ATS Regional Tour 2020, by Steve Buckley

The latest ATS Regional Tour has recently taken place - it involved 25 members who, with a strong ‘Ancient Angkor’ theme, visited Cambodia, Laos and Thailand from 4-18 February 2020. It was again arranged by Ian and Runcie Weeden from Tropic Escapes who put an excellent programme together. Before the Tour got underway in Bangkok on 4 February, most of the group met up for a pre-visit Dinner in London on 8 January. This was also attended by both the Lao & Thai Ambassadors (the Cambodian Ambassador would have done likewise but she had to travel to Dublin at the last minute) as well as TAT’s UK Representative - all of whom were most supportive and more than happy to address any queries. In Bangkok - where some members visited the National Museum and others went on a Chaopraya tour - the British Ambassador Brian Davidson kindly hosted a Reception for the Group (the first to be held at his new Residence). TAT also generously put on a lovely Dinner at Burirum the following evening. The Tour itself proved a busy, interesting and most enjoyable one with the Group gelling together extremely well. Fortunately, everything went very smoothly and ironically the Coronavirus outbreak worked in our favour with many of the major Attractions (Angkhor Thom, Angkhor Wat, Ta Prohm etc) being far less busy than usual! Fittingly, the end of Tour Dinner in Siem Reap - which included a traditional dance show - proved a great success and many attendees expressed a strong interest in attending future Regional Tours.