Step Inside Southeast Asia: Introducing our amazing interactive map
While our travel consultants have been busy putting together incredible holidays, our tour leaders leading them, and our operations staff making sure they go off without a hitch - the creative department at Inside Vietnam Tours has been working on something else.
This week, we're proud to be able to launch our most exciting tool so far - an animated, interactive, all-round fabulous map, allowing you to get beneath the surface of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos from the comfort of your own home.
As anybody can see from looking at our websites and blogs, we've always been about providing as much useful, first-hand information as possible for our customers (and anyone else who wants to use it). As technology gets more and more advanced, we've been able to do this in more and more exciting ways - and this map represents the most exciting of them all.
What's the big idea?
Basically, we're passionate about our destinations, and it's our company mission to help other people get beneath the surface of the places we love. The first step toward doing this is to inspire people - which is where this map comes in.
How does it work?
We've chosen the most beautiful and impressive destinations across Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos to populate our interactive map of Indochina. Each destination is marked with an icon (hover over them - they move!) which will transport you, when clicked, to a photo sphere from one of our favourite destinations.
What's a photo sphere?
A photo sphere is a super-fancy, 360-degree panorama that allows you to be completely immersed in any destination without ever removing buttocks from seat. Some of these have been created by Google; others have been uploaded by travellers who created them on their mobile phones. The best way I can describe it is that it's like standing inside a photo. Actually, the best way I can describe it is by directing you to try it out yourself!
But wait, there's more?
When using our map, you're not limited to the selection of awesome destinations we've chosen for you. You'll notice a button at the bottom of your screen that says "random location": click it, and you could be taken anywhere in Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos.
This is actually my favourite feature of the map, as it really lets you explore the unknown and unvisited corners of the region - making your own discoveries.
Where else can I explore?
Once you've exhausted Indochina (if such a thing is possible), click on "choose country" at the top of your screen to visit our other maps, which cover Japan and Burma.