Hi Vy

Lovely to hear from you! Sorry for the late reply, but I have had a busy time at work since coming back. Henry and I are both well, although it's much colder here than it was in Vietnam!

We had a wonderful time on the holiday and will definitely recommend Tonkin to any friends who are thinking of going to Vietnam. All the accommodation was clean and comfortable, and although the internal flights were sometimes a little unreliable (the times kept being changed), I appreciate this is not within your control, and our drivers and people at the hotels really helped us to keep track of any changes, calling the airline to check with them ahead of the flights. 

In the north, both our guide and driver were really excellent. We learned a lot about the history and landscape, and the itineraries were perfect - we saw and did lots of things, but there was time to relax as well, which is exactly what we wanted. The guide was helpful and knowledgeable. I think the highlights for us were the Mai Chau homestay - which was so beautiful, and with wonderful hospitality - and the Cuc Phuong National Park (we loved seeing the Langurs and Gibbons!). The restaurants we stopped at in the North were really great - I think the food we had at the homestay and just outside Hoa Lu was the best of the whole trip. 

Although we didn't have long in Hoi An, we were very lucky with the weather and had a great sunny day, with the flood waters all gone by the time we got there. We really enjoyed walking around and seeing the historical buildings, and found an amazing place for Banh Mi : )

Con Dao was a real change of pace from Hoi An - the roads were almost empty and it was nice to be somewhere so peaceful. It's a little less set up for tourists, but we expected this and it's such a small town that it's easy to get your bearings without speaking the language. The island's history was really interesting, although obviously very sad. We went to visit the cemetery for a midnight vigil and to the prison to find out more about Vietnam's past. We also went walking in the rainforest - the jungle was very dense and quite difficult to walk, but it was worth the trip - we saw some interesting wildlife including giant black squirrels, monitor lizards and land crabs. The island is home to lots of rare species. Finally, one of the highlights of the trip was going snorkelling with the Con Dao Dive Centre. The Centre is run by an English-speaking instructor  who has lived and worked on the island for many years and extremely knowledgeable. We went snorkelling in a small group over coral reefs to the west of the islands and saw some amazing coral, reef fish and other things - honestly, it felt like being in another world : ) I would highly recommend this to anyone visiting Con Dao. 

The Con Dao resort was comfortable, clean and had a good pool, overlooking a beautiful beach. The only problem was some misunderstandings with the hotel staff. At one point they knocked on our room door and kept asking if we had a child in the room (we didn't!). They seemed annoyed, but we still are not sure what was going on - maybe they mixed up our room with another? On the final day, the cleaner did not put fresh towels in our room after they took away the dirty ones. This was ok, but then when we checked out the hotel lobby staff wanted us to pay for new towels! I think they thought we had stolen them...we resolved the issue in the end, but it still wan't great. 

Finally - we met with some friends living in Ho Chi Minh City and had a great time there too. The hotel was lovely.

I am attaching some pictures - afraid we didn't get many with Henry and I in them though! I've included a few from Con Dao, as I know this is less familiar to you (the beach pictures, mountain with lillies, me in the jungle are all from Con Dao). Hope they are of use. 

Thanks again and all the very best!

Alex

Group: Alex x 2 persons
IN-DEPTH VIETNAM 16 DAYS

Hi Vy,

All is well with life here in Australia and my parents are also very well.  We are telling everyone about our wonderful trip to Vietnam and how lovely everything was. It is also fun sharing photos and memories between ourselves.

Our experience with Vy and Tonkin-Travel was nothing but perfect. From the time I contacted Vy via email to ask for her  help and suggestions to when we were dropped at the airport to fly back to Australia.....our experience was trouble free and seamless. The fact that i was travelling with my ageing, but fit parents and this was their first experience of Asian culture, i was a little nervous. Vy made sure we felt safe and secure. We found a phone left for us on arrival with numbers on speed dial to call in any emergency or issue and she called us via our driver and guide twice to check in with us. Our itinerary was tailored by Vy and myself before we left Australia and Vy was extremely helpful is suggesting fun, interesting and appropriate activities, excursions, places and accommodation. Our driver and guides were also very warm, generous and helpful people. Vietnam is a beautiful country with lovely generous people....... travelling with Tonkin-Travel ‘s helpful support is the only way to see it.

I have also attached some photos. Please let me know if you would prefer the photo files attached individually.

Thankyou Vy, for a fabulous trip, a memorable time spent with my parents and husband. I have also attached 2 photos to show you the 4 of us .....this was taken in Mui Ne at our last dinner where my father and i danced in the restaurant! And also a photo of beautiful Phi (our guide from the Sampan) who we felt was like a family member after 24 hours.

I will definitely keep in touch for our next trip to Vietnam. Hopefully then we can come up to Hanoi and meet you!

Thankyou again

Linda Lawson

Group: Linda x 4 persons
SOUTHERN VIETNAM 8 DAYS

Dear Vy,

Thank you for preparing a wonderful itinerary for me. From pick-up at the airports and transfers to the hotels, everything went smooth.

Laos is a delightful country. No traffic congestions and the pace of life is very relaxing.

From Vientiane to Vang Vieng and then to Luang Prabang everything went smooth.  It was fun, exciting and adventurous. The tour guide and driver were excellent. The mini van ran smooth as it was in tip top shape to ran the journey from Vientiane to Luang Prabang.

Laos would be ideal for people that are fond of geography and nature.

The hotels and the overall ambience were very delightful, though some more than others.

On this trip I had one night in Bangkok, Thailand then five nights in Laos and further three nights

Pattaya, Thailand. Pattaya was vibrant and exciting. I had a great time. I stayed at a wonderful hotel.

Overall, Tonkin-Travel did a wonderful and excellent job!

My travel agent, Nguyen Vy was always there if I had any questions and a delightful person to work with.

She did a fantastic job.

Very truly yours and best regards,

Gerard Wijnveldt
Group: Gerard x 1 person
A GLANCE OF LAOS & THAILAND 10 DAYS

Hello Thom,

Thanks for your email! We are so happy with our trip and the weather we had! We were very lucky!!

We have been slow to readjust to daily life, we were definitely tired after!! Thankfully we still had some vacation left so that we could have some time to recover! Thank you to Kien for sending us his photos, that was very nice! The photos of Tac Bah Lake are amazing !!!

Overall everything was perfect, well organized, and you pinpointed exactly what we were looking for in our trip. We loved being able to learn about the Vietnamese people and their daily life, and the hikes and bike rides we did were definitely a highlight!  

My note for future travellers would be to do their trip from south to north, like us, for a few reasons. Firstly, it is very hot in the south and it was nice to finish with the cooler temperatures of the north! Another reason was the bustle: there was a lot of traffic and noise in the south and we were happy to arrive in the North where it is calmer.  Lastly, we enjoyed finishing with the splendid landscapes of the North: with the terraced rice fields, Halong Bay, we finished on a highlight!!! (But of course, the Mekong Delta was amazing and I would recommend future travelers pay it a visit too!)

Well there you go, our minds are still on vacation, as you can see!

We will definitely be recommending you to our friend and will contact Tonkin Voyage if we decide to visit Myanmar or another country in Southeast Asia!  

See you soon! Good luck with everything and thank you again for your work!

Kind regards,

Flavie and Julien

Groupe: Mr. Julien Verge x 2 people
Splendor of Vietnam in 24 days

Hello Thom, Hello Thuong,

Thank you for your email and the attention you paid to us.

We had a beautiful trip and will remember it for a lifetime.

We saw so many things that I think we’ll need a few days to reflect on all that we experienced, including the beautiful scenery and the wonderful people.

Your service is top quality, and we were very happy with our guides, the restaurants, and the hotels you organized for us.

The tour was well organized and everything went smoothly: the bikes, the boat, the cars and the walking. We never had to wait, and they were a great mix of fun and informative. We were able to do lots of activates and still keep a relaxed pace.

As you suggested, I do have a few notes for you to help make your tours even better.

The cyclo tour of Hanoi could have been longer (ours was 1 hour) in order to allow us to see the French Quarter. We couldn’t do that in the time allotted (thankfully Kien organized a car tour of the area for the next day). I also thought that the night in the homestay would have been a bit more exotic, in truth, it was more of a guesthouse and we didn’t get to spend much time with the family. The food there was very plentiful but it didn’t have much flavor. The cruise on Halong Bay (actually near Cat Ba Island) was wonderful, but a little short in the morning. We arrived at the port at 11am the following morning, to disembark at noon, and would have liked to continue to cruise around the bay rather than spend an hour at port.

Thank you again, I will definitely be recommending Tonkin Voyage to all of my friends. A special thanks to Thuong who followed our journey and checked in on us, we really appreciated your reassurance and availability.

We hope to see you again during our next adventure…

Group: Mr. Michel SUSINI (Commercial Director of Clarke Energy) x 3 people
Taste of Vietnam in 20 days