When my husband Max was a consultant of Vietnam Presse just before the Vietnam coup d’ etat of the Sixties, we would use Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) as a base to visit the neighboring countries of Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand, and Indonesia. All their famous temples depicted murals of King Rama whose wife Queen Sita was abducted by evil King Ravana. The lengthy battles to rescue Sita engaged the help of the monkey god King Hanuman and his army of monkey soldiers. This love and war epic was written by the Indian scholar poet Valmiki. Thus, the Asia Pacific civilization is basically Indic.
We, Filipinos in our "islas Filipinas" are surrounded by these Asia Pacific countries. Wasn’t I lucky to have Max as my tour guide for he is a master Oriental historian? He gave me the fascinating lessons of geography and history while visiting the famous temples and museum. Before National Geographic and Discovery television shows were aired, my Scholastican college professor, the late Sr. Caridad, had difficulty arousing our interest in history lessons since she was merely using books.
In the evenings, the hotels would feature the classical oriental dance of the Ramayana, whether one was in Bali, Indonesia, Bangkok, Rangoon or Siem Reap in Cambodia.
Silkair, the sister airline of Singapore Airlines, flies daily from Cebu and Davao to Singapore, as well as to 24 other regional destinations. Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines (SIA) flies three times daily between Manila and Singapore with B777 aircraft.
Singapore Airlines was recently voted, 10th year in a row, "World’s Best International Airline" from a World’s Best Awards readers’ survey conducted by Travel + Leisure Magazine. SIA received the top award, while Silkair is in the top 10.
My OB Montessori senior teachers and staff enjoy a package tour to Thailand on a fly-now-pay-later scheme. This could be an alternative destination.
Organized by SIA manager Rita Dy and Cebu-based Silkair manager Nabil Rohman, a Singaporean, our Angkor Wat circuit tour had Mr. Neak, a Cambodian, as our guide. Mr. Neak’s constant call "Lady and gentlemen" would wake us from dozing during our full day tours to Angkor Thom, Bayon Temple and Angkor Wat. Our fallback resting place was the French colonial style Sofitel Hotel. Managed by Monsieur Didier Lamoot, its widespread verandah connecting three building complexes is surrounded by huge lotus and water lily lagoons and a spa center.
We stayed the first night at the new cottages of Sandy Beach Hotel right on China Beach, so popular with the soldiers of the largest US base north of Saigon. The next night, we moved to the well-known Furama Hotel where we danced to the music of a lively Filipino band, Songbirds, with young musicians and singers Kim, Leah, Angel and Jay-R.
If it were not for the Ecole Francais d’ Extreme Orient, the rich collection of the Cham civilization in Vietnam would not have been preserved as it set up the important Cham Museum in Danang. Visiting it, I met two archeologists from the Paris Oriental Museum who were packing 85 pieces of this very valuable 300-piece collection to exhibit in Paris from October to December this year.
During the lengthy bombing of the last Vietnam war, Hoi An seemed miraculously spared, according to our tourist guide. Today, the UNESCO WHS of Hoi An is a quiet town with 12,000 people living in the old quarter that has been restored and renovated as a historical showpiece for tourists. Many of the older homes, built with wood beams, carved doors and airy, open rooms have been turned into souvenir shops fronting as museums. Our tours were doubly exciting because of the shopping.
Hoi An has become a popular tourist spot, so popular that it seems to be crawling with foreigners at all times. In fact, older residents worry that the very thing that makes Hoi An attractive — its quiet charm — is being ruined. This is a typical UNESCO WHS dilemma.