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We believe that travel should entail an exchange of knowledge and perspectives, a sharing of wealth, and a genuine appreciation of Laos and Cambodia’s beautiful natural environments. This philosophy underpins the heart and soul of our style of travel. We recognise that poorly planned itineraries or poorly informed tourists contribute less to cross-cultural understanding and less to the livelihoods of local people.
This unforgettable journey takes in many of this region’s most enthralling destinations. Commencing in northern Thailand we then cross the border into Laos to board our slowboat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. From here we travel to the picturesque Kuang Si waterfalls, one of the many beautiful waterfalls near Luang Prabang. On the way to the falls we stop at a Hmong hill tribe village and gain an insight into the lifestyle of one of the most significant ethnic minorities in the region. Like most minority groups in Laos, the Hmong originally migrated from China. Known as ‘montagnards’ (highlanders) by the French, many Hmong in the region were recruited to south Vietnamese and Royal Lao forces in the 1970s, in the hope of being rewarded with an autonomous homeland.
Journeying onwards in Cambodia we take in riverside Phnom Penh before moving on to the monumental temples of Angkor. Here we have facilitated a very significant donation to the World Monument Fund in Cambodia, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the maintenance of a select number of archaeologically precious temples in Angkor. During this journey we actively encourage our travellers to patronise or financially assist numerous not-for-profit organisations in Cambodia including Friends Restaurant in Phnom Penh (which trains and is staffed by disadvantaged young people), Made in Cambodia in Siem Reap (which sells items made by underprivileged Cambodians) and the Sunrise Orphanages in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Our offices also finance the Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap, which provides health care services to poor Cambodians and through which we sponsor the training of a Cambodian nurse.
On this journey our local guides are trained to share their knowledge of cultural and other local issues in a balanced, informative way; in this journey alone you are likely to meet several local guides from different provinces in Laos and areas in Cambodia. They share real experiences from their own lives and insights into their family life, influences and beliefs, thus providing our travellers with a deeper understanding of the places they visit. This is what motivates our guides, not shopping commissions.
Our offices in Cambodia (Phnom Penh and Siem Reap) are staffed with local people wherever possible and we have a long term aim of filling management roles with competent local staff. This presence in the region means we are much better able to control the content, the actions of our suppliers, and the style of our small group journey.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
