New breed of ships cruising to remote destinations in the Amazon and Southeast Asia with hotel-level luxury
on our first morning aboard the Aria Amazon on the Peruvian stretch of the Amazon River, I slip into a camouflage life jacket and board one of four aluminium-sided skiffs headed for a tributary called the Pacaya River. Over the next four mesmerising hours, our group of 20 - plus four English-speaking naturalist guides - peer through binoculars into the soaring tree branches along the riverbanks in search of yellow-headed caracara, ring kingfishers and short-tailed parrots.
Thanks to our guide Julio's eagle eye, we watch a single capuchin monkey prance along a tree branch and ogle a pair of rare Taricaya turtles lumbering up the muddy riverbank. Julio then calls for us to look down just as three caiman crocodiles poke their beady eyes and elongated, scaly bodies out of the dark water. Seconds later, three pink river dolphins roll dorsal fin first alongside our skiffs.
Smaller ships such as the 16-cabin Aria Amazon are like no other form of modern luxury transport, taking guests to otherwise inaccessible destinations along the world's greatest rivers, and doing so without destroying the delicate environments. For this reason, while my four-night trip aboard Aqua Expeditions' Lima-based ship is my maiden voyage through the Amazon, it is not my first river cruise, nor will it be my last.
The ships travel from Bangkok to Ayutthaya, founded in 1350 by King U-Thong as the second capital, after Sukhothai of the Kingdom of Siam.
Anantara Cruises' slow boats indulgently extend this four-hour round trip into leisurely two- or three-day journeys featuring five-star guestrooms, exceptional gastronomic experiences and dedicated travel guides.
As the vintage vessel sails out of Bangkok's bustling metropolis towards lush mangroves and simple wood houses on stilts, knowledgeable historians introduce passengers to the grandeur of the Ayutthaya kingdom - an important late 16th-century hub for Asia, Arab and European trade, and home to emissaries from the Japanese and Chinese imperial courts as well as ambassadors from the Mughal court in Delhi and even Versailles.
En route, guests willing to climb off their cloud-like beds or plush outdoor sun loungers can follow Anantara's guides around the 17th-century Bang Pa-In Royal Palace, with its Chinese, baroque, gothic and Victorian structures enhanced by tropical gardens and topiary.
Everyone disembarks at the Unesco World Heritage site of Ayutthaya, where the ship's eloquent experts bring a crumbling collection of soaring prang reliquary towers and monumental Buddhist temples to life by sharing insider details. At the 15th-century Wat Ratchaburana, for example, they explain that the shrine was built to commemorate two princes who both died in a duel atop elephants to determine who would assume the throne.
On both sides of the globe, the river cruisers have been designed with the comforts of a world-class hotel, including thoughtful touches such as the Aria Amazon's powerful rainforest shower and Amazon-inspired cuisine from executive chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino.
Yet, luxurious river cruising in the 21st century calls for turning these well-endowed boats into a mere backdrop, instead emphasising what Aqua Expeditions founder Francesco Galli Zugaro calls "eye-level cruising".