A Journey through Indochina: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (Alumni Tour)
In January 2025, alumni of the SOAS-Alphawood Asian Art Programme joined an exclusive tour of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos offered in partnership with Distant Horizons.
The tour was led by Dr Peter Sharrock and featured contributions from alumni of the Alphawood Scholarships programme now working in the region. Alumnus Ida Chow kindly provided the following report on her experience of the tour.
Ida Chow's report
SOAS-Alphawood Asian Art Alumni started 2025 with a fantastic tour to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos with Dr Peter Sharrock. Following the Hindu and Buddhist themes of this region, Peter gave us lectures on the Hindu and Buddhist sculptures and reliefs in the temples and the development of Tantric Buddhism and the Champa empire and Nguyen dynasty. This was in addition to on-site quizes and detailed explanations when visiting the museums and temples.
As I had completed my South East Asia module in 2011 and Buddhist Art in 2016, I had forgotten a lot of what I had learnt and this trip was a very good refresher course – helped by the passion of Peter for these topics and the recent graduates who could answer most of the quiz questions.
In Vietnam, we visited Hanoi's History Museum; Temple of Literature; The Citadel; Thay Pagoda; Ho Chi Minh Trail Museum, in Hue we visited the Pottery Museum; Thien Mu Pagoda; Hoe Chen Temple; Imperial Citadel; Royal tombs of Tu Duc and Khai Dinh; Le Ba Dang Memory Space.
We then visited the magnificent Cham Museum in Danang with Dr Nguyen Duyen, a SOAS Alumnus who contributed to the book Vibrancy in Stone.
In Hoi An we visited The Old Quarter with the Japanese bridge and the Trade Ceramics Museum before moving to My Son site, where we were accompanied by Mr Theo, Museum staff who is a SOAS-Alphawood scholar (he hugged Peter as he was so delighted to see him).
In Ho Chi Minh City we visited the National History Museum and Opera House.
In Cambodia, we visited the National Museum accompanied by the Deputy Director, Khan Khun Sathal who is also a SOAS alumnus and Alphawood scholar. We went to lots of temples - Sambor Prey Kuk; Ashram Maha Rusei temple; Roulos; Preah Ko; Lolei; Bakong; Prasat Yeay Poan; Ta Prohm; Angkor Wat; Preah Palilay; Prasat Kravan; Prasat Chen; Ta Keo; Angkor Thom; Banteay Kdei; Bayon; Banteay Chhmar; Banteay Trup; Preah Vihear; Koh Ker; Banteay Srei and Beng Mealea.
Our final stop was Luang Prabang where we visited the Royal Palace; Wat Mai; Wat Visuon; Wat Xiengthong and Pak Ou Buddhist cave.
It was an intense 21-day trip where we all learnt a lot, refreshed our memories on subjects we had studied and it was wonderful to actually see the statues, sculptures and temples. It was also heartwarming to meet up with SOAS-Alphawood alumni in their home countries proudly showing us their heritage.
Looking forward to the next study tour,
Ida
Tour photos
