Feedback from Richard & Tay

Dear Lien,
Thank you very much for organising our tour of Vietnam, and I am taking the opportunity to email you whilst in the Code Hotel in Danang as the weather is too cold, wet and windy to be outside this afternoon! Unfortunately none of us can be responsible for the weather, and maybe we should feel ourselves lucky that we managed to do everything which was planned, given that January is not the best month for visiting Vietnam.
Long gave us a feedback form in Hanoi, so I expect that you have seen it. The driver was excellent in every way. The guide was kind, attentive, flexible and knowledgable and we very much enjoyed our time with him.  We explained to him, however, that if possible he really needs to improve the clarity of his English so that we can understand every word. We are very used to hearing English with many different accents, but he does not pronounce all of his consonants clearly enough for easy comprehension, especially final consonants, and sometimes we had to think very hard about what he was saying! If he can improve this he will be a useful guide to larger groups but I can imagine that at the moment there may be a few complaints. But as I say, he was very good in all other respects.
I think we have already told you how much we enjoyed the Ha Long Bay cruise and it was all very well organised, with the meals especially well presented and delicious, and the transfer to the airport seamless.
Here in Central Vietnam we have had a very successful time with our guide, who asked us to call him Tictac, and he is a very experienced person who has a wide knowledge of history and geography and gave us an excellent insight into everywhere we visited. He had some good ideas for restaurants when lunch was included and was able to suggest some small changes to the order of our itinerary (always seeking our approval first) if it seemed sensible. This meant that we sometimes finished a little early, but this is not a criticism at all and, had the weather been better, it would have great to have enjoyed the hotel facilities or locations more. We were very pleased to have been allocated this guide.

Our driver Eric Ho was lovely, good company with us, and always attentive to our needs in the car and getting in/out of it. The car itself was comfortable enough and the only criticism we have is that he is in the habit of pressing and releasing the accelerator much too often rather than allowing the car to run as smoothly as possible. If you are not a driver you may not understand, and it is nothing to do with the (quite challenging) driving conditions in this country, but it is worth mentioning as other groups may criticise the unevenness of the ride.

The schedule you suggested for us was very varied and enjoyable and, as indicated above, could only have been reconsidered for the final few days as regards timing, but we have no complaints at all in that regard.

The choice of hotels is worth a brief mention.  The location in Hanoi was perfect. Phong Nha Lake Resort was a lovely setting and location (if slightly basic room) and the restaurant was good too. At Hue Riverside we were the only guests in the whole hotel for the first night (!) and the dinner was disappointing. Although the room was nice there were lots of mosquitos and we think it would have been better to have stayed in a more central hotel in this vibrant city. On the second evening we ate in town and got a taxi back. The Aira at An Bang Beach in Hoi An was a very good choice, given how busy the main town is, and there is a variety of restaurants in the village. Here the Code Hotel also seems deserted but they have promised we can get a drink at the Sky Bar (closed this afternoon because of the wind!) and a meal in the restaurant so this is what we are about to have now...

I hope that these thoughts may be useful when planning future tours and we will gladly recommend you and your company to our friends. It has been a very enjoyable holiday in your lovely country where the people have been so warm and friendly without exception, and especially in the hotels, where they speak very good English.

With thanks and best wishes,
Richard