Annikki and Pierre
Indochina Customized Tour ( Nov 11th 06 ) /Mr. Pierre Herbert / Tour Report from Pierre

Hello Mr Dac Danh,

Annikki and I hope you are very well and we wish you, according to our western calendar, a very Happy New Year for 2007 and a lot of success for TNK Travel.

We came well home thru Malaysia and have been very busy since. But we promissed you a short report and comments on our beautiful trip thru your country and the two neighboring ones. Here it is:

First we must thank you again for a well organized tour, showing many highlights. Also, we have to confirm that the tour guides you selected for us have been very punctual, very friendly and had sufficient knowledge of the place and customs to make us enjoy every day.

Nhi for the Mekong Delta, Heng for Phnom Penh, Phin Borey for Siem Reap, "Jack"for Houen Xai to Loang Prabang, Khamtam in Vientiane, Tranh in Hanoi, Thinh in Lao Cai, Huy in Hue and Tong in Ho Chi Minh City, all have been doing an excellent job.Some were very knowledgeable in history like Phin Borey and Huy, which is always very appreciated by us.

The hotels were confortable enough. Luxury is not what we wanted but being in a genuine local environment. But in Chau Doc, the Ben Da Nui Sam Resort was situated in front of the loudspeaker broadcasting political news at night and early in the morning, which made resting impossible. In the early morning, at breakfast, the staff was bringing a very frugal breakfast and refused to bring a second cup of coffee...That hotel we cannot recommend. In Vientiane, the Lane Xang hotel is old and we got a small, rundown room. We called the agent Max and he rectified for a Superior room. In Ha Noi, the Army Hotel was OK but a bit "cold"! All hotel were situated at convenient distance from points of interest, so that was a plus.
We can especially recommend the Asia Hotel in Hue for its friendly atmosphere, its situation on the Perfume river, its comfort and breakfast.
Pakbeng Lodge on the Mekong is also to be recommended for the same reasons.

Meals were mostly adequate, some excellent like the ones on the Huong Hai junk on the Ha Long Bay.

Otherwise, we have the following recommendations:

1. In the Mekong Delta, a visit on one of the Cai Rang Market boats would be very interesting to speak with the boat people and see how they organize their living onboard.

2. In Ankor, before entering the temple area, we had to wait on line 1 1/2 hour (taking a pass photo and making the day pass). If the visitor was told in advance to bring one pass photo, it would speed up the entry.
Also in Ankor, you may forget the sunset at Phnom Bakheng because the crowds are too big now and the lookout totally disorganized.

3. In Ha Long, the crowds are also big now and...nearly 200 junks departing at about the same time...!!!
Unless the captain of your junk is given instructions to avoid the crowd, your visitors will be soon on line or in a pack to visit anything. We interviewed several locals and captains. Alltogether, there are nearly 600 junks now!

In a summary, we really enjoyed both the way Mr Dzung Trinh, yourself and your staff organized and followed up our tour, how you friendly treated us as customers, we met many other friendly persons along the trip, we discovered the sceneries and features of cultures that made our tour a permanent emotion that we still enjoy.

We wish you much success for this year!

Kind regards to you, to Mr Dzung Trinh and your staff.

Pierre and Annikki

Henry Osborn
Thanks very much in advance for your help.

Dear Sir / Madam,

I have been attempting to use your online service to reserve a room at the First Hotel Saigon (as featured on your hotel promotions section for USD50 per night), but keep on receiving a "Sorry an error has occurred" notice
whenever I enter my details and click on the "send" button.

Please could you kindly let me know the availability of deluxe rooms at the First Hotel Saigon from Sept 11 - Sept 15 (four nights) at the advertised USD50/ night promotional rate? If a deluxe room is available I'd like to
book in advance by credit card.

Thanks very much in advance for your help.

Henry Osborn

Jerry&Leslie Beilman
Vietnam Tour
Thank you for the great guides you provided, we had a wonderful time in vietman and even though we had some problems we were extremly happy with our tour from saigon to hanoi we will be back for sure.

Annette - Taipa Area School, NZ
Holiday in Vietnam

I recently spent time in HCMC and surrounding areas on a school history trip which had 10 travellers on board. We searched the web and found AnAn2 hotel, (whom we booked a few days) they forwarded our itinerary ideas to TNK Travel. Within a short time and some emails between TNK & us, we had our itinerary set with a budget direct from Vietnam which could not be beaten in NZ. Arriving at the airport we met our fabulous tour guide. He had so much information and answered all of our questions in English. He was never late and offered us a few extra stops and changed a few things as we wished. Vietnam is a most extroadinary place to visit the people have big hearts, and nothing is too much trouble as we dsicovered at the hotels and restaurants we visited which had been booked by TNK. The food was delicious whereever we were. TNK's driver got us from A-Z without a hitch in a country where driving would be a challenge for most visitors. When outside HCMC TNK had other tour guides to meet us, equally with plenty of information on the area we were visiting, I would recommend both TNK Travel and AnAn2 hotel (which is right next door) to anyone visiting Vietnam. They are situated in the heart of District 1 HCMC where there is an array of street life 24/7. We had a great trip and I would like to return.

A Bergman
Customized tour

My wife and I had a wonderful 15 days tour in Vietnam. It was a private customized tour, just for the two of us.

During the itinerary setup, Mr. Dzung Trinh was very helpful in meeting our specific requirements.

All went very smoothly and according to the plan.

Thanks a lot for the wonderful Vietnamese experience.

A. Bergman (Tel Aviv, Israel)

Shaun McCree
Cambodia Exclusive 5-day tour

Dear Nhu Y,

After our initial misunderstanding over payment (my fault entirely), I would like you to know that the tour went excellently. A friendly & helpful guide in Phnom Penh made our day both pleasant & informative, even if we were rather devastated by the Killing Fields & S21. Although they are hard to take, we think everyone should see them to understand what happened in Kampuchea. Our guide in Siem Reap, Marouan, & his driver were if anything even better and our trips around the Angkor complex were absolutely unforgettable. The Hotel Salina in Siem Reap was good value for money, despite being the cheapest available but we were a little disappointed with the Princess in Phnom Penh where we found the food rather poor & the staff rather disinterested. We recognise this is also the cheapest option but clearly does not match up to the budget hotels we stayed in throughout our 4 weeks in Vietnam. Our only small problem was that the advertisement on your website suggests lunch is provided everyday although, on checking your acknowledgement, it was not listed. Perhaps someone could correct the website.

Shaun McCree
Halong Bay - Huong Hai Junk

Went in middle of February 2008 when the weather was bitterly cold & misty. This was a real shame as everyone agreed it would have been a fabulous two days otherwise.

Hermann Frey
Cao Dai and Cu Chi Tunnel Day Tour

We were booking the Cao Dai temple and Cu Chi tunnel tour for 26th of December 2011 on the Internet.
I had some correspondence with the sales executive (Ms. Hang Vo) before to get the booking right.
So we were eventually picked up at our hotel a bit outside but on the way. The pick up was sharp on time and the bus with reasonable comfort, although full.
Our friendly guide (unfortunately I'm not so sure about the name any more) could speak quite good English. He did a lot of efforts to explain backgrounds and history during the day.
Lunch was in a simple countryside restaurant but with good Vietnamese food.
The temple is a bit far but getting known to this tradition and attending lunchtime prayers gives the right contrast to the martial afternoon visit of Cu Chi.
At Cu Chi it is very interesting to learn what smart ideas the Vietcong implemented in order to cope with a technological superpower.
Of course, the Americans have done a lot of wrong things and therefore are still being perceived as the bad guys but in my opinion Vietnamese should learn more to differentiate the facts of the cold war.

Overall an enjoyable and good organized tour!

Kerry and Mal Morters
Mekong Delta Tour to Phnompenh ( Oct 28th 08 )

Dear Ms Nhu Y

My husband and I have now returned to New Zealand from our very memorable holiday in Vietnam and Cambodia. TNK booked the Mekong Tour to Phnom Penh for us and our tour guide was JJ. Our Mekong tour was wonderful, mostly due to JJ who looked after us so well in every way. JJ was a very professional, friendly and helpful guide.

We would be very grateful if you could forward this email to JJ's manager. We would highly recommend JJ as a tour guide for any foreign visitor to your country.

We would like to make one small suggestion about the tour. It would have been helpful to have the correct Cambodia Visa forms prior to our departure on the boat to Phnom Penh. Before our departure from New Zealand, we did download forms from the Cambodian Embassy web site - bu 
we did download forms from the Cambodian Embassy web site - but on the day, the Cambodian Customs required a different form.

The only other comment we would like to offer, and this has nothing to do with the TNK Mekong Tour itself, but we were very concerned about the terrible living condition for the two bears at the Crocodile Park. If you can provide any influence to help these bears, we are sure they would appreciate this.

Thank you TNK for a great tour.

Kerry and Mal Morters

Alison Dolphin
Train booking: HA NOI - DA NANG (Jun)/ Mr. Will Dolphin

Dear Miss Hang!

I write to thank you for your very considerable help in organising our schedule in Vietnam. The Hotels were excellent and all the travel arrangements worked like clockwork.

You were very kind and helpful when dealing with our many emails.

We shall certainly use your company again when we next travel to your beautiful country and in the meantime will recommend your services to anyone else travelling there.

Many thanks and best regards,

Alison Dolphin