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.

rob mccormack
Love TNK

Just revisited the TNK website and thought I would add to the travel guest book. My wife, self, and two friends travelled with TNK in Jan 2008. We started in HCMC, took a bus to Phnom Phen, a ferry to Siem Reap, plane to Hanoi, went trekking at Sapa, cruising on Halong Bay, then train to Hue. From initial emails putting my ideas into a manageable itinerary the organisation was seemless. Transfers, accommodation, driver/guides in Vietnam and Cambodia, our diminutive Hmong guide Shu in Sapa, and our meet and greet in Hanoi, TNK arranged everything brilliantly.

We have since recommended TNK to friends who travelled with them this year and could not speak highly enough of the company. And as a bonus the price for our tour was over one thousand dollars cheaper than equivalent prices quoted by Australian tour operators.
Congratualtions to Mr Dan and the team at TNK

kmroberts
Thanks

To the management, TNK travel. (HCMC and Ha Noi)

Recently, I was one of a party of 4 people to visit Vietnam. Our bookings with your company were under the name of Mrs. Jane Rosemary Fowler & party. The "party" consisting of my wife and myself and Jane's husband, Barry.

Jane Fowler belongs to a group of Australian nurses who exchange places with Vietnamese nurses, in order to have an understanding of nursing conditions existing in both countries.

This was Jane's 2nd visit to Vietnam and we were to arrive at the end of her attachment and then go touring together. Jane, being "on-the-spot," was able to arrange hotel bookings for us and told us not to try and book any tours from Australia, as the nurses always used "An excellent local travel agent!" This being TNK!

Having now experienced the services provided by TNK, I must congratulate you on your organisation and agree that it is "Excellent" in all respects.

We enjoyed our tour to the Mekong Delta immensely,- with courier Dong.

The tour to Cau Dai and Cu Chi was just as good,- with courier "Slim Jim!"

In both cases, we were impressed to note that one of the girls from the office came out and stuck signs on the various buses' side windows,- telling which tour each bus was going on. This small touch made things much easier for couriers and passengers to sort themselves out. It is small touches like this that make a big difference to customers!

Special mention must be made of the service provided by Ms Nhu Y at HCMC office.

We had made a rough itinerary of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see once we left HCMC and handed this to one of the girls in the office, she and 2 others looked at it and decided it needed someone with more experience and so we met Ms Nhu. She knew exactly what was needed and discussed everything with us and then told us to come back at 2:30pm to see the results of her labours! This was a Sunday and when we returned at 3pm, she was still hard at it. We later discovered, while talking to the office girls, that Ms Nhu was supposed to finish at 1pm! She was doing our itinerary and bookings in her own time and it was getting on for 5pm when we finished!!

Her hard work paid off, because everything went exactly to plan. She explained that not all tickets were on hand, but that everything we would need for onward travel would be e-mailed to us at the hotels she had booked for us. This worried us a bit initially, but it worked perfectly!!

She also explained that TNK's Ha Noi representative would contact us with tickets etc for our tours from Ha Noi and to Laos.

Mr Chung, at Ha Noi, came to our hotel. He went through our itinerary with us and made some excellent suggestions which we adopted with thanks. He said that we didn't want to be wandering around trying to get transport from the railway station at Lao Cai up to Sa Pa and he'd organise that and for the same taxy to collect us for the return trip later on. In due course, he escorted us to the station, led us to the train and our carriage and to our sleeping compartment. He would meet us at Ha Noi station on our return, take us back to our hotel for breakfast and make sure that our transport down to Ha Long arrived on time. When, a few days later, we arrived back from Ha Long, he came to our hotel and gave us our airline tickets for Laos and our vouchers for our hotels.

Both Ms Nhu and Mr Chung went above and beyond the normal course of duty to make our travels a smooth and hassle-free experience and we thank them for their efforts on our behalf.

You must be congratulated on your organisation as a whole. We hope that TNK remains a very successful business and does indeed look Towards the Next Millenium!!

Our regards. Mike and Kathleen Roberts. Corowa. Australia

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.

Karon Grimmer
Fabulous TNK Travel Guides

I have just returned from my first experience in Vietnam. The week that I spent with a large group from Wagga Wagga in Ho Chi Minh City was absolutely fabulous. Our guides Gaing and Bing were incredibly knowledgable about the culture and experiences that we had in HCMC, Cu Chi, Meekong and Long Tan. Thier communication skills and sense of humour was enjoyed by everyone in our group. A huge thanks to TNK and our guides Gaing and Bing! I can't wait to visit again someday!

The Kane family
A wonderful experience with TNK travel (January 2009)

Our family of 4 just came back from first ever trip to Vietnam (18 days). We chose TNK Travel and it was a great trip. I wanted to thank TNK and to share our experience with future prospective travelers.

We started the planning almost a year ago. I must say we were hesitant at first and concerned about choosing a reliable travel agency. I read a lot on the internet (e.g. tripadvisor .com) before identifying a few prospective travel agencies. I then asked for an initial quote from my top 3 choices. TNK was the middle quote but what I liked about them was the level of detail in their initial proposal. I then looked at their guestbook and selected 17 people worldwide who recently travelled with them and emailed each of them to ask about their experience. Every single one of them responded and all were very positive about TNK. This made me comfortable with the idea of having to send money upfront to book a trip in an unknown country where I would have no recourse if dealing with an unethical company. With TNK, everyone assured me that once an itinerary is finalized, the company will do whatever is needed to deliver on its promises and to make it a pleasant experience, and they sure did in our case.

Over the following month, I exchanged several emails with Mr. Dsung Trinh, the Managing Director, to modify the original proposal based on my research about the sites we wanted to see. For example, we removed Sapa from the itinerary because the Northwest is quite cold in January, but added Phu Quoc Island instead. In the end, we agreed on a price for the revised itinerary, and I paid the customary 30% deposit by credit card (with a 3% fee). From that point-on, I dealt with Mr. Dac Dahn in their operations department who always promptly answered my numerous enquiries via email, and sent me hotel vouchers and e-tickets confirmation from air travel within Vietnam, as well as the invitation letter for the Visa. Fast forwarding to the end of the year when our trip began:

We landed roughly on schedule in Hochiminh on Dec. 31st in the evening and had to wait an hour or so (not ideal after a long flight from the U.S.) to get our visa on arrival ($25 per person in cash). Once we exited immigration and customs, our guide (J.J.) and driver were there to greet us with a sign bearing our name. They took us to our hotel. Because of the traffic, we ended up being in the center of the city near the cathedral at midnight, surrounded by thousands of motorcycles ringing their horns when the near year arrived (quite a cultural experience). From there on, the entire trip was very pleasant (I will post details on the hotels on tripadvisor.com). We visited Saigon (and stopped by the TNK office to pay the balance of the trip), the Mekong Delta, Phu Quoc, PanThiet/Mui Ne, Da Lat and Nha Trang by private van and boats with J.J. (who was excellent, paying attention all the time to what we liked and making sure we would always have it). We almost missed the speedboat from Rach Gia to Phu Quoc, because the itinerary was 30 minutes off. As a result, we couldn’t have a scheduled lunch, but TNK compensated us with an excellent previously unplanned dinner in Hue. J.J. ordered a van with more legroom when we returned from Phu Quoc to HCMC (we flew back), arranged for a small canoe to pick-us up and take us to our hotel in Cantho where we were stuck in traffic on the way to the ferry, etc…Then we flew to Danang and were greeted by our new guide Tui (Mr. Dac Dahn had kindly arranged for French speaking guides at the other locations at our request), and from there visited Hoi An, My Son and Hue, Tui was excellent as well, very knowledgeable and helped us solve an issue we had with a tailor-made suit. In Hoi An, the reservation was not a river view room, but after contacting Mr. Dac Dahn generously agreed to pay the difference and we were upgraded accordingly (we had insisted on 2 deluxe rooms with sea/river/lake views everywhere) and I had not noticed it was not the case at that location. We then flew to Hanoi which we visited with our last guide (Mr. Lan, who was OK but not as good as the first 2), and went from there to Halong Bay for a memorable 2-day cruise, then flew back to HCMC, stayed overnight near the airport and had an early morning flight back to the U.S. On returning to HCMC, no driver was there to greet us, we were told after we called the agency that he was stuck in traffic due to an accident. We took a taxi to the nearby hotel, and the driver who picked-us up in the morning for our return flight to the US. reimbursed us more than we had actually paid for the taxi. We didn’t have to pay a departure tax, it was apparently already included in our plane tickets.

Overall, a great trip thanks to the logistics, efficiency and professionalism of the TNK staff and agents. Food was excellent (though too copious for us, we always have festive lunch menus booked by TNK with 6 or 7 courses in nice restaurants (included in the price), nice buffet breakfasts in most hotels. The only problem (which is beyond TNK’s control) was insufficient hot water in many hotels for two people to take showers one after the other), a really bad road with big holes when exiting MuiNe to go to Da Lat and a third guide in the north who took us to a number of expensive stores along the road when we saw much cheaper prices elsewhere (we suspect he had a kick-back from these stores (but to his credit, he advised us to see the anthropology museum in Hanoi instead of a couple of extra pagodas, which we really enjoyed). Other than these minor opportunities for improvement, we had great hotel rooms with very nice views (important to us), good weather, good food, good guides and drivers (who seemed satisfied with the tips we gave them), and we were taken to all the places agreed-to on the itinerary. For those who do not feel adventurous enough to be on their own in Vietnam, we do strongly recommend TNK travel as an ideal, reasonably-priced solution. You can count on them for a memorable and pleasant trip. One final comment, although you can pay everything in Vietnam in US dollars or Euros, prices are cheaper if you pay in Dongs (local currency, FX at 17.3 VND/USD on the average during our trip, calculated at 15 by the stores if you pay in USD). Also a word of caution, Vietnam Airlines only allows 20 kg for a checked suitcase and 7 kg for a carry-on so travel light……

If you are thinking of going and have any question about our experience, don’t hesitate to contact me at dkane@mmm.com.

Our sincere thanks to MM. Trinh, Danh and the entire TNK staff for a wonderful trip. The Kane family (Austin, TX, USA)

Andrew & Jane Pitt
Feedback

This is some feedback from our trip to Vietnam.

* Ms Luu Vo - excellent, very keen to help and accommodate us.

* HCMC tour & Mekong Delta - excellent. Tam was a very good guide and is obviously proud of his country and its heritage. Our driver/s were also excellent.

* Hue and Hoi An - our guide Lam, was a very nice person, but his pronounciaton of English was poor and he was difficult to understand. Content of the tour was good and driver was excellent.

* Hanoi - Accommodation was the poorest of our tour, but it was only for one night and it was almost like living in a tube house. Our guide, Long, was excellent.

* All transfers were very good and flights with Vietnam Air was excellent.

* Lunches - they were very good. Two were much the same (Elephant ear fish) and they were both in the Mekong, but they were all of a high standard.

* Cu Chi tour - for my wife, this was a highlight and it was everything she could have wished for because she teaches Vietnamese history.

We were very happy with your service and would have no hesitation in recommending your services to other travellers.

Sincerely

Andy & Jane Pitt

Patricia Rojas
Wonderful place

I am impressed. I was navigating and found this site. Beautiful pictures. I wil choose vietnam for vacations no doubt and recomend this page to my friends.

Kind Regards

Daniela Meirom
Meirom group -Vietnam trip

Hello

We are home now and I expected some kind of a feedback request from you but so far got nothing, and decided to send one anyway.

First of all I wanted to thank you in the name of the whole group for a very successful trip. Everything went smoothly and according to plan. The itinerary was well planned, the guides were knowledgeable and caring, the vans were in good condition and comfortable.

I would like to point out several things that were less than 100% - maybe it will be useful to you in the future:

a- the english accent of some of the guides was very bad and we could hardly understand them. Our best guide was Dara in Phnom Penh, unfortunately he was with us only for one day. Chum in Hanoi and Ky in HCM city were also good, The others were also good and warm and kind and we loved them all, but sometimes we had hard time to understand them, maybe because we are not native english speakers

b- most of the hotels were good. The worst was in Phnom Penh - small and smelly rooms and awful maitenance. The one in Siem Reap had nice rooms, but lots of maitenance problems. The same goes for the hotel in Sapa - they had serious problems with the hot water supply, which was extremely annoying.

c- the itinerary was almost perfect, but I think the time in Siem Reap was too long, 2 days would be quite enough, and it could be nice to spend one more day in Hoi An or Hue.

Thank you for everything. We had a very good and interesting experience and will certainly recommend your company to our friends

Daniela Meirom

 

Prem Swani
Flight booking / Mr. Swani

Dear Ms Hang Vo!

We finished our Vietnam and Cambodia trip last week and every thing went very well and smooth thanks for your excellent service.
I am enquiring if you do book for Alaska cruise and Rocky mountains trour in Canada for next year 2012.

Best wishes
Prem Swani