 An
Archaeological Study Tour
Khmer
Kingdoms
Burma
(Myanmar), Thailand, Laos & Cambodia
Including 4 days at Angkor Wat
January
18 - February 10, 2011
Led
By Professor Richard
Cooler
This
tour will focus on the historical, ethnographic and religious
aspects of these exotic lands. We begin in Luang Praban,
Laos, one of the loviest cities in the region. Dominated
by the Mekong River, Laos has assimilated ideas and culture
from both China and the Indian subcontinent. We will find
examples of its distinctive character in Vientiane and at
the magnificent 7th-century Khmer ruins of Wat Phou.
Myanmar (Burma) was closed to foreigners from 1961 until
recent years; its glittering pagodas, golden temples and
saffron-robed monks create a wondrous atmosphere of vibrant
color. We will have the unique opportunity to see this picturesque
and gentle land on the threshold of transformation. Our
visits will include ancient royal capitals, deserted royal
cities, as well as some of the thousands of pagodas and
temples.
Thailand offers an exotic blend of ancient history and natural
beauty. For nearly two thousand years its countryside has
seen rulers and cities rise and fall, and for the last thousand
it has been the heartland of Theravada Buddhism. Much of
this legacy remains in the art and architecture of its temples
and towns and the still-honored customs of earlier court-centered
civilizations. Our tour will explore this past by visiting
the major Khmer ruins in remote Isan (northeastern Thailand).
Cambodia is a country of contrasts: active Buddhist monasteries,
teeming markets, spectacular palaces and, of course, the
incomparable complex of Angkor Wat. Our time will be divided
between bustling Phnom Penh and serene Siem Reap, where
our five and a half days will provide ample time to explore
the Angkor ruins from every perspective. As we travel through
these wonderful places, we will have the opportunity to
experience traditional music and dance, sample the local
foods, examine crafts and explore lively markets.
Tuesday, Wednesday, January 18 & 19:BANGKOK:
Departure
from Los Angeles via United Airlines. We arrive into Bangkok
late Wednesday night and transfer to the Novotel Suvarnabhumi
Airport Hotel.
Thursday,
Friday, Saturday, January 20, 21 & 22: LUANG PRABANG:
We return to the
airport for a morning flight to Luang Prabang, considered
by Southeast Asia aficionados to be the loveliest city in
the region. Thursday evening we will meet for our opening
lecture and dinner. Our leisurely days in Luang Prabang
will include visits to the former palace of the Lao kings,
transformed into an excellent museum, the lovely Wat May
and some of the wonderful royal wats on Mount Phousi. Saturday
we travel by boat on the Mekong to visit the Pak Ou Caves,
where we will see a vast array of Buddhist images in many
ancient styles. There will be time to stroll in the markets
and relax at the hotel.
Maison Suvannaphoum.
Meals;
Breakfast & lunch daily & 2 dinners
Sunday,
January 23: VIENTIANE:
A morning flight brings us to Vientiane.
Our exploration of colonial Vientiane will include visits
to Wat Sisaket and Wat That Luang. Although Wat Sisaket
was built in the Bangkok style in 1818, it is now the oldest
temple still standing in Vientiane and has several unique
architectural features, including small niches containing
over 2,000 silver and ceramic Buddhas. Some of these Buddhas
are from the 15th and 16th centuries. Lao Plaza Hotel.
Meals:
Breakfast & lunch
Monday,
January 24: PAKSE:
This morning we fly to Pakse. Our touring
here will be to the remote and unspoiled Angkor-period site
of Wat Phou on the lower slopes of Phu Pasak. We will have
ample time to study this lovely spot, whose uppermost pavilions
and sanctuaries are reached by a stairway overgrown with
fragrant jasmine trees. Champasak Grand Hotel.
Meals:
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Tuesday,
January 25: KORAT:
This morning we cross the border into Thailand at Mek Pass
and continue to the rarely visited Wat Prasat Phnom Rung.
Built over a period of 200 years, it stands on top of an
inactive volcano overlooking the Thai-Cambodia border. This
sanctuary, with its monumental stairway, is thought to have
been a stopping-off point on the road from Angkor to Phimai.
Royal Princess Dusit Hotel.
Meals:
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Wednesday, January 26: KORAT:
Touring today will be to the ancient Khmer-style
ruins of Phimai. Apart from Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the
Khmer sites of this region are the best representatives
of this distinctive period. Built between AD 986 and 1001,
Phimai is one of the oldest and best-preserved temples of
this area. After visiting the wonderful museum and exploring
the charming little shops selling the necessities for Buddhist
worship, we return to Korat.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Thursday,
January 27: BANGKOK:
Today we drive to Bangkok, stopping to tour Ayutthaya, capital
of Siam from 1350 to 1767. As time permits, we will visit
several beautifully restored temples at this UNESCO World
Heritage Site, including the fabulous collection of gold
jewelry and religious objects in the National Museum. Novotel
Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel.
Meals;
Breakfast & lunch
Friday, January 28: YANGON:
A short flight to Burma and its capital,
Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon.We begin our touring of
Yangon with a drive through the heart of the city to view
the colonial buildings, with a stop at the golden chedi
at Sule Pagoda. After lunch, we will visit Burma’s
most important religious building, the Shwedagon Pagoda.
Our overnight is at the deluxe Savoy Hotel.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Saturday, January 29: MANDALAY:
A morning flight brings us to Burma’s cultural and
religious center, Mandalay, capital of the last Burmese
monarchs. Touring begins at the Mahamuni Pagoda, the holiest
of Burmese shrines, where the devout continue to apply layers
of gold leaf to its Buddha. We then visit the Kyauktawgyi
Pagoda, with its images of Buddha’s 80 disciples standing
guard, the beautifully adorned wooden Shwesandaw monastery,
the only remaining vestige of the royal palace, and Kuthodaw
Pagoda, which houses an enormous carved book containing
all of the Buddhist canons, each page chiseled into a marble
slab and housed in its own shrine. Sedona Hotel.
Meals:
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Sunday, January 30: MANDALAY:
Driving south of Mandalay, we visit the deserted
royal cities of Amarapura and Ava. We will visit a functioning
monastery and witness the silent, ritual meal for over 500
monks. After a stroll on U Bein’s mile-long teak bridge,
we will stop at a shop where silk fabrics are still woven
by a rare technique once used for the royal family. After
lunch we ferry across the Myit Nge River to Ava, the 14th-century
Burmese capital. Traveling by pony cart across verdant rice
fields, we visit a traditional wooden monastery and stop
at Ava village to watch the lacquering of monk’s begging
bowls.
Meals:
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Monday,
January 31: MANDALAY:
This morning we board a boat for a delightful excursion
up the Irrawaddy to Mingun to see the partially constructed
pagoda begun in 1790 and known as “King Bodawpaya’s
Folly” for his attempt to construct the world’s
largest stupa. Among the monuments to be seen here is the
famous Mingun Bell, at 90 tons, one of the world’s
largest. In the afternoon we will visit some of Mandalay’s
royal craft guilds, including stone carvers, tapestry (Kalaga)
weavers, the beaters of gold leaf and the girls who produce
a unique “paper that makes gold grow.”
Meals:
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Tuesday,
February 1: BAGAN:
A short flight brings us to Bagan (Pagan), the first capital
of united Burma, founded in AD 900 and containing over 5,000
pagodas and temples. Touring begins at the Shwezigon Pagoda,
which along with Ananda are the only temples in Bagan that
have been in continuous use since the 11th century and where
the first shrine dedicated to the 37 indigenous spirits
(nats) is located. We will also visit Gubyaukgi Wetkyiin,
which has the most complete frescoes in Bagan. Touring continues
with selected temples that are representative of the major
changes in religious architecture from the early Mon to
the later, fully developed Burmese style. We visit four
very different 11th-century Mon-style temples: Nanpaya,
Manuha, Nagayon and Abeyadana, with its beautifully restored
Mahayana wall paintings. Thante Hotel.
Meals:
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Wednesday,
February 2: BAGAN:
After an early morning carriage ride to one
of the pagodas to see the sunrise, we depart for charming
Myinkaba, a village that predates the founding of Bagan.
Here we visit the first of two transitional temples, the
Gubyaukgyi Myinkaba Temple, built in traditional Indian
style, and then the Ananda Temple, which is famous for its
3,000 images, including four colossal images of the Buddha
standing. Lastly, we stop to see lacquerware being made
and engraved by four different processes. There will be
an opportunity for an optional early morning hot air balloon
flight over Bagan.
Meals:
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Thursday, February 3: BAGAN:
After visiting the Archaeological Museum,
we drive into the heart of the dry zone to visit Mt. Popa,
a dormant volcano that rises to a height of 1,520 meters
from lush groves of toddy palms and flowers in the valley.
Mt. Popa is the Mount Olympus of Burma, where abides the
entire pantheon of 37 local spirits and is therefore a pilgrimage
site. We will visit the shrines housing these spirits at
the bottom of the mountain and watch the throngs of pilgrims
as they climb to the shrines that cling to the mountain
rocks. This evening we will attend a typical puppet show.
Meals:
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Friday,
February 4: PHNOM PENH::
Our flight back to Yangon will
connect through Bangkok to the Cambodian capital of Phnom
Penh. We will transfer to the Cambodiana Hotel, which looks
out on the junction of four great rivers: the Tonle Sap,
the Upper Mekong, the Lower Mekong and the Bassac.
Meals:
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Saturday,
February 5: PHNOM PENH:
A
full morning will be spent at the National Museum, where
much of the sculpture and small objects from the temples
at Angkor are displayed. In the afternoon we will visit
the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda and explore the Russian
market.
Meals:
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Sunday,
February 6: SIEM REAP:
We
fly to Siem Reap and the centrally located Sofitel Royal
Hotel, our luxurious home for the next four days. As we
will have ample time to explore the amazing Angkor complex,
we have the luxury of scheduling our temple visits to retrace
the historical development of the architecture at this extraordinary
site, with time to return on our own. The first two days
will be spent touring the older temples of the Roluos group
and the magnificent sanctuaries and temples of the Angkor
Wat complex. We will visit the city of Angkor Thom, with
the many-towered Bayon Temple at its center, the adjacent
city square and elephant terrace, the cremation platform
and royal palace compound containing the royal temple mountain
and the royal bathing ponds. We will also visit Prasat Kravan,
with unique brick sculptures, and Eastern Mebon, guarded
by elephants. Tonight's dinner will be accompanied by a
performance of Cambodian dance.
Meals:
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Monday,
Tuesday, February 7 & 8: SIEM REAP:
We will visit
three temples built by Jayavarman VII, Preah Khan, Neak
Pean and Ta Som, which are now under the auspices of the
World Monument Fund. We will tour Preah Khan and discuss
the professional restoration of these monuments. Neak Pean
is a totally novel construction of a religious “spa,” where
the devout went to bathe. Ta Som is an intimate structure,
until recently completely engulfed by the forest but still
having its monumental four-faced towers encased in living
foliage. We will spend the afternoon in the countryside
visiting the lovely little temple of Banteay Srei, remarkably
preserved and so beautifully decorated that its surface
resembles carved sandalwood or ivory. Our gala farewell
dinner at will be at our hotel on Tuesday night.
Meals:
Breakfast, lunch & 1 dinner
Wednesday,
February 9: SIEM REAP:
We will
conclude our temple program this morning with a walk through
the temple of Ta Phrom, a magically overgrown temple inhabited
only by green parrots, where delicately carved faces are
cradled in the tendrils of strangler fig trees. This afternoon
we will visit the new Siem Reap Museum and the school and
workshops of the Artisan d'Angkor, a state school where
traditional Cambodian crafts are taught such as stone and
wood carving, ikat weaving, handmade paper accessories,
jewelry and puppet making. This evening we fly back to Bangkok
and transfer to the Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel.
Meals:
Breakfast & lunch
Thurs day, February 10:
Our United Airlines
flight departs for Los Angeles this morning.
Meals:
Breakfast
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