Southeast Asia Semester Program

Overland educational travel through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam & Cambodia - cultural immersion, volunteer & community service, adventure education

Southeast Asia is a melting pot of fascinating history, welcoming peoples, diverse cultures and dramatic landscapes ideally suited to an incredible and insightful adventure education experience. This semester travel-study program travels through the diverse and friendly Buddhist countries of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

The program has a strong experiential education component, comprising hands-on volunteer work, opportunities for meaningful connections with local people, pushing personal boundaries, and gaining knowledge of Southeast Asia’s history, societies and environments, facilitated by our knowledgeable program leaders.

This is an excellent study abroad or gap year option for students or graduates wanting to be exposed to and immersed in cultures radically different to their own.

If you are looking for an experience that challenges you, broadens your horizons and merges cultural insights and environmental sensitivity with fun and adventure - come and explore Southeast Asia with us.

Southeast Asia Semester Program Highlights

• The ancient Thai historical capital of Sukhothai and its superb temples and monuments
• 3-day rafting, hiking and elephant trekking trip in the Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary
• Thai cooking course and traditional massage in Chiang Mai
• 2-day climbing and caving introductory course in Northern Thailand
• 2-day trekking trip in the Nam Ha Biodiversity Conservation area in Northern Laos
• 3-day riverboat journey down the Nam Tha and Mekong Rivers
• World Heritage town Luang Prabang, with its ambience, temples, waterfall and textiles
• Exploring the Old Quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam
• Mountainous Sapa with three different trekking options and fascinating highland cultures
• 3-day boating and sea kayaking trip in spectacular Halong Bay
• Moto tour of the former imperial capital of Vietnam, Hue
• Relaxing in Hoi An - tailor-made clothes, markets and a great beach nearby
• Markets and museums of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
• Get claustrophobic in Cu Chi’s Vietnam War era tunnel systems
• Mekong Delta exploration by bike and riverboat with rural homestay
• Markets and museums of Phnom Penh
• Insight into rural Cambodian life, home-staying with a wonderful family in Takeo Province
• Battambang’s bamboo train and countryside moto-tour
• Riverboat traverse of Tonle Sap Lake, through floating villages and Prek Toal Biosphere Reserve
• Exploring the amazing temples of Angkor Wat
• Immerse yourself in Bangkok’s kaleidoscopic markets and temples
• Intro to Scuba Diving in Southern Thailand
• Beach time in Southern Thailand
• Several volunteering days assisting with community development projects
• Series of informal lectures and discussions on history, culture and society
• Very personalized small group experience (compare with other programs of up to 40 students)
• Fantastic program leader/s supported by local guides

"Pacific Discovery is a young traveler's dream. You get to travel with like-minded people who end up becoming some of the best friends you'll ever have. You get to do exotic things that most people only dream about like riding elephants, trekking to remote villages and homestaying in floating ones, scuba diving, swimming in phosphorescence, the list goes on.... You'll have a fantastic experienced, knowledgeable, and fun leader. Not to mention it's the most affordable company you'll ever travel with. But what really makes Pacific Discovery different is that you get the chance to give back, from speaking with Burmese refugees and Cambodian high school students to improve their English, to building bio-sand water filters so people can have safe drinking water, to taking impoverished kids in Phnom Penh to a water park for a day of fun. You don't just feel like you're passing through with Pacific Discovery. This trip has made me change the way I see the world, and has made me very thankful for everything I have in life." Kerry Gaiz, participant 2007

Academic Credit available on the Southeast Asia Semester Program

Click on the links below to view course and registration information for optional transferable credit available on this program.

University of Oregon - International Studies
The courses have been designed specifically for this program, are facilitated in an incredibly stimulating learning environment, and are thus highly relevant to the whole experience.
For non-UO students: 8 credits (400-level) are available. Community education tuition fees apply.
For UO students: 8 or 12 credits (400-level) are available. Regular UO tuition applies to UO students (UO financial aid can be retained if taking 12 UO credits on the program).

Seattle Central Community College
Credit is available through the Seattle Central Community College Office of Cooperative Education and Service Learning. Whether you are from the US, Canada, or elsewhere, you are able to undertake this optional independent-study credit while on a Pacific Discovery program. Courses can be taken for 5 or 10 quarter credits and a maximum of 20 credits can be taken per quarter. This credit is a particularly good option for gap year students and students wanting an economical credit option.

Southeast Asia Semester Program Itinerary

Overland educational travel through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia - cultural immersion, volunteer and community service, adventure education

 

Day 1 – 2. Our adventure begins! Arrive in Bangkok, Thailand, having journeyed from ‘the West’ to ‘the East’. In Bangkok, cultures entwine in a symphony of sounds, scents, sights and tastes - its sensory overload! We have a day in Bangkok for a comprehensive program briefing and acclimatization. Traversing the city by river-boat, sky-train and tuk-tuk to see Bankok’s contrasts before enjoying a traditional Thai massage to unwind jet-lagged muscles.

 

Day 3 – 4. Burma. Next morning we take the Northern Line and travel by train to Thailand’s ancient capital, Sukhothai, a World Heritage Cultural Site. We explore the many ruins and temples before continuing by bus to Mae Sot, a remote town near the Burmese Border. After a night’s rest in Mae Sot we take a half day trip across the border into Burma, for a glimpse into Burmese life and to contrast the two countries. This also provides a valuable context for our volunteering in Chiang Mai.

 

Day 5. Wildlife sanctuary. From Mae Sot we scramble aboard local taxi-trucks to drive into the mist-covered, jungle-draped mountains, passing small villages and pockets of cultivated land. Our destination is Umphang, the first area in Thailand to establish an eco-tourism ethos, where we check into Thai style bungalows overlooking the river and sleepy town.

 

Day 6. Rafting. Drybag your gear and raft into the heart of the Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary through jungle shrouded limestone canyons, passing spectacular waterfalls …keep your eyes open for wildlife including endangered Asian tigers! After lunch, we trek 3 hours to our jungle campsite. Here, you can put your feet up while our guides cook dinner and tell jungle tales.

 

Day 7. Trekking. Wake up with an invigorating swim in Thee Lor Su Falls, the most spectacular waterfall in Southeast Asia – it’s immense! Trek dense jungle trails and cross rickety bamboo bridges to arrive at the friendly Karen hill tribe village of Kho Tha, our home for the night. Most of the village houses are made entirely from bamboo and leaves. Not a nail in sight!

 

Day 8. Elephant trekking. Have you ever ridden an elephant? These gentle giants pick their way over steep jungle terrain to Palatha, a Karen village. From here, it’s a short trip back to Umphang for lunch, then down to Mae Sot for the night.

 

Day 9. Northern migration. We take an interesting drive through rural Thailand to the northern capital and cultural mecca, Chiang Mai, with a stop at Thailand’s oldest wooden temple. We’ll have dinner tonight in the kaleidoscopic, sprawling night bazaar that engulfs acres of the city center, with stalls selling a mind-boggling array of food, clothes and crafts.

 

Day 10. Chiang Mai. This morning you have the chance to climb the 300 serpent-edged stairs to the gilded and revered Wat Doi Suthep, a mountain top temple affording panoramic views of Chiang Mai. A visit to the informative Tribal Museum, offers insights into the culture and customs of Thailand’s many minority peoples. After lunch we begin ‘The Chiang Mai Challenge’, a scavenger hunt across the city, designed to get you out interacting with the locals.

 

Day 11 – 12. Climbing and caving. From an interesting rural area north of Chiang Mai we spend two days learning rock climbing, rapelling and caving, overnighting in a small village at the base of the cliffs.

 

Day 13. Volunteering. Back in Chiang Mai we’ll spend the morning assisting Burmese refugees at a free school and vocational training centre, followed by a fun and tasty Thai cooking course – sure to impress the folks back home!

 

Day 14. Mekong River. Today’s journey takes us to the awakening town of Chiang Khong, on the banks of the mighty Mekong River. From our relaxing riverside guest house, gaze across the waters to the Laotian town of Huay Xai. Tomorrow…new country, new currency, new language, new food!

 

Day 15. Border crossing. Our first official border crossing takes us across the Mekong River to Huay Xai, Laos. After clearing immigration, we travel overland into the rugged, remote north of Laos to the small town of Luang Nam Tha and the idyllic Boat Landing Guesthouse.

 

Day 17 – 16. Trekking and village homestay. Spend two days trekking through the monsoon forest of the Nam Ha biodiversity conservation area, staying overnight in a local minority village.

 

Day 18 – 20. River expedition. Head down the Nam Tha River, a Mekong tributary, in open wooden boats, through a remote, forested and sparsely populated corner of Laos, homestaying with our boat drivers in their fascinating village. On the second day we make it to the confluence with the Mekong and transfer boats to travel down the Mekong River, with plenty of space to lay back and enjoy the riverscapes – jungled hills, men fishing, kids playing on the riverbanks. Overnight ashore in the small village of Pak Beng. Our last day on the river takes us past the Pak Ou Caves, believed the most spiritually significant site in Laos and containing hundreds of Buddha images, before continuing to beautiful Luang Prabang.

 

Day 21 – 22. Luang Prabang. Described by a previous participant as a town of 'colonial-french-buddhist-jungle-rainforest fusion', this World Heritage City - with its glistening temple roofs, crumbling French colonial architecture and fantastic food, is hard to leave. We explore the temples, waterfalls, and silk weaving villages. How about getting up at dawn to watch the colorful procession of monks collecting alms (their day’s food) from the local residents?

 

Day 23. Flight to Hanoi, the cultural heart of Vietnam. Our Laotian Kip become Vietnamese Dong and we’ll have the chance to try another new language and take part in local life at streetside restaurants and markets. Tonight we board our sleeper train for an overnight journey into the north, disembarking in Lao Cai, on the Chinese border.

 

Day 24. Amazing ethnic groups. From Lao Cai we travel up, up and up into the hills to the beautiful town of Sapa. Once a resort for French colonialists escaping Hanoi’s summer heat, and now a center for hill tribe people to trade their goods...nowhere else can you see so many different ethnic groups in one area. Spend the afternoon catching up on sleep or make friends with some of the local Hmong girls...they are delightful and will have you singing and playing with them in no time!

 

Day 25 – 26. Villages and trekking. You have the choice of: Trekking through minority villages and lush mountainous terrain, home staying with indigenous people; or a Fan Si Pan expedition, trekking through forest to climb Vietnam’s highest mountain (11,000ft), camping on the way; or or a 25mile mountain bike ride over Vietnam’s highest road pass with a swooping descent;or soak up the tranquility of Sapa and its fascinating weekend market. We all meet up in Sapa before returning on the night train to Hanoi.

 

Day 27 – 29. Boating and sea kayaking. Travel out to Cat Ba island and embark on our comfortable house boat to explore Halong Bay. Adjectives can’t adequately describe this place! It’s studded with 1500 limestone islands rising sheer from the sea. Our skipper guides us through the maze of twisting passages. We find caves, hidden lagoons and uninhabited beaches, swim, sea kayak from the boat and observe the local boat people going about their daily lives. We’ll stay two nights aboard the boat. Bid farewell to Halong Bay on our final afternoon as we return to Hanoi for dinner.

 

Day 30 – 31. Hanoi's culture. We base ourselves in the Old Quarter of the city, where daily life spills out onto the street. Enjoy some free time to explore the colorful streets of the Old Quarter, where streets are named for the products they sell…see artisans creating a myriad of products, gravestones being carved, silk merchants haggling, temple finery, flower markets and everything imaginable being bought and sold on the streets. One evening we enjoy the centuries old tradition of water puppetry. We’ll have an insightful behind-the-scenes look at an organization, which trains and looks after street children, giving them skills to pursue careers in the hospitality and tourism industries and spend time relaxing in the tranquil Temple of Literature, Vietnam’s first university. Then “all aboard” the Reunification Express for our overnight train journey to the old imperial capital, Hue.

 

Day 32. Hue moto-tour. Today will be a magical mystery tour of Hue and its environs. Our ‘posse’ of motos joins the melee of bicycle traffic as it surges along tree-lined boulevards. School girls wearing traditional silk ao-dai glide past stalls laden with red dragon fruit as Buddhist monks and produce-laden women jostle by. From Emperors’ tombs to Buddhist pagodas, you’ll really get a feel for this city. Don’t leave home without your sunglasses, camera and a ready smile for your personal ‘motodop’ driver.

 

Day 33 – 35. Hoi An – silk and sand. Today we travel to our favorite Vietnamese town, Hoi An. We’ll stop enroute at Marble Mountain, where we explore caves and temples in the mountain - one cave was used as a Viet Cong field hospital. We arrive in Hoi An in time for a late lunch at one of the town’s excellent restaurants - a great way to begin sampling the town’s rich history and culture. Hoi An is the place to have clothes made to order. Choose and be measured one day - pick up the finished garment the next! How about a Vogue dress or the three-piece suit for $30? There’s a gorgeous beach nearby for sunrise dips and centuries old buildings to check out. Alternatively, people watching on the riverfront, cool drink in hand, is hard to beat!

 

Day 36 – 37. Saigon and Cu Chi tunnels. A flight south takes us to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). A city of stunning contrasts, bursting with energy and a 24-hour go-go-go attitude. Our guesthouse is renowned for its welcoming hospitality. We hail cyclos and venture out into the maelstrom of people, bicyles, motos, carts, trucks and taxis to zigzag our way to the War Remnants Museum, a chilling memorial to the atrocities of the Vietnam War. In Saigon you can lighten up with a stroll around the unusual Presidential Palace and Ben Thanh, Saigon’s central market - a great place to stock up on fresh-baked croissants and fine roasted coffee from the highlands. We have a dawn start to visit the legendary Cu Chi Tunnels - over 250kms of tunnels, in some places several floors deep, where Viet Cong forces built pseudo-cities underground, enabling them to infiltrate and control large areas around Saigon virtually undetected. You’ll be able to experience, first hand, the claustrophobic existence.

 

Day 38. Mekong Delta journey and homestay. The Mekong Delta, Vietnam’s rice bowl, is one of the largest deltas in the world. You’ll experience its fertile abundance and beauty as we explore by bicycle and boat visiting small farms and workshops on islands among its branching water ways and tributaries. Homestay with a rural family tonight.

 

Day 39 – 43. Cambodia homestay and service projects. Farewell our homestay hosts and travel through the delta to a little used border crossing into Cambodia, where we get a taste of culture and an understanding of life for the majority of Cambodians in the countryside by home staying for 5 nights with a wonderful Khmer family. We will visit an elementary and high school in the area to donate books and speak English with the students, and will spend 3 days volunteering with organizations that assist with housing and sanitation/health education for the rural poor. Our time in the Cambodian countryside is the program highlight for many participants.

 

Day 44 – 46. Phnom Penh. Uncover the tragic history of the Khmer Rouge regime with a visit to Tuol Sleng Museum. Dine at a Khmer café providing vocational training for some of Phnom Penh’s 20,000 street kids. There's free time to immerse yourself in the wonderfully chaotic Russian Market, an assault on the senses and one of the more interesting markets you’ll ever visit. One day is spent working with orphaned and disadvantaged kids from a community of people that live off the Phnom Penh rubbish dump. This is a difficult but rewarding day and an amazing opportunity to get a behind the scenes look at the challenges confronting smaller grassroots organizations – also a great chance for you to give something back to our host countries.

 

Day 47 – 49. Battambang and Tonle Sap Lake. Leaving Phnom Penh, we drive to Battambang, a bustling riverside town in Eastern Cambodia with some of the best preserved French-era architecture. We have a full-day in Battambang to explore the city, and beautiful countryside, and take a ride on the historic, fun and scary bamboo train. From Battambang we embark on a full day traverse of Tonle Sap Lake to arrive in Siem Reap. The lake is an amazingly productive but fragile environment and is one of the most important nesting sites for wading birds in the world.

 

Day 50 – 51. Angkor temples. The Angkor Wat temples are the largest temple ruins on earth. You’ll be blown away by this wonder of the world. Through mammoth carved stone panels, stories unfold of historical events, tales of gods, and legends. See the restoration of some temples and the disintegration of others as the jungle reclaims them. Explore elaborate twisting passageways, stone causeways and moats. Wonder at the civilization that created them - at its peak, with a population of one million people, it exceeded the size and complexity of any other city in the world. You’ll also visit a local children’s hospital to learn about the work they do and have the option of doing volunteer work with other organizations.

 

Day 52 - 53. Full circle. Travel overland to Thailand via the ‘Wild West’ Cambodian border town of Poipet . You’ll be amazed how welcoming Bangkok feels compared with your first day in Thailand, almost two months earlier. You’ll have free time to travel the city and enjoy its fantastic street food. The options are endless…you choose: Visit the royal palace; night markets; fantastic Thai cuisine; overwhelming Chinatown…and more.

 

Day 52 – 55. Beach paradise and underwater encounters. A VIP overnight bus with sleeper chairs, south from Bangkok lands us in Krabi, where we leap aboard a longtail boat for the fun trip to Railae’s Sunset Beach, a peninsula on the mainland only accessible by boat, surrounded by stunning limestone cliffs, dense jungle and the clear emerald waters of the Andaman Sea. This is a world-class area for both rock climbing and diving. Check into our private, stylish beach houses to finish with a few days luxury. One day we go diving, where you can see colorful soft and hard corals and an astounding diversity of fish. For those who have never dived before, prepare to have your eyes opened to the amazing world beneath the surface of the ocean. Our professional dive company takes you through a morning class, teaching all the skills necessary to safely enjoy your two afternoon dives. There’s also plenty of time for relaxing on the beach swimming, snorkeling and reminiscing over our adventures of the last two months.

 

Day 56. Farewell. A short boat ride back to Krabi and flight to Bangkok. Some will conclude with the flight home for Thanksgiving. Others may continue on to new destinations or stay on among Thailand’s tropical islands and beaches. All of us will carry a lifetime of memories, experiences and bonds formed during this life-changing trip.

Southeast Asia Semester Program Notes

Overland educational travel through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia - cultural immersion, volunteer and community service, adventure education

Suitability

Open to high school graduates, college students, graduates and non-students 18-25 years. This is an excellent experiential study abroad or gap year option for students and graduates wanting to be exposed to and immersed in cultures radically different to their own and is suitable for anyone who wants to get a real feel for Southeast Asia’s incredible diversity. You don’t need to have had previous experience with travel or any of the activities offered.

Accommodation

Our accommodation varies from welcoming homestays and camping with shared facilities, to modern hotels and guesthouses with private bathrooms. Laundry, postal, telephone and email facilities will be available most days, except while on expeditions. Accommodation is diverse, comfortable and carefully chosen to fit our needs.

Meals

Food is a highlight when traveling in Asia and throughout there will be the opportunity to eat authentic Asian or Western style food. Special dietary requirements and vegetarians are catered for. Asian style eating is a communal affair, and allows for a far greater variety of dishes to be sampled - it’s also more fun. One third of meals are included in the program cost. The remaining meals are not included to allow us a choice of when, where and what we eat.

Transport

The itinerary has been designed to maximise comfort and safety whilst also giving you the opportunity to experience local transport and take part in daily life. We utilize private vans and buses, private taxis, private and local boats, elephants, bicycles, motos and take four internal flights.

Program fee

Program cost is $5,450 USD (change currency).

 

Program fee inclusions

All in-country travel and transport including three flights within Asia and departure taxes; All program accommodation; Visas for all countries; Some meals; All activities, excursions and entry fees as described in the itinerary; Numerous volunteer and community projects; Series of informal lectures; Experienced program leader/s and local guides; Online image library for your program. Refer information booklet for international flight options.

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