CAMBODIA AND VIETNAM

The tour begins in Siem Reap, which is the town adjacent to the magnificent ruins of Angkor.  The town is now very busy with tourists, most of whom fly in for a day or two, stay in the many hotels near the ruins and then leave without learning much of the country or its culture.  We spend several days here, allowing time to see not only the main sites which all the tourists visit, but also some of the outlying sites, of which there are hundreds, and among which are some of the most beautiful.  We also take time to visit people who have done much to encourage and re-establish the traditional weaving of silk in Cambodia.

From Siem Reap we then move to the capital Phnom Penh to visit various places of interest and to meet Khun Pom and her assistants, who have also worked to revive Cambodian silk and handicrafts.  The stay here includes visits to villages and craft centres to see the work being undertaken.

From Phnom Penh we travel overland to Vietnam, where the tour is centred around Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), the main city in the South.  We explore the places of interest in the city, the markets and the villages of the Delta, and then move further north to the Southern Highland town of Dalat, the centre for the most elaborate embroidery.

Between HCMC and Dalat we stop to visit a famous Cham weaver in a village in Panthiet province.  We also visit a Cham temple built in the same period as Angkor.  Before returning to HCMC, we finish this part of the tour on the beach in Mui Ne.  Along the beach are scores of fishing coracles, and nearby, wonderful picturesque sand dunes.

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