After successfully launching a specialized program highlighting Vietnam’s Culinary Delights which includes a chef popularized by the late Anthony Bourdain, Pacific Delight Tours has now developed a 12-day Active Southeast Asia tour. The itinerary targets adventure seekers interested in delving off the beaten path to discover local life and culture both within and outside of major cities throughout Vietnam and Cambodia.
Highlights include a luxury cruise through Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where participants will enjoy an onboard cooking demonstration in addition to exploring Sung Sot Cave and hiking 600 steps to observe the limestone formations (with an option to kayak around the islets). An overnight train to Lao Cai will bring travelers to the seldom visited villages of Sa Pa and Giang Ta Chai, in the mountainous region of northwestern Vietnam, where they will trek terraced rice paddies to interact with the Hmong, Dzay and Dzao ethnic minorities. Visitors will also observe Silver Waterfall cascading more than 300 feet from Vietnam’s highest mountain pass.
Exploration of Vietnam continues in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon), where guests will experience the city’s burgeoning nightlife scene by streetlamp with a vintage Vespa tour of the bustling streets and narrow alleyways of the colonial French Quarter. Participants will bike rustic Ben Tre, known for its peaceful orchards and coconut fields,for an immersive experience with the culture of the Mekong Delta. A local antique collector known as Uncle Six will welcome guests into his home and teach participants how to climb a coconut tree with their bare hands. Travelers will row across shaded canals to board a lunch cruise where they will sample local specialties including sweet coconut desserts.
In Cambodia, a bike excursion through the Angkor Wat temple complex will cross the UNESCO World Heritage Site’s vast moat and continue along its causeway to view more than 1,700 Asparas (celestial dancers) carved into the temple walls-the longest continuous bas-relief structure in the world. For an aerial view, a Flight of the Gibbons canopy zipline eco-adventure (pictured) will traverse hanging bridges and provide inspiring views of the surrounding tropical rainforest as sky rangers impart knowledge of the Cambodian jungle.
Travelers will explore Chong Kneas Floating Village by boat to learn about the daily lives of local communities living around the lake. A visit to the Phsar Chas Market, originally destroyed by the Khmer Rouge in 1975 and rebuilt roughly 20 years later, will provide opportunities to sample unique food stalls and souvenir shops. The tour culminates with a quad bike excursion through Cambodia’s verdant countryside to observe laid-back villages, a local orphanage and Prei Monti-a Cambodian monastery dating back to the 9th century.
Priced from $3,499 per person, based on double occupancy, the program includes deluxe hotel accommodations, intra-Southeast Asia transportation throughout Vietnam and Cambodia, and all meals & activities outlined on the itinerary (excluding optional add-ons). International airfare is not included, but can be arranged by Pacific Delight Tours at the time of booking.
Pacific Delight Tours, www.PacificDelightTours.com