Beside Ta Prohm

For my friend Joan Hedges and I, the temples in Siem Reap, Cambodia, were a definite high point of the three-week January ’09 tour “A Journey Through Indochina” that we took with Explore! (contact Adventure Center, Emeryville, CA; 800/487-1600), on which, from Thailand, we visited Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

I’d been to Cambodia four years earlier, loved Phnom Penh and still think it is the prettiest city in Southeast Asia. Unlike Bangkok, which is gaudy, or Hanoi, a charming city but with intimidating traffic, Phnom Penh, while bustling, is manageable. As does Hanoi, it has the charm of French architecture combined with tropical flowers and beautiful, kind people.

We spent three days at Siem Reap being guided through the famous temples of Angkor. In this photo, I am posing with Joan beside some of the banyan tree growth at Ta Prohm, also known as the “Tomb Raider” temple because of the 2001 “Lara Croft” movie that was filmed there.

I highly recommend this trip to anyone who wants to see a lot of sights in the four countries, with the proviso that it is relatively fast paced and one should be prepared for physical hardships such as long travel days and adverse weather. The heat — particularly in southern Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand — was brutal! We were told that we were actually there at the best time of year; later it would be even hotter, and rainy season goes from June through November! The exceptions to the mostly tropical weather were northern Vietnam, which was cool, and Hue, in central Vietnam, where we saw the only rain of our journey. If you have questions on the trip, e-mail me c/o ITN. — DEE POUJADE, Portland, OR