Hi there Nguyen,
On behalf of Clendon and I, we would like to say thank you for
organising our 3 week tour through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia
for us!
Apologies for the delay in retuning your email. We are still on
holiday in Thailand, and the Internet has been hard to connect
to at times.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in all 3 countries. It will be a
holiday we will remember with great fondness and happiness!
In general, we thought the tour was very well organised. We were
always met at the airport or hotel by someone who would explain
to us what was happening either that day or the following day.
We were very impressed.
The vehicles we travelled in were always comfortable. The
drivers were always safe on the roads. Some of them even offered
us refresher towels and water (in Siem Reap) after we had been
out sight seeing which we thought was very good! Excellent
customer service.
The guides were very informative of the sites we were visiting,
and some went above and beyond to make our experience both
informative and entertaining. They were genuinely interested in
showing us around, and wanted to make sure we knew everything
there was to know about each of the sites.
We would like to make a special mention about "Mr Tom"- our
motorbike tour guide in Hue. He was absolutely fantastic as a
guide. He really knows how to engage people and to make learning
about places fun and interesting. The motorbike riding was also
very fun itself. Please continue to use him on future tours! He
is a real asset to the company, and a good contact point in Hue.
The scheduling of the tour we thought was very good. We
understood how difficult it would have been to have squeezed in
as many sites and places as you did. We liked that there were
free days in between tour days so that we could relax or do
something of our own. We do have one suggestion that you may
consider for future use:
- The last day in Hanoi should be a "free day", and the second
day in Hanoi after arriving from Hue should be the tour day.
We found the city tour on the day that we flew to Laos was quite
full on. It meant having to walk in the heat, and then make our
way to the airport without being able to freshen up. The tour
guide suggested we leave our suitcases at the Hanoi A1 Hotel
while doing the tour, so that meant the hotel had to store them
for us, and we had to make a trip back there to collect them
after the tour. Clendon in particular struggled with the heat on
this day, so he would have liked to have freshened up before we
flew. If the city tour was on the second day in Hanoi, then the
last day could be spent resting before flying onwards.
All of the hotels we stayed in were of excellent quality. We
found them to be very comfortable and accommodating to our
needs. There were some hotels that stood out more than others in
terms of quality and customer service. These hotels were the Hai
Au Hotel in Hoi An, the Ancient LuangPrabang Hotel in Laos, and
the City River Hotel in Cambodia. The staff at these hotels were
willing to go above and beyond to make sure we were ok and had
everything we needed.
Some of the highlights of our tour (there are many!) included:
- the war museum in Saigon
- Hoi An (for the beach and shopping/tailoring)
- the motorbike tour in Hue
- the boat trip in Ha Long Bay
- the war museum in Hanoi (the old prison)
- watching the monks collect food on the streets of Luang
Prabang, the trek and elephant ride, and the town of Luang
Prabang itself. Such a lovely place!
- all of the temples in Siem Reap
- the genocide museum and killing fields in Phnom Penh.
Another highlight for us was just simply being able to be in the
atmosphere of each place we visited, to embrace the local
culture, to try new and interesting foods, and to be able to say
we've been to these countries!
Once again we thank you for organising our tour for us, and we
will not hesitate to recommend your tour company to others who
may ask about traveling through South East Asia.
Keep up the good work! For a relatively young tour company (and
for a company in an industry where there are so many other tour
companies already) you are doing a great job. We wish you all
the best for the future.
Richard Mill Replica Watches
With regards,
Rebekah and Clendon.
Rebekah and Clendon - New Zealand (Trip to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in
July 2014).
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Dear Pham,
www.topreplicawatch.co
Judd and I had a wonderful trip in Vietnam. All of the hotels
were located in great locations for walking, shopping &
sightseeing so you did a great job there! The hotel in Hue had
an exceptional breakfast buffet and was our favorite!
I would avoid using the Pumpkin Express train if at all
possible! It was very old & dirty compared to the 1st train we
took, luckily we slept thru it! Having the hotel room right
across the street from the train station for that few hours in
the morning was also PERFECT!
The guides in Hue (Tom) & HCMC (Phaun) we exceptional!! Our
guide is Sapa (Huang) was very nice and helpful and we really
had a great time but he seemed a little immature for 28 years
old so you may want to request someone a little more mature next
time if possible. I am not saying he did a bad job because he
tried really hard so I have no complaints there, it just seemed
like he talked a lot about himself and how he is going to start
his own business and he seemed to like to socialize with all the
other guides whenever we went anywhere, etc. Since he was really
our first guide, we were happy with him until we had two great
guides after him to compare him too! With that said, I would
definitely recommend him again, maybe just for your younger
clients?
The food and service on the Glory Cruise in Ha Long Bay was also
wonderful! (bus ride there was not so great with the Kamikaze
drivers)!
The home stay was clean & comfortable & food was great, the only
thing that really could have made the whole experience a little
bit better was if it felt a little more authentic? I imagined
that we would stay with a family with kids and get to know them
a little and perhaps walk around the village and really get the
"feel of the place" There was a group of 18 other people from
Germany staying there with us, so it was not as personal of an
experience as I was expecting. Also, there was really no where
to walk to? it was right on the river bank and the trail went a
few houses to the left & right and that was it!? I realize that
one family runs it, but it felt more like a hotel for home stays
with all the rooms they had.
Please don't feel like I am complaining because I would not
change one thing about the trip, in fact it was one of the best
trips we have ever been on (and we travel a lot)! I am only
giving you feed back so you can take some things into
consideration. I will highly recommend you and your company to
family & friends and in a few days I will post positive reviews
on the internet when I get caught up here on things at home!
I think the itinerary you sent up for us was the perfect amount
of time in each place and the value & service was excellent. The
people of Vietnam are warm & friendly and I wish we found that
in other countries!
Kind Regards,
Laura & Judd Carson.
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Dear Mr Pham
Apologies for the delay in writing this for you, we have had bad
floods in Australia - we are currently flooded in at a town
called Agnes Water - see photos of yard at the back of our home
Follows some feedback from our trip
Day 1 landed in Saigon
Picked up by Guide – very nice guide and driver – transferred to
hotel
Hotel Tan Hai Long 1 Hotel – very nice hotel, only problem was
they gave children 1 double bed and 1 single in rooms instead of
3 singles, this is not a big issue but caused problems for us.
Breakfast nice and very close to night market and Ben Than
Market which is great – very happy with hotel other than beds
Day 2 picked up early and drove to Cu Chi Tunnels – a highlight
for the kids – really enjoyed the morning. Tunnels very
interesting and older kids were able to fire guns which they
enjoyed.
Lunch at Me Kong Delta Rest Stop– excellent – lovely setting and
excellent food, best lunch of the trip
Afternoon drove to transfer to boat, were too late for the live
market but walking around town was interesting
Transfer to homestay – lovely boat ride up the river
Homestay – nice and comfortable enjoyed this experience very
much, pleased to have stayed in the cooler weather, food for
dinner and breakfast were excellent. Family were very nice.
After breakfast kids rode bikes but weather was wet. Excellent
place to stay and we would highly recommend this.
Day 3 boat to floating markets – not many boats seen at the
markets but a nice boat trip. Lunch very pleasant at nice old
building – very enjoyable day.
We got off the boat at a very unpleasant place, filled with
garbage and smell under a bridge. We waited for a while for the
bus. It would have been much better to be let off the boat at a
wharf near the bus rather than a site were garbage was dumped.
Bus trip back to airport was ok. Driver and guide very nice on
this trip.
Flew in evening to Siem Reap. Flight was fine. Picked up at
airport by nice guide and driver. Transferred to Steung Siem
Reap Hotel. Excellent Hotel – very well appointed and very close
to old town and markets. Highly recommended.
Day 4 picked up and drove to the temples – we had looked forward
to this trip for many years and were not disappointed at all.
Stunning temples and altogether amazing experience. Lunch
excellent at Khmer Kitchen. More temples in the afternoon and
then the kids were able to ride elephants to the top of the
mountain to watch the sunset over. Evening wandered through
markets - lovely and had a lovely dinner at a local restaurant.
Wonderful day
Day 5 drove south to boat trip on lake – trip was ok – lake and
river are very dirty – filled with garbage which was not
pleasant.
Visit to crocodile farm - very interesting, visit Pol Pot War
Shrine – very sad
Visit to War Museum in Siem Reap – again very sad
Transfer to airport – guide and driver very helpful highly
recommended
Flight to Hanoi
Met by Mr Huy – lovely man – give him our best regards
Transfer to hotel Tirant Hotel – nicest hotel of the trip,
lovely rooms, well appointed, lovely breakfast – very nice
staff. Rooms had 3 beds for children in each room as requested –
highly recommended
Day 6
Picked up by Mr Trung – lovely man, morning city tour to Ho Chi
Minh complex, we were honoured to see Ho Chi Minh. Also museum
and One Pillar Pagoda. Visit to “Hanoi Hilton” was very
interesting for the children. Lunch with you, Mr Huy and Mr
Trung was excellent and it was lovely to meet you. Afternoon
visit to the War Museum which was great and Mr Trung was very
informative and had many interesting stories.
Evening train to Lao Cai, train was fine, cabins were
comfortable and this was a good experience, kids enjoyed the
trip very much.
Day 7 picked up by guide Mr Heip, very nice chap, trip up to Cat
Cat View Hotel was very nice. Hotel was fine, but very cold.
Morning we had breakfast in Sunny Mountain View Hotel –
unfortunately no view, breakfast was ok.
After breakfast walked through market and enjoyed this very
much, nice to meet Hmong, Red Dao and other minority groups.
Excellent morning, lunch in local restaurant then drove and
walked to local village, very interesting. Afternoon more market
time, dinner at lovely restaurant – Nature Bar and Grill –
highly recommended, excellent food, fires under table and lovely
helpful people and very cheap.
Day 8 – dreadful day – only really bad part of trip. 3.5 hour
drive on terrible roads with very bad driver, too fast,
inconsiderate and used his horn constantly – we would not
recommend this driver to anyone. Market visit only 30 minutes –
in 10-15cm mud, did not see palace of Hmong King’s Residence nor
village of Ban Pho which we were expecting. Then lunch at local
restaurant – was ok. Then 2 hours more driving which was not an
enjoyable experience at all.
Finally we returned to Lao Cai where we walked ourselves to a
local market and had dinner – this we enjoyed.
Night train back to Hanoi, trip was fine.
Day 9 arrived at New Moon Hotel, this was a good idea to have a
sleep but it may have been better to just start on our trip to
Ha Long Bay, perhaps an early breakfast then start the trip
would have given us more time on the boat. Unfortunately while
stepping back to avoid the porter Bob bumped a plant over placed
dangerously at the bottom of stairs and the pot broke. I refused
to pay for this but I think Mr Trung may have done so - if he
did please let me know the cost and I shall send you the money.
I do not believe we should have been asked to pay for this but
if we were then I will pay you. The Hotel was small and not very
clean, breakfast was poor. We would rather have started on our
trip to the Bay I think.
Arrival at Ha Long Bay – for some reason boats now all painted
white – I don’t know why – they do not look good. Trip on Ha
Long Bay was a highlight of the trip.
Visited caves but did not have the opportunity to do any other
activities – not sure why? Kids would have liked to kayak or
canoe on the bay.
Day 10
Unfortunately had to leave fairly early the next morning in
order to make our afternoon flight to Da Nang. Kids loved Ha
Long Bay and want to stay a couple of nights next time. The food
was great, the staff on the boat were great and cabins were
comfortable although the boat was run down and in need of
repair.
Drive back to the airport was fine, said good bye to Mr Trung
and driver and flew to Da Nang. Met by driver and transferred to
Hai Au hotel in Hoi An, staffed by the friendliest people we
have ever encountered. Once again we had double beds for the
children but the nice staff organised appropriate beds for us –
this was a common problem with every hotel –we had asked for 1
double room and 2 rooms with 3 single beds for us. Not having
correct beds caused issues each night as the children did not
wish to share beds, this was the only hotel where they were very
helpful and resolved this for us.
We had 2 nights in Hoi An which were very enjoyable, this is a
lovely town and very friendly. We enjoyed the shops and had some
clothes and shoes made.
The afternoon of the second last day we were picked up at the
hotel and said goodbye to all the lovely staff. The driver took
us to the airport where we booked in and flew to Saigon.
We arrived in Saigon and were picked up by a lovely young lady
guide Ms Tuyen and driver. They took us to the well situated
Hotel Tan Hai Long 1 Hotel and we booked in. As usual beds were
not what we had asked for – we were given one double room and 2
rooms with 2 double beds. We walked to markets and had dinner
and did a little shopping.
Final Day (very sad)
Picked up by guide at 9am and set off for our final day in
Vietnam, we toured the Unification Palace, Cathedral and Post
Office then the very sad War Museum.
We had a delightful lunch before transferring the airport for
our flight home.
This was a wonderful holiday
Highlights for us was the HaLong Bay trip and Hoi An
Minor problems was encountered with the hotels not providing the
beds that had been asked for
Only one poor day was the trip to Bac Ha, much too far driving –
extra 4 hours in a van with a terrible driver. Would not
recommend this trip with only one night in Sapa.
Guides were excellent and spoke good English, very kind and
considerate
Hotels were all very comfortable
Food was excellent
Mr Phan we thank you again for our trip, it was a wonderful
experience, we shall continue to recommend you to our friends
who visit Vietnam.
We are planning our next family trip with you in July 2014 if
you are happy too book this for us?
Fond regards to you and your family
Please let me know when Mr Trung's wife has the baby.
Dr Philip M. - Australia (Trip to Vietnam and Cambodia in
January 2013).
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Liam and
Michael have arrived safely at home from their journey through
Vietnam. They have a lot of stories of the journey and certainly
had a great time. I admit now that Mandy and I where very
worried that they would not have anything bad happen to them but
they are both 25 and have to make up their own minds: they
wouldn't really listen to us anyway ! :) Michael, in particular,
wants to come back to Vietnam as soon as he can. I think he is
looking to see if he can find a job teaching English. Liam lives
with his girlfriend and I think now, having had this adventure,
he will probably settle down a little bit with her. They are
looking to buy a house together near the beach next year.
Really though wanted to say thank you to you both for helping
them as much as you did, that was far beyond anything that we
could have asked of you and we, and Michael and Liam, will
always remember the help you gave them. I hope one day soon we
will meet again so that we can say thank you in person,
hopefully later this year. At the moment we are planning to make
a trip in perhaps November with both of our daughters, Amy and
Kayla, and their partners Cameron and Jarrod, all 6 of us ! We
will see. The economy here is not so good at the moment but
hopefully everything works out ok.
Today is a special day, New Years Day. Hopefully the year of the
snake will see your business continue to expand and you, and
your families, enjoy health and happiness throughout.
Take care of yourselves :)
Thanks again
Bob Usher from Australia
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Hi,
Sorry about the delay in getting back to you. I understand that
as a company that wants to be successful, you need the feedback
of customers to let you know what's good and what's bad. I will
give you our review of the trip you planned for us.
Your company devised the itineracy and chose many of the places
we went. We insisted on a couple of the places and you did your
best to accommodate us. Some of the "problems" we had were our
fault so I will be clear where I felt something wasn't good, but
the fault lies with us.
First of all I want to say I loved Vietnam. I think it's amazing
that this country almost destroyed by war has made such a
comeback. Although we didn't deal with everyday people, the
service people (stores, hotels and restaurants) were friendly
and helpful. I had no expectation when I went to Vietnam (the
best way to go), and I was pleased most of the time.
We didn't see much of Hanoi. I have no idea if that is an
important place to visit. If you think it is, you should suggest
it to prospective customers.
The Halong Bay cruise was good. It would have been nicer if it
was a little warmer, but it was January so I can't complain. We
were lucky that our shipmates were good people and we all got on
quite well. I can imagine it would have been terrible if the
other people on the cruise were boring, uninteresting people.
But the whole thing is a chance, and we were lucky. The guide
himself was good and friendly and helpful.
Next came Sapa. We chose Sapa and it was a huge mistake on our
part. It was too cold, but, this was our fault. If a customer
says they want to go to Sapa, what can you say? I don't think
you can say "no". The guide was friendly and pleasant. I'd love
to visit Sapa when the weather is better, but it should be
avoided in January. I guess you can try to talk people out of
it, but I don't know if that's really a good idea. Your company
is in a "no-win" situation. The customer goes to Sapa and might
blame you (wrongly) that it was an unpleasant experience. You
advise the customer to skip Sapa and they might resent you for
not taking them there. It is a problem for you.
We loved Hue. It's a beautiful city with lots to see. The Hotel
(Asia) was the best hotel of the tour. There was lots to see and
a lot of choices (good ones) of where to eat. I would live in
Hue it was so beautiful.
We loved Hoi An. I know there were no tours planned while we
were there, but we went to My Son (very interesting), and kept
busy and ate well. The hotel (Hai Au) was fine and had the
friendliest staff. We were made to feel at home, and they were
quite helpful. It was relaxing and a real pleasure to spend a
few days there.
From there we went to Hoi Chi Minh City. First off I want to say
that the hotel there was disgusting (Sports hotel). I know I
could have called you and said that, but I was afraid (my fault)
that you would tell me that for the price I was paying for the
tour, that was the best I could get. I didn't want to get angry
at anyone. It was my fault to not complain at the time, but I'm
telling you now to not send people there. As for the City, it
was interesting. The visit to the Cu Chi tunnels was fascinating
and the visit to the "War Crimes" museum was depressing. It's
very difficult for a North American like myself to know that the
Americans did such horrible things. I expect the Germans to do
them, I expect the Japanese to do them, but the Americans? I
suggest you recommend this museum to everyone. The Mekong Delta
tour was fine. It wasn't great and it wasn't bad. Maybe there is
something more interesting to see in Ho Chi Minh City but I
don't know.
Overall, I have no complaints. Your staff checked on us and made
our transfers to the trains or planes very easy. You were quite
attentive and I would have no hesitation in recommending your
company to anyone visiting Vietnam.
I hope this brief review is of some help. And I want to thank
you for helping us to have a wonderful time in Vietnam.
Martin King from Canada