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Indochina tours, Discoverer

country:Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam
location:Indochina holidays 
departures:2009: 22 Nov, 6 Dec, 13 Dec, 20 Dec, 27 Dec
2010: 3 Jan, 10 Jan, 17 Jan, 24 Jan, 31 Jan, 7 Feb, 14 Feb, 21 Feb, 28 Feb, 7 Mar, 14 Mar, 21 Mar, 28 Mar, 4 Apr, 11 Apr, 18 Apr, 25 Apr, 2 May, 9 May, 16 May, 23 May, 30 May, 6 Jun, 13 Jun
price:From £1040 (18 days) excluding flights. We can arrange flights from the UK
vouchers:Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday
 
the amazing things you'll be doing
This exhilarating trip highlights the diverse cultures of three South East Asian countries, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand and it's packed with heaps of adventure as we travel overland by train, road and boat. We begin in North Vietnam and discover the charms of graceful Hanoi before taking the train down to a city that's steeped in history and culture, Vietnam's former imperial capital, Hue. A short drive through some remarkable rural and coastal scenery brings us to Hoi An. We spend some time in this wonderfully preserved ancient port town, a favourite of every traveller to Vietnam.

Further south at the beach resort-city of Nha Trang we'll cruise the offshore islands and relax in the sun before once again catching the overnight sleeper train down to the steamy southern city of Saigon. We drive overland into Cambodia and after spending a day exploring its capital Phnom Penh, continue by bus around South East Asia's largest freshwater lake to Siem Reap. From here we'll explore what is regarded as one of the world's greatest archaeological monuments, the magnificent Angkor temple complexes.

Our adventure is by no means over yet as we journey to the former French colonial outpost of Battambang. From Battambang we drive to the Cambodian/Thai border town of Poipet over rough and undeveloped roads, in local mini-vans. The roads improve and we continue on to exciting Bangkok and journey's end in the comfort of an air-conditioned coach.
day-by-day itinerary
Day 1-2:Hanoi
Day 3:Hue
Day 4-5:Hoi An
Day 6-8:Nha Trang
Day 9:Saigon
Day 10:Saigon
Day 11-12:Cu Chi Tunnels - Phnom Penh
Day 13-15:Siem Reap - Angkor
Day 16-17:Battambang - Bangkok
Day 18-19:Bangkok
Award winner
This tourism business won an Award in our 2007 Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards - organised by responsibletravel.com in association with The Times, World Travel Market and Geographical Magazine, of the Royal Geographical Society
how this holiday makes a difference
Around the globe, we identify selected community projects that we can support through our trips. KOTO (Know One, Teach One) is a training centre and restaurant, established to help disadvantaged kids in Hanoi to get off the streets and into a stable living and working environment. Each year an integral part of the training is a field trip in Vietnam which this operator sponsors.

This trip is focused on respecting and benefiting the local people and the environment of this country. On this trip you will be lead by an experienced local leader passionate about their country's history, heritage and natural beauty that will help you to get 'under the skin' of their country and see it through the eyes of a local. This trip stays at locally run accommodation; we eat at local restaurants and travel on local transport. This ensures the financial return to the local economy opens up training and employment opportunities - and allows for informal and meaningful interaction between our travellers and local people.

In 2009, we aim to neutralise all major emissions created by our trips, so that they can be offered as the best green alternative available. This means all greenhouse gases emitted by transport and accommodation during all of our trips will be balanced by an Australian-based ‘profit for purpose’ company that invests all funds into renewable energy and will invest in projects aimed at ‘neutralising’ your contribution to greenhouse gases.

The maximum group size on all of our adventures is 15 passengers – with exception of some African trips (24 max). Travelling in small groups ensures we make significantly less impact on the natural environment, as well as breaking down many of the communication barriers presented by a larger group.

Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people.

We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel.

'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left).

We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays.

We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism.

This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards.

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