Shop and Drop In on Exotic Asian Cities

A holiday shopping tour that takes bargain hunters to Seoul; Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in Vietnam; Vientiane, Laos; and Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand, departs Nov. 5 for 10 days. Escorts take guests to shops for lacquerware, silver, bronze and gold, watches, designer clothes and shoes, silk and cotton material, ceramics and bamboo and woven fiber products. Participants visit factories, factory outlets, shops, markets and craft shops. There is extra time on the tour for sightseeing, entertainment and cultural events.

Cost: $2,675 per person, double occupancy, including international air fare, deluxe hotels, many dinners with entertainment and daily American breakfast.

Contact: Ivanhoe Travel, 1012 Grand Ave., San Diego, CA 92109; telephone (800) 470-4428.

Adventures in Ecuador

Visit Ecuador with a group of ethnic art collectors from the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Costa Mesa.

Participants will travel from Aug. 21 to 31. The trip will include the highland market of Otavalo, home visits with local artisans and tours of ethnological and art museums. Quito, Cuenca and Ingapirca (the Inca ruin) are on the itinerary. Visits to small villages include Gualaceo, where macanas or shawls are woven in the old Incan Ikat style; Chordeleg, famous for its gold and silver jewelry; Ban~os, known for balsa wood sculptures; and Peguche and Agato to see weavers and musicians.

Cost: $2,860 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare, lodging, ground transportation, museum and park admission fees, guides, about half of the meals and membership in both the Bowers Museum and the Collectors’ Council.

Contact: Janet Seward, Collector’s Council of the Bowers Museum, 413 Costa Mesa St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; tel. (714) 650-4778.

Going Down Under

Eva’s Tours is hosting a journey to Australia and New Zealand with an optional side trip to Fiji. The 17-day tour departs Oct. 21.

Participants will start in Auckland, New Zealand, viewing the city from Mt. Eden, then move on to the Glow-Worm Grotto before visiting Rotorua and its Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve. Guests visit the Maori Arts & Crafts Institute near Rotorua, the Rainbow Springs Reserve, a sheep-shearing show at the Agrodome, Huka Falls, Lake Taupo and three volcanoes.

The Inter-Island Ferry takes participants to South Island, then by motor coach to Christchurch. Members will visit Canterbury Plains, Mt. Cook, Mackenzie Plains, Linis Pass and Kawarau Gorge. On Day 12 the group flies to Australia for two nights in Melbourne and three in Sydney. The group will cruise Sydney’s harbor, visit Kings Cross, and see koalas and kangaroos at the Taronga Zoo.

Cost: $3,899 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from LAX, hotels, 26 meals and sightseeing. Add-on options are three days to the Great Barrier Reef (Cairns) for $449; or three days in Fiji for $399.

Contact: Eva’s Tours, 27435 Paseo Mimosa, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675; tel. (714) 489-0488.

Patient in Tunisia

Tourists can see the locations of “The English Patient” during a 12-day Tunisian journey departing Oct. 12. It begins in Tunis (which stood in for 1930s Cairo in the movie) and visits Mahdia (the substitute for Tobruk), the Chott-el-Jerid dry lake (site of the film’s expedition base camp) and the Tozeur oasis (where many desert scenes were staged). Other stops include Roman ruins, the Sidi Bou Said artist’s village and the island of D’Jerba. The Amelia Tours excursion is limited to 20 travelers.

Cost: $1,830 per person, double occupancy, includes 11 nights of five-star accommodations, daily breakfast, most meals, transfers, guide and air-conditioned bus. Air fare to Tunisia is extra.

Contact: Amelia Tours; tel. (516) 433-0696 or (800) 742-4591.

A Green Spain

The green regions of northern Spain--Galicia, Cantabria, Asturias and the Basque country--are the focus of a two-week tour to Spain.

Tours are available on various dates through Oct. 7. Guests visit the summer resort town of San Sebastian, the historic pilgrimage city of St. James, the old Asturian capital of Oviedo, and Pamplona, famed for the July running of the bulls.

The tour also goes to Barcelona for two nights on the Mediterranean coast, and Madrid, the country’s capital, for three nights. En route from Madrid to Barcelona, tour participants also visit Zaragoza, capital of the ancient region of Aragon.

Cost: $1,199 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations, buffet breakfast daily, six dinners and one lunch, airport transfers, services of a tour director, sightseeing tours in three cities, hotel service charges and taxes. Air fare is not included.

Contact: Petrabex, 19710 Ventura Blvd., Suite 210, Woodland Hills, CA 91364; tel. (800) 634-1188.

Historical Christmas

The Pasadena Historical Museum will sponsor a trip Dec. 3 to 9 to experience Three Centuries of Christmas in Washington, D.C., and Colonial Williamsburg. Colonial, Federal and Victorian Christmas traditions will be explored during visits to museums and private homes.

Participants will enjoy a walking tour of historic Alexandria, Va., which will be decorated for the holidays, and attend the lighting of the National Christmas Tree. The trip is timed to coincide with the Grand Illumination, the official kickoff of the Christmas season at Colonial Williamsburg. As dusk falls, 1,300 candles are lighted in the windows of the dozens of colonial buildings. The trip will be escorted by Jane Auerbach, director of the Pasadena Historical Museum.

Cost: $2,O64 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, accommodations, several meals, transportation by chartered motor coach, museum admissions, gratuities and a tax-deductible contribution to the museum.

Contact: Spectrum Tours, P.O. Box 50608, Santa Barbara, CA 93150; tel. (805) 969-9665.

Reefs and Rain Forests

An eight-day tour leaves Oct. 31 for Belize, where travelers enjoy an inland jungle tour, an archeological expedition and a tropical beach stay. Guests visit the Belize Zoo, the Mayan site of Xunantunich and will cross the border to Tikal in Guatemala. The group will travel up into pine-covered mountains to see the 1,000-foot Hidden Valley Falls, then explore the Rio Frio Cave. Participants will paddle up the Macal River in dugout canoes and forage through a lush rain forest.

Guests can unwind in the village of San Pedro on the tropical island Ambergris Caye. Here they will stay at the Belize Yacht Club, where there is diving, snorkeling and sailing available to see coral reefs.

Cost: $1,725 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, accommodations, van transportation, all taxes and some meals.

Contact: Adventures With Alice Travel, 1082 S. Seaward Ave., Ventura, CA 93001; tel. (800) 549-9071.

German Wines

Spend a week in Germany learning about wine in weeklong sessions at the German Wine Academy in the Rhine and Mosel River valleys. Two sessions scheduled: Aug. 31 to Sept. 6 and Oct. 5 to 11. The academy is headquartered at the historic Kloster Eberbach near Frankfurt. The courses are conducted in English, with meals and accommodations provided.

In addition to lectures, participants will travel to six wine regions for vineyard and wine estate visits and tastings with winemakers. Guests also take a cruise on the Rhine.

The fall trip includes visits to villages celebrating the harvest.

Cost: about $1,260 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations in a hotel, all meals, lectures, tastings, excursions and taxes. Air fare is not included.

Contact: German Wine Information Bureau, 79 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016; tel (212) 213-7028.

The Times is not responsible for changes in prices, dates or itineraries. These should be confirmed with cruise lines, travel agents or tour operators.