Teachers Tour Vietnam and Cambodia

A specialized trip to Vietnam for teachers and their spouses brings an up-close look to Vietnamese education system, to how education changed the country within 35 years after the brutal war. And no less important, this trip also offer a great vacation adventure to the country best known for its charms, landscapes, history, cultures, food and people.

  QUICK FACTS:

⇒ Tour grade: Easy (customizable)
⇒ Trip code: VS08 (private tour)
⇒ Trip duration: 18 days/ 17 nites
⇒ Destinations:  Hanoi - Sapa - Halong Bay - Hue - Hoi An - Saigon - Mekong - Siem Reap
⇒ Meals included: 17 breakfasts, 9 dinners, 18 lunches (Allow extra Meal budget minimum $20US/per day).
⇒ Transports: Private Car or Bus, Cyclo, Flight, Halong Bay Cruise, Mekong Boat trip.
⇒ Accommodation: 15 night in hotels, 1 night on Halong Bay Junk Cruise, 2 nights in local homestay (Sapa and Mekong)
⇒ Tour guides: English speaking tour guides (other languages are available upon request with different service rates).

TRIP HIGHLIGHTS:

• Enjoy the vibrant Hanoi and Saigon, the charming Hue and Hoi An, lively Siem Reap.
• Experience the tribal life in Sapa and Bac Ha Market.
• Indulge in the breath-taking beauty of Ha Long Bay.
• Enjoy the cooking demonstration.
• Explore Cu Chi Tunnels and amaze at the unique Cao Dai religion.
• Witness local life over Mekong Delta.
• Admire the magnificent Angkor Wat.
• Last but important, learn about Vietnamese education and culture via professional lectures.

► Why Choose Indochina Pioneer

► What they say... (See more comments from some of our past travellers)

William W from New Zealand
Our trip was great, especially our tour guide Tuyen was exceptional. You are fortunate to have him working for you. In my many years of traveling he is the most outstanding guide I ever had; knowledgeable, helpful, friendly, personable. He made all the logistics appear seamless. Could'nt have been better. Thank you!!
 

Contact Person: Steven Quinn E-Mail: sales@indochinapioneer.com Call Us: +84 43715 3627 | Fax: +84 43715 3626 Customize this tour | Hotline: +84 983 145 799

• Download Dossier
• Get Adobe

• Destination Information
• Travel Guide
• View Tour Map

BRIEF ITINERARY

Day 1  :    Hanoi Arrival
Day 2  :    Hanoi City tour – Water puppet show
Day 3  :    Lecture on Vietnam Education – Night Train to Sapa
Day 4  :    Sapa Arrival, visit Cat Cat Village, Ta Phin Village
Day 5  :    Sapa day-trek down to Lao Chai and Ta Van Villages
Day 6  :    Bac Ha Sunday Market – Overnight train to Hanoi
Day 7  :    Hanoi – Overnight cruise Ha Long Bay
Day 8  :    Ha Long Bay – Fly to Hue
Day 9  :    Hue City tour with lunch in a Buddhist Nunnery.
Day 10:    Lecture on Vietnamese Education – Drive to Hoi An.
Day 11:    Hoi An City and handicraft tour – Cooking Class
Day 12:    Hoi An – My Son Holly Land.
Day 13:    Hoi An - Fly Ho Chi Minh City – City tour
Day 14:    Ho Chi Minh City – Cu Chi Tunnel & Cao Dai Temple.
Day 15:    Ho Chi Minh City – Mekong Delta Homestay.
Day 16:    Mekong Delta – HCM City – Fly to Siem Riep.
Day 17:    Siem Riep – Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom
Day 18:     Morning boat trip Tonle Sap Lake. Fly home.

(N:B): Please note that all of our trip are privately designed. So that price includes the following hotels, activities, and transport, and visits to attractions are by private car and guide unless otherwise stated. Your guide will pick you up from lobby of your hotel in the morning. The guide will confirm the pick-up time the day before. If you prefer to start next day's trip earlier or a little later, please feel free to tell your guide.

DETAILED ITINERARY

Day 1: Arrival Hanoi (D)
Upon your arrival, our guide will meet you at the airport and accompany you to your hotel. There’s nothing plan for today until our welcome dinner.

Day 2: Hanoi City Tour (B, L, D)
Our first day tour includes our visits to Ho Chi Minh Complex which contains Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, his former stilt-house residence, the Presidential Palace (outside only) and Ho Chi Minh museum; The Temple of Literature, proudly cited as Vietnam's first university dating back to 1076. We then enjoy lunch with some Hanoi’s best food.

The afternoon tour covers the “Hanoi Hilton”, where the American “Pilots in Pijamas” were kept from 1965 to 1973; Ngoc Son Temple and Hoan Kiem Lake: The indispensable part in Hanoian spiritual life since 15th century. Late in the afternoon we take one hour cyclo tour (cycle rickshaw) through Hanoi’s Old Quarter of the 36 commercial streets to mingle into local urban life and witness the ways small merchandises make their living. We then enjoy the performance of the famous Water Puppet Show before going to dinner.

Day 3: Hanoi Lecture on Vietnamese Education – Night train to Sapa (B, L, D)
This morning we informally visit the University of Languages and International Studies – Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, which is part of Vietnam National University – Hanoi. We will be hosted by a professor who will present the current Vietnamese education system and its updated situation. After his 45 minutes presentation, we will have 15 minutes for Q&A then we will be individually escorted by the students to walk us around the university for another hour and exchange conversations with us. Via these conversations, we learn more about their student life, their family situations and we also help them practise their English.

We then visit the close-by Museum of Ethnology where 54 Ethnics of Vietnamese are featured with their costumes, worshiping object, working tools, etc. After lunch we will enjoy our free time for a rest of wandering around until our late hotel check out at 6.00pm.

In the evening we drive for dinner then transfer to Hanoi station to catch the over night train to Sapa. The accommodation for tonight will be in soft sleeper (4-shared cabin).

Day 4: Sapa (B, L)
Arrive to Lao Cai station at around 5.30am, take 90 minute drive to Sapa. We enjoy the early check-in for refreshment followed by breakfast. We then start our exploration with a walk to the H'Mong village of Cat Cat, walking through the community of Black Hmong people down to  Cat Cat water fall with the remain of French power plant. We walk back to Sapa town for lunch.

In the afternoon we drive downhill and commence an hour-long walk to Ta Phin. Ta Phin is home to the distinctive Red Dao (pronounced Zao) community. Return to Sapa and the remainder of the day is at leisure. Dinner is on your own

Day 5: Sapa (B, L)
Today we start with full day trek to settlements of Lao Chai and Ta Van. As we walk to the villages nestled in the valley below Sapa, the whole new world is open for us with rice terraces, colourful local ethnic minority people on their way to and from Sapa. These people are the Red Zao, Hmong and Tay. We will enjoy our picnic lunch in a busy restaurant-like place by the stream. We continue our walk through the ethnic villages until our bus takes us back to Sapa in the afternoon. We spend a second night in our hotel at Sapa town. Dinner is on your own arrangement.

Day 6: Bac Ha Sunday Market – Overnight train back to Hanoi (B, L, D)
After breakfast we drive to the exciting Bac Ha Sunday market to mingle in real tribal community life. A visit to this best-known Sunday kermis offers a great chance for us to understand about how rural ethnic tribes can communicate and exchange with one another, and fantastic photo opportunities. We will enjoy a simple lunch in a restaurant by the market. Time depending we may go for a walk to the nearby village for some more photo opportunities or paying a short visit to the Hmong King’s palace (King Hoang A Tuong) built by the French colonists and the Chinese in 1920 before taking our bus back to Lao Cai Town.

Arrive at Lao Cai Town, we will have a brief stop at the border gate to China for your photos. We have our early dinner before boarding our train back to Hanoi. Overnight on A/C train.

Day 7: Train back to Hanoi – Halong (B, L, D)
We arrive back to Hanoi station in the early morning. Our guide will arrange a transfer to a mini hotel for shower and breakfast before starting our Ha Long bay trip.

We depart for Ha Long Bay in a four hours drive with a bathroom stop en route at Hong Ngoc Humanity center run by and for handicapped children. Upon arrival at Ha Long Bay we will board our traditional wooden junk. Once we have settled in we can begin our cruise around majestic Ha Long Bay with immediate serving of a seafood lunch. After lunch we indulge ourselves in magnificent scenery of this world natural heritage site followed by an exploration to one of the best known limestone caves.

Late in the afternoon we will anchor in a secluded spot where we can swim around the boat, or just simply retire to the junk. In the evening our cook will prepare a splendid meal of fresh local seafood and traditional Vietnamese dishes. Overnight onboard

Day 8: Halong - Hanoi – Fly to Hue (B, L)
Rising to the tranquil beauty of the bay we have time for an early morning swim followed by breakfast. This morning we continue to cruise around the bay. At midday we will return to the main harbor before transferring to our awaiting vehicle for a 4 hour journey back to Hanoi Airport for our flight to Hue. Meet our guide and transfer to our Hotel in Hue City and rest for the day. Dinner is on your own.
Overnight in Hue.

Day 9: Hue city tour (B, L)
We begin with a trip to the Imperial Citadel of the last kingdom of Vietnam under Nguyen Dynasty. The Citadel was closely modeled along the lines of the Forbidden City in Beijing. Much was damaged during the time of the latest 2 wars. We follow this tour of the Emperor's residence with a trip into the surrounding countryside to see the final resting place of the Emperor Khai Dinh.

We proceed to a Buddhist nunnery where we enjoy a delicious vegetarian lunch and attend a lecture about Vietnamese Culture and Hue Heritages delivered by a Hue Scholar. After lunch we continue to drive to the Thien Mu Pagoda for some photo opportunities and see the Austin Car which took Master monk Thich Quang Duc to Saigon for his self-immolation in a protest to Diem government in 1963. End up our day by taking a boat cruise on the gentle Perfume River. Back to the hotel for a rest. Dinner will be on your own tonight.

Day 10: Hue – Hoi An (B, L)
This morning we depart by us to Hoi An. Our five-hour route, hugging the coastline along the South China Sea, serves up breathtaking views that grow even more spectacular as we wind our way up Hai Van Pass (“Pass of the Clouds”). The bus trip also allows us a quick stop at China Beach which was also known as the American GI’s R&R (rest and recreation).  

We arrive in the merchant town of Hoi An at around mid-day, where we can have lunch at a local Vietnamese restaurant; sampling the delicious cuisine of Hoi An such as Cao Lau (White Rose). Check in our hotel and the rest of the day is at leisure. Hoi An is famous for its tailoring shops, so there will plenty of opportunity to visit a tailor to have some clothing made. Overnight in Hoi An

Day 11: Hoi An city tour – Handicraft Village & Cooking demonstration (B, L, D)
From the 16th to 18th centuries, Hoi An was a thriving international commercial port. Today it is a quaint riverside town popular with tourists for its eclectic architecture, tailor shops, and cafes. We enjoy a half-day walking tour through the narrow streets of the Ancient Quarter visiting Phuc Kien Assembly Hall, the 200-year-old Tam Ky house, and the Japanese Covered Bridge. After lunch we take a short boat trip to a nearby island to visit a handicraft ceramic village and the boat building yards. Late in the afternoon, we attend a cooking class at Morning Glory - a well-known cooking school ran by the best local chef of Hoi An- Mrs. Vy. Here we will have the opportunity to learn about Vietnamese art of cooking.
Overnight in Hoi An.

Day 12: Hoi An – My Son (B, L)
My Son is a former capital of the ancient Cham civilization that ruled central Vietnam between the second and thirteenth centuries. The complex is comprised of seventy Hindu-like towers and temples dating from the second century. Hinduism from India heavily influenced their religion.

We start at 7.00am today for our more than 1 hour drive there. Once arrived, we will enjoy the stunning 15 minutes dance show featuring part of Champa spiritual life. Next we will walk through the relics that had been a Champa religious site for almost 1000 years. Back to Hoi An town at around noon and today lunch and dinner will be at your own arrangement.

Day 13: Hoi An – Flight to Ho Chi Minh City – City Tour (B, L)
This morning we drive to Da Nang airport for our 1 hour flight to Ho Chi Minh City. Upon arrival we will visit the War Remnant Museum, the General Post Office, and the Notre Dame Cathedral. Time depending we will visit Tay Son Lacquer Ware workshop, which is known as the best Lacquer ware maker in Vietnam. After our simple lunch with Pho noodle, we will check in our hotel and rest for the day or explore Ho Chi Minh City on your own.

Day 14: Cu Chi Tunnel and Cao Dai Temple (B, L)
Another early rise as we need to avoid the rush hour and make it to see 2 attractions in one morning. The first part of the journey is to Cu Chi Tunnel located some 70 km away from Ho Chi Minh City. Upon arrival to Cu Chi, we will watch a documentary video (made in 1967 by Vietcong) about the place and walk to explore the 10 year legendary Iron Triangle (1965 – 1975) and learn how Viet Cong lived, worked, fought and survived the war for that long brutal period of history.

Leaving Cu Chi tunnel, we drive for more than another hour to Tay Ninh where the astonishing Cao Dai Holly See Religion homes. Time depending we may have some walking around to admire this stunning temple before going inside to witness their unique noon-time service. Have a basic lunch in this town then we take our bus back to the hotel. Another afternoon for your leisure.

Day 15: Ho Chi Minh City – Mekong Delta Homestay (B, L, D)
Our tour starts with a drive through the Mekong Delta to Cai Be floating market to enjoy the exciting floating life over Mekong River and learn how these peasants exchange their produce. Next we walk along some small canals and visit a few local “cottage industry production” such as coconut candy, from here we board our river boats for a cruise along the endless waterways of the mighty Mekong. One of our stops will be to a small restaurant serving the local delicacies on the river. Late in the afternoon we arrive at the lush orchards of Vinh Long where we spend the night in a house on stilts.  

Day 16: Mekong Delta – Ho Chi Minh City - Fly to Siem Reap (B, L, D)
Go back to Ho Chi Minh City for lunch then transferred to the airport for our flight to Siem Reap. At Siem Reap airport we are welcomed by our Cambodian guide, transferred to our hotel for the night.

Day 17: Explore Siem Reap (B, L, D)
After breakfast at your hotel we continue to visit the ancient capital of Angkor Thom (built from 12th century), we see the South Gate, Bayon Temple which is unique for its 54 towers decorated with over 200 smiling faces of Avolokitesvara. We then visit The Royal Enclosure, Phimeanaka and the Elephant Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King

In the afternoon the tour starts with the visiting to the famous temple: Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is a World Heritage Site since 1992, famous for its beauty and splendor. Angkor Wat features the longest continuous bas-relief in the world, which runs along the outer gallery walls and narrates stories from Hindu mythology, visit Bakheng Temple and enjoy a romantic sun set view form Bakheng hill.

Day 18: Siem Reap Departure (B, L)    
This morning we take a boat tour of the Tonle Sap Lake. This brief cruise willl bring us a closed up look at floating villages complete with schools, restaurants, and hospitals.

We continue to visit Chantier Ecole-Artisan d’angkor, the place was constructed in 1992 under a Ministry of Education’s program, renowned as woodworking, stone carving and polychrome training center and workshops. Free tour of the classes and workshops offers a glimpse into the unique skills training program, teaching young artists in the techniques and styles of classic Cambodian artistry. Transfer to Siem Reap airport for departure to Bangkok for your extension of your holiday or to fly home. Say goodbye to your Cambodian guide and driver. The trip concluded at the airport.

                                   Wishing you an Unforgetable Holiday with Indochina Pioneer!

The hotels listed below are just suggestive for the best valued of the trip, yet Indochina Pioneer also offers more options of our own hand-picked hotels with different levels or to customize your hotel requests to match your own taste and budget. Please kindly Contact us for more favourable deals.