In 2019, Phoenix Voyages will celebrate its 20th anniversary, an opportunity for Mr. Edouard George, its founder, to look back on some of his fondest memories and share a few unpublished anecdotes. Discover below, the anecdote of the month: Why Phoenix Voyages is called "Phoenix Voyages"?

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"There are three answers to this question.

First of all, it should be noted that the phoenix is one of the four sacred animals of the Vietnamese culture alongside the dragon, unicorn and turtle.

The dragon, probably the most important of all, is a symbol of power. It is also a source of life, of the creation of nature and of the universal dynamism; while the unicorn, represents prosperity and justice; and the turtle is the sign of longevity and the link between Heaven and Earth…its shell symbolizes the celestial dome and its four legs - the four pillars of the world. And finally, the phoenix is the image of immortality, resurrection, of course, and freedom.

The second reason refers to my passion for billetophilia, i.e., the collection of banknotes. One of my favorite banknotes is from South Vietnam dating back from the old regime at the end of the French colonization on which a phoenix appears. This image is also the logo of Phoenix Voyages for many years!

Lastly, for more practical reasons, it was necessary to have a name that could be easily translated into different languages of the region and easily remembered by both the locals and our European customers. Since the phoenix exists in both European and Asian mysticism, it seemed to us to be the ideal name."

Edouard George