Vietnam is truly beautiful. All the people we met were kind and friendly.
While we were travelling we ran a travel blog for our family and friends back home. If you are interested, it is here:
http://jcouvaras.blogspot.com/
Some feedback on our trip for you and your company
1. Mrs Bich.
Without you none of this would have happened. With your expertise, organisation and good advice we had a fantastic time. All arrangements, guides, travels, flights, hotels etc were well arranged and there was no major issue that made our holiday any less enjoyable. We Highly recommend you!
2. Our Guides
Shangi in Sapa, Anthony in Hanoi. Vin in Hue and Honian, Vouthy in Siem Reap they were all outstanding. All had good knowledge, engaged with us, and put the extra effort in to make our stay that much better. We were very impress with all. Special mention is needed for Vouthy in Siem Reap He is passionate and very knowledgeable about his history, his country, and has a good grasp of English and a very good nature. He has a way of explaining and linking the legends and factual history. He really stood out and we highly recommend him.
Mr Mingh in Saigon is a kind, soft spoken and well natured gentleman, but lacks engagement/communication skills I believe are necessary for a good tour guide. He is more passive than active but we still enjoyed out time with him.
3. Hotels
- Silkpath in Hanoi is “ excellent. Good location, Good staff. Good food and clean rooms.
- Bhaya Cruise on Halong bay is Outstanding! Rooms, boat, food, staff is everything was excellent. Will go again.
- Victoria Spa is very good (for some reason rooms have no air-conditioning, and been put on the ground floor we were not happy to sleep with or leave windows open for air). Good food.
- Siagon Morin in Hue is excellent. Beautiful woodwork and aged French look. Breakfast in the garden.
- Palm Garden Resort in Hoian is Fantastic, on the sea and glad we spent 4 nights there. Staff outstanding, food excellent as was evening dining. A little out of the way, but they operate a hotel bus to get to town. Very good swimming beach.
- Grand Hotel in Saigon is other old French style hotel. We were very happy with our room and hotel in general. Good pool area with evening BBQ on offer. Location good and easy to walk downtown.
- Angkor Paradise in Siem Reap. A dump. Reviews in Trip Advisor are 100% correct and nothing has improved. Hotel creates a very good first impression and then everything thereafter is downhill. Main complaints were air-conditioning is did not work, Water is no water, some water, no hot, some warm, only cold, then very hot. Dripped out the tap or shower, then rushed out, then stopped . It was a lottery. We appreciate Asia-King offered to change hotel for us, but we decided that to pack, check-out, go somewhere else, check-in, unpack etc would waste too much time, so we’ll bear it is just one more night and just make the best of it. I think it was the right decision.
4. Train to SAPA
Other than this was an experience their web site http://www.tulicotrain.com/ claims a Deluxe wooden 4 berths with embark on these carriages; visitors will indulge in the pleasure of the warm decoration and safety. These carriages feature a large space to fit your luggage, a large corridor and hot water suppliers on two sides of the carriages. Locks are carefully made to be sure you never lose things when beholding the panoramic views of ever-changing scenery. Each carriage can accommodate 28 passengers with the special care of Pole-star guiding staff in from the ground to the time you settle down. Each cabin has 4 berths; all berths are air-conditioned with water and breads for individual. The berths are remodeled to be soft sleeper with air conditioning. All cabins are air-conditioned, equipped with safe lock and bright,blarge corridors. Facilities are modern and well-fitted to bring you a good night on the train.
Well quite frankly this is not at all the truth.
Facilities were terrible, old and very worn sleeper lights did not work, power-points did not work. Staff were very rude, and going to Sapa, the air-conditioning went off at midnight and we become a sauna, toilets were utterly disgusting and unusable, so we had to use another carriage.
Coming back to Hanoi we had a very loud banging sound every 1 min to 2 min. It was very loud and came from under the carriage and lasted the whole trip. Staff did not care about the noise. Again we had no power-points and berth light also did not work. Again, staff did not care at all. Toilets were cleaner on this trip.
Train trip overall although we take it as a very unique experience, I feel it is very wrong to publish such un-true facts on their web-site. I would say it is more like back-packers accommodation.
5. Overall
Every part we visited had it own unique charm and appeal, so it is not easy to single out any one area that was better than another. It was ALL GOOD a very memorable and remarkable holiday.
The guides were excellent, we enjoyable the local food, it is a beautiful country, rich history, but with the most intriguing road-rules!
People are kind people and there is a lot of poverty, yet happy people.
We would most definitely visit again just take it a bit slower in places.
Thank you very much Mrs Bich.
Wish you and Asia-King good success.
Kind regards
John & Nicole Couvaras
Add: 17 Colvillea Close, Stretton, Brisbane, 4116, Queensland Australia
Email:
John@couvaras.biz
Tel: +617 3273 4639 (Home)
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