ASTA holds fam tour

MANILA, Philippines - The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) held its annual educational farm tour recently, visiting historical and cultural sites starting in Saigon, also known as Ho Chi Minh City. They visited the War Museum, which primarily contains exhibits relating to the American phase of the Vietnam War. After a sumptuous Vietnam buffet the group continued with visits to the Reunification Palace, which was the workplace of the President of South Vietnam and was then known as Independence Palace. Then the Notre Dame Cathedral, the spiritual and cultural crucible of the French presence in the Orient and the General Post Office. Final stop was the Ben Thanh Market, where anything you can imagine can be bought there.

Hanoi was the next city where the group enjoyed the Water Puppet Performance, a unique and famous traditional show on the water. Main attractions included the fascinating Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Ho Chi Minh Museum and Ho Chi Minh House on stilts and lastly the One Pillar Pagoda.

Highlight of the five-day tour was Siem Reap, Cambodia. In Siem Reap, the group explored the world famous temples of the ancient city of Angkor, which was the capital of the powerful Khmer Empire from 802 AD to 1350 AD. Among these visited were the most striking structures – the South Gate of Angkor Thom, which is famous for its series of colossal human faces carved in stones, the impressive Bayon Temple, the Royal Enclosures, Phimeanakes, the elephant Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King.