Click on "All the Details" to download the brochure for the full itinerary, tour details, and terms.

Cruise from Siem Reap to Saigon aboard a luxury riverboat, visiting magnificent Buddhist and Hindu temples, observing floating markets bursting with colorful produce, and exploring the seldom-visited world of one of Asia's great waterways.

Professor Tagliacozzo’s research in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean will provide a unique lens for observing the evocative history and culture of this region of the world.

With extensive experience in both the focus and location of your trip, and access to behind-the-scenes tours, your faculty expert will help you delve deeply into the culture and history of the places you visit.

• Take an excursion through the Cu Chi tunnels, a vast underground network that hid thousands of villagers during the Vietnam War.
• Explore the remarkable Khmer temples and monuments of legendary Angkor, one of Asia's most exquisite archaeological gems.
• Learn about the Khmer Rouge regime, the darkest days of Cambodia’s history.
• Visit Choeung Ek and Tuol Sleng and spend time interacting with local youth and their families.
• Marvel at Buddhist temples, mysterious ancient ruins, and southeast Asian artifacts.

Eric Tagliacozzo is the John Stambaugh Professor of History at Cornell University, focusing primarily on Southeast Asian History. For more than twenty years, he has focused on the history of people, ideas, and materials in motion in and around this region of the world, from earliest times up to the present. Eric has written and edited more than a dozen books about the cultural implications of Southeast Asia’s connections with the outside world, including Secret Trades, Porous Borders: Smuggling and States Along a Southeast Asian Frontier, 1865–1915 (Yale, 2005), which won the Harry J. Benda Prize from the Association of Asian Studies (AAS) in 2007. His monographs and volumes have looked at Southeast Asia’s links with the countries of the South China Sea and also the Indian Ocean, through trade, religion, and maritime exchange over the past two millennia.

While cruising along the Mekong River, discover how nearby archeological excavations and ancient inscriptions are among the earliest remnants from the first civilizations of the Mekong Delta. Learn how these historic artifacts from the Funan and Chenla kingdoms have given scholars a glimpse into this region's first major human settlements and trade—including a 2,000-year-old Roman coin—that allowed this multi-ethnic society to thrive.

Early Vietnamese polities, such as those located in the Red River delta around Hanoi were continually at war with China, the great hegemonic invader from the north. Follow the captivating stories of early Vietnamese rebellions, including one led by two sibling female generals, who together revolted against Han China in a display of early feelings of Vietnamese “separateness” from their massive Confucian neighbor.

The courageous struggles of the Vietnamese to free themselves from French Indochina, the largest French imperial presence in Asia, are memorialized in modern-day Vietnam. By visiting Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and its environs, we will grasp the massive sacrifice of lives under Ho Chi Minh's leadership during Vietnam’s ongoing battles against colonial powers.

The Vietnam War is a misnomer, referring in fact to three separate conflicts, not one war, in the three countries formerly known as “Indochina.” A journey through Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, will reveal the rationale behind the linking of America’s war in Vietnam with other ongoing regional struggles, especially in neighboring Laos and Cambodia.

The stunning center of a sophisticated Cambodian kingdom, Angkor Wat flourished in the region more than a thousand years ago. Study its historical importance to the region while touring this religious monument and its satellite structures. View carvings and motifs dedicated to Hindu and Buddhist gods, walking through one of the greatest ancient architectural sites in the world.

"Eric's lectures were terrific. Instead of focusing on the ancient past we choose topics that helped us understand our current times."

Susan Appel, CAU Egypt 2020 study tour participant

"I enjoyed the lectures by Eric...The whole trip was excellent."

~Fayvian Lee, CAU Egypt 2020 study tour participant

January 8 - 21, 2024
To register call CAU partner, Criterion Travel at 888-328-2089
or email res@criteriontravel.com
(This CAU Study Tour is currently fully booked. Interested travelers can be added to the waitlist by calling Criterion Travel.)

May 8 - 18, 2024
Orbridge 866-639-0079
Exclusive to Cornell.
(This tour does not include faculty.)