marguerite

A villager on Evergreen Island

Leaving Evergreen Island

Worker carrying rice husks for fueling fires at the brick factory in Sa Dec, Vietnam.

Wednesday, April 7, 5:30 p.m. Cruising Into Tan Chau, Vietnam — The early-evening sun appears as a bright orange orb descending into the Mekong. La Marguerite slows its pace, sailing into Tan Chau, the last Vietnamese outpost before the vessel crosses into Cambodia tomorrow. On board, passengers are enjoying a variety of activities. Some are cooling off in the pool, some are sipping cocktails, some are attempting to get the perfect snapshot of the sunset. All appear happy to be exploring a region relatively new to tourism and river cruising.

Our floating hotel, La Marguerite, anchored off Sa Dec, Vietnam.

On this day and on prior days, we have stepped ashore for tours included in our cruise fare. The tours are well-organized and visually stimulating. Nearly any direction that a camera can be pointed frames a photograph worthy of keeping. Today, nearly midway through our eight-day cruise, and already we have a shoebox full of memories and experiences. “I’ve taken at least 500 photos,” says a man from Helsinki. With each destination, it seems that it cannot get any better, and yet somehow it does.

All kinds of marine traffic on the Mekong.

Today in Sa Dec was no exception. The impression for me and for other passengers I spoke with is that we are touring destinations still unspoiled by mass tourism. Indeed, we see few other Westerners as we walk through the markets and streets of the villages along the Mekong.

Waves and smiles from everyone.

People wave to us, happy when we wave back. Some smile, some laugh, some cover their mouths in embarrassment. “People are eager to talk and communicate with foreigners,” says our articulate and affable guide Thoai.

The tourists are the attractions.

We see no drunks, no beggars, not a single palm extended for a handout. No one is hassling us to buy anything. On the contrary, they joke with us, taunting us with good humor. A Dutch couple has brought their two young children on the cruise. At the market, the kids, ages 5 and 7, giggle when a grinning old woman shoves a live catfish toward them.

Leaving Sa Dec

River cruising only recently started here in the Mekong, and in the towns and villages along the Mekong, it is as if the locals have never seen people of our race. “It’s almost like we are the attractions,” says Rudi Schreiner, president of AMAWATERWAYS. The Southern California-based company began operations on the Mekong in the fall of last year and has plans to build a small fleet of river cruise vessels, operating on the same model that made its European river cruises so successful.

At the market in Sa Dec.

Being here with a complement of passengers from Europe, Australia and only a small group of us from the United States, it is clear that we are all participating in the pioneering of something new. Pandaw Cruises has operated on the Mekong since 2004, but AMAWATERWAYS is bringing a new luxury standard to the river, operating not only the first luxury vessel on the Mekong but also the first river-cruise vessel built by Vietnamese.

Our guide Thoai at the former home of Marguerite Duras.

What Mekong River cruising offers is an authenticity of experience not easily found in a world increasingly overrun by mass tourism. Surely, the Mekong will be exposed to mass tourism in the not-too-distant future, but for now, the Mekong is unspoiled. If the region is on your bucket list, do it soon if you want an authentic experience.

And the experience truly is remarkable. Passengers I talked with express amazement with the destination and high satisfaction with the ship. They rave about the staterooms, food, staff and service. All are better than expected, passengers say.

La Marguerite’s staterooms are spacious, air-conditioned, and feature flat-panel televisions and large bathrooms. Meals are a mix of Asian and Western. Soft drinks, beer, wine and local spirits are served up free of charge. Excursions are included in the cruise fare. Wireless internet, while slow, is free to use. There’s a selection of DVDs and books. Other diversions: spa treatments, sauna, pool and sun deck. Should you be so inclined, there are exercise bikes and treadmills, lectures and even a big-screen, projector-style movie offered on two nights during our cruise.

Last night, we watched the steamy movie, The Lovers, based on a semi-autobiographical novel by the French writer Marguerite Duras (also the ship’s namesake). This morning, we toured the home in Sa Dec where Duras lived between 1928 and 1932, the time period during which the movie was based. Vietnam seems to have changed relatively little from that time period until now. The villages along the Mekong appear to be suspended in time. Some say that Vietnam is like Thailand used to be three or four decades ago. Change comes slowly to the villages along the Mekong.

Tomorrow afternoon, we cross the border into Cambodia. Schreiner says Cambodia represents the more spiritual part of the cruise, with its ubiquitous monks, temples and, of course, Angkor Wat, the world’s largest religious relic. As good as it’s been, perhaps the best is yet to come.