Saw suffering in Viet Nam & Cambodia

I joined a group of 35 seasoned travelers on Nov. 5, 2007, for the 16-day tour “Vietnam Discovery” offered by SmarTours (501 Fifth Ave., Ste. 1402, New York, NY 10017; 800/337-7773, www.

smartours.com). Most of my congenial traveling companions had taken several tours with this company and highly praised them all.

SmarTours delivered a top-notch trip — great value for the money. The cost was $2,674 per person, double occupancy, including $100 extra for flying out of New York’s JFK.

We had beautiful hotels and excellent meals and sightseeing, and we watched a puppet show in Hanoi, the Royal Cambodian dancers in Siem Reap and traditional dances in the restaurant of the Rex Hotel in Saigon, but no travel book or Internet information prepared me for the reality of these countries.

Cambodia and Viet Nam are casualties of international politics and victims of their own governments, which, it would seem, have done nothing for the people in the past 30 years. I found my trip to be a heart-wrenching experience.

In addition, our trip took place during the “dry season,” which, because most streets are just dirt roads, meant an inordinate amount of dust all over, adding to more pollution. People with respiratory problems should take this into consideration. The alternative is the “wet season,” when floods are common.

Viet Nam has two seasons and three climatic zones, and we found it dry and dusty in the south and north while the central area (Hue, Hoi An, My Son and Da Nang) was flooded, since typhoons visit this area every year from October to December. Our itinerary had to be changed at a moment’s notice.

I saw Cambodia and Viet Nam through my tears and their dust. May the tsunami of tourists descending on them bring some financial relief to the long-suffering people of these countries, rather than add to the crumbling of their priceless monuments.

SONIA IBANEZ

New York, NY