| We enjoyed our cycling with Ms Lan in the village areas and trying our hand with the clay and also the village where they sang to us (lovely)... We really enjoyed the central Vietnam... in particular Hue. Not being city people the big cities were a bit overwhelming for us. The south was interesting too, the weather was much more to our liking also...
Tour: Vietnam Honeymoon Vacation 14 Days
Travel dates: 23rd Mar, 2010 to 5th Apr, 2010
Number of people: 02
Nationality: Australian
Name list:
Ms. Merryn Ruth Grimmer
Mr. Matthew David Mansfield
1. Guides:
In Hanoi and Halong: Ms. Lan was wonderful to deal with... sometimes a little hard to understand (her accent). It was sad saying goodbye to her – she looked after us very well.
In Sapa: Mr. Dung was friendly. He was a little late to pick us up (he said he was waiting for us but didn’t see us – we were late to get off the train). He was good offering lots of toilet stops!
In Hue and Hoi An: Mr. Phong was excellent, very accommodating and flexible. Made suggestions for our laundry and advised us about the local culture and customs. He helped me a lot with getting better from my cold also, suggesting food and drink that would help. He even checked in our behalf at the airport (didn’t know that was possible).
In Saigon and Mekong Delta: Mr. An was good too, friendly and helpful. He did try to help us find somewhere (other than the hotel) to do our laundry but the two places he checked were not open. He was probably doing more for us than necessary by trying to help us find somewhere anyway. We got stuck in a long traffic jam at the bridge near the end (the driver managed very well). Mr An was very flexible also in finding ways to avoid the traffic on the way back and skipping a couple of temples (we were exhausted!
2. Accommodation:
In Hanoi: Melia Hotel was lovely
In Hanoi: Thang Long Opera Hotel was good
In Ha Long: Red Dragon Junk was good also
In Sapa: Homestay good, I liked the mosquito nets and the toilets with the fish were fascinating
In Hue: Huong Giang Hotel – this was our favourite... I think we were upgraded or something due to renovations but we had so much room. It was a great place to relax and get better from my cold
In Hoi An: Hoi An Riverside Hotel – after Hue, this one seemed tiny (we were spoiled I think)
In Saigon: Legend Hotel – great
In Can Tho: Victoria Can Tho Hotel – very nice, thankfully the loud wedding karaoke finished not long after we arrived
3. Transport (Land, water and air):
In the North: car and driver were good, lots of distance travelled to get to Ha Long bay. The train was surprisingly comfortable. Our fellow passengers were two elderly (90 yr olds) French men who gave me roses... the eldest was determined still to climb up on his top bunk despite us offering to swap. We got to sample the village Russian style jeep at the homestay. The van used there was good too. The boat trip in the bay was great and the flight was great too.
In the Centre: Great car, plane ride was good.
In the South: driving was good too (even traffic jam). Overall drivers were good (how do they stay so calm??)
4. Restaurants:
In the North: great
In the Centre: great
In the South: great
So much food!!! We ate too much. It was nice at one stage with Mr Phong and the driver to sit at a local Pho cafe and eat together. It seemed strange eating away from our guides.
5. Places you visited:
We enjoyed our cycling with Ms Lan in the village areas and trying our hand with the clay and also the village where they sang to us (lovely). Was good to see the Sapa area but was too cold for the likes of us (we found some cafe’s with fires and drank lots of hot chocolate)
We really enjoyed the central Vietnam... in particular Hue. Not being city people the big cities were a bit overwhelming for us. The south was interesting too, the weather was much more to our liking also. Ha Long bay was great, kayaking was fun (but the team work there for Matt and I was a challenge!)
6. Design and management of your tour:
Excellent. (Thanks for the presents also!!)
7. Are there any recommendations or criticisms of services, restaurants, shops, visit sites and so on that you’ve visited on your own?
Poor Matt couldn’t really fit in his seat at the water puppets.. His legs were too long. It was hard to arrive in the country from Malaysia and go straight into the tour without stopping somewhere to refresh and sort out our belongings (but this was unavoidable as the rooms at the hotel were not ready). We were a bit confused about the whole tipping custom... how much and when but we tried. |
